To the Edge of Space - Slowly

The use of party balloons for flights to an altitude of about 8 km, just under the cruising altitude of most jet airplanes, has been covered here with the experiments of VE3KCL and VK3YT but other hams (and non-hams) are getting their kicks by aiming much higher with larger high-altitude balloons.

The Skies over Lake Michigan from a Weather Balloon

These types of flights are more complicated and expensive than the party balloons but no prohibitively so. Aeronautical regulations are not onerous even with a fairly sizable balloon with a weighty payload, as long as there are mechanism to slow the descent when the balloon bursts and to be able to detach the payload on command. Typically, although not necessarily required by law, air traffic control is informed of the flight and sometimes they even track it using on whatever web site is reporting the progress of the experiment.

Flights generally do not cover the same great distances as the party balloons, which makes them less exciting from the standpoint of seeing which way they will wander but allows for more interesting payloads, such as cameras and transponders using VHF and UHF communications. Typically the flights are much shorter in duration, rising rapidly to their maximum altitude then bursting and dropping by parachute.

The High Altitude Balloon Challenge web site lists some of the results achieved during their contest period in the Spring. The highest altitude achieved was 42895 m (140,732 ft), and the longest track 1,000 km (although it was disqualified as it was not achieved during the contest period).

A group of amateurs in Alberta who call themselves BEAR (Balloon Experiments in Amateur Radio) have been launching HABs over a period of 15 years and regularly achieving altitudes of 100,000 feet or more. They use APRS tracking rather than the custom system used by the party balloons, which makes sense when you have greater altitude and smaller distances.

AMSAT lists many different amateur groups doing high altitude ballooning projects on their web site.

The other big difference in the high altitude experiments is the far greater expectation of actually getting the payload back, by using chase cars and trying to engineer the recovery on farm land.

March 2014 General Meeting - Minutes

Meeting held at the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to order at 19:32. Chaired by Chris VE3NRT

1. Introductions completed. 35 members and 1 guest in attendance
   
2. Minutes Feb 4th general meeting; motion by Richard VE3NSD to approve the minutes, seconded by John VA3JI. Motion carried.
   
3. Reports
   
   1. Treasury – John VA3JI
      
      • Balance is [Available to members on request]. Two memberships paid in February otherwise no other transactions in the month
   2. Field Day – Steve VE3UT
      
      • Peter VE3PBT has volunteered to run the kitchen this year. Peter VE3PBT has prepared a menu and Steve VE3UT will provide an estimate of the number to be accommodated for dinner.
        
      • Location: Preference is to continue using the field behind Al’s Tack Shop
        
   3. By-law Committee – Geoff VA3GS, Eric VE3OIC
      
      • Minor clean up and corrections completed. Member input has been consolidated. There is a concern that in its current form, there will be insufficient time at the AGM to discuss and vote on all the proposed changes. The by-la committee has proposed to hold a town hall meeting for interested members to review all changes with a goal to finalize the list of changes to be put to a vote at the AGM.
   4. Trailer – Barry VA3LLT
      
      • New RCMP tower, spoke with manufacturer of tower stripped down trailer $17K
        
      • Looking at old trailer, RCMP tower is 300lbs vs old tower is ~1,000 lbs.
        
      • Rob VE3RQB, Barry VA3LLT and welding contractor went to look at the old trailer. The Welder will supply an estimate. The trailer will not be moving until there is an okay from the BOD to do the work.
        
      • If estimate is approved, the target is to have the trailer fitted with new tower for field day.
        
4. Member QSO awards – Bob VE3WY
   
   • Started June 2006 9pm however, only one certificate issued to date. The goal is to work as many York region amateur club members on as many bands as possible. There was a strong show of interested hands at meeting. Club members are encouraged to review the rules and begin making QSO’s. Bob VE3WY will issue certificates at the general meetings. Bob’s presentation will be placed on the Splatter Blog.
5. Project Night – Brad VE3HII, Steve VASRV
   
   • Brad VE3HII presented an overview of his and Steve VA3SRV’s proposal to re-activate project night. The plan is to begin mid April. Project nights to be held at the Newmarket Girl Guides office or the Newmarket Community Centre on Wednesday evenings 7-9pm. Looking for a minimum of 6 participants. Initial project will be an introduction to micro controllers with the objective to build a simple proto typing system estimated to cost between $30 and $50. Presentation will be posted on the Splatter Blog.
6. EMCOMM project Plan – Russell VE3WTR
   
   • Russell VE3WTR presented an update on EMCOMM activities and structure. EMCOMM is looking for volunteers. No specialized training is required. Looking for people to fulfill core roles, EOC site owners, or general responders. Presentation will be posted on the Splatter Blog.
7. Digital voice communications – Chris VE3NRT
   
   • Chris presented an overview of Open Source Digital Voice Communications. Presentation will be posted on the Splatter Blog.

Meeting adjourned at 21:14

Project Nights: Starting mid-April

Steve VA3SRV and Brad VE3HII have offered to restart project nights on Wednesdays starting in mid-April in Newmarket. These have been very popular in the past and allowed YRARC members to get some hands-on experience with electronics construction.

This is a great opportunity to get some experience with the inexpensive but powerful microcontrollers that are now available. These can be put to all sorts of interesting uses and the first project will be able to perform some useful tasks around the shack.

You can also come to project night and get some assistance with any other electronic project (like that Softrock kit you never built?) you're trying to complete.

Please get in touch with Steve or Brad to express your interest, or just leave a comment right here.

73,
Chris