SomeNetBlog

Balloonatics!

Reckon the changing weather patterns have a lot to do with the seasonal increase in ham radio balloon launches. Well - spring is in the air, and so are the balloons ! This is a shot of Bill Brown orchestrating a UAH operation last fall at the NSSTC launch site.

This is such an interesting aspect of our hobby, combining so many different angles of cooperative integration to a successful flight. Even as an armchair hobby, you can track progress of multiple flights thanks to GPS telemetry, APRS tracking, and internet resources. Numerous websites and email reflector groups provide flight schedules, payload integration guidance, weather concerns, etc. One such reflector is Balloonatics. You can follow along or join the group @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Balloonatics

While likely not considered ‘the father‘ of ham radio ballooning, ‘Uncle‘ Bill is a very prominent figure in today’s world of ARHAB. Check his website: www.wb8elk.com for details of his activities. I have an archive page with more pictures, graphs and links that you may find interesting: http://wb5rmg.somenet.net/2007/20070119.html. Ralph Wallio maintains a thorough collection of launch announcements and various achievement records with his site: http://www.arhab.org/

There is current interest in what we call “floaters”, or balloons that try to maintain a stable ‘float altitude’, and travel long distances. The current push is to insert a float into the jetstream while the late winter pattern is suitable to deliver the balloon and payload to the european continent - some 50 hours away. Check out the Spirit of Knoxville, a project of the UTARC. They have a launch scheduled this evening, and encourage listeners worldwide to listen for the telemetry and use their DTRC program to relay statistics back to their web site. You can help ! If ‘Uncle Bill’ can get his payload ready, he may try for a launch this evening as well. Good luck - Bon Voyage !

/;^)