We are making good progress on our High Altitude Balloon project. We have identified three local schools are interested in the project and Jamey, KC1ENX and others are working to set up a meeting with teachers in these schools to explain what we are doing and gain support. You can see what we are sharing with teachers and parents here.
Possible Balloon Payload Experiment – UV Radiation Measurements
Brian, AB1ZO is working on flight planning and science experiments for our high-altitude balloon. You can see Brian’s plans here.
We have also started a fund-raising campaign to raise the funds that we need for equipment, helium and other equipment to build and launch our balloon. Our fund-raising campaign has been active for about a week now and we are approaching the halfway point of our goal. Please consider helping us with the project by making a donation. You can do this by clicking on our GoFundMe drive below.
On Saturday, January 28th the Nashua Area Radio Club (Nashua ARC) will be hosting a special event for Interested kids, parents, and friends in the community about the joy of amateur radio at MakeIt Labs in Nashua from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. You may drop in at any time and stay as long as you like to participate! Among our activities, you can:
Get-On-The-Air Station (GOTA)
This is amateur radio at its best and what it’s known for! We invite you to get on the air and make a contact (we call them QSO’s — pronounced: cue-so) somewhere in the world! You might be able to make a new friend in Germany or even Japan! Making contacts sits at the heart of amateur radio and is an activity that brings people together. So don’t be shy, step up, and hit the push-to-talk button!
Satellite Station Display
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) began in 1969 to foster amateur radio participation in space research and communication. Currently, AMSAT groups help advance the state of the art in space science, space education, and space technology. Come learn about what components go into constructing a station capable of contacting a satellite and what antennas, and smart phone apps, operators use to keep a pulse on the satellite location.
Digital Amateur Television (DATV)
Not only are amateur radio operators granted privileges to transmit speech, but we also can send fast-scan data such as TV signals! Many operators have experimented with how to homebrew their own fast-scan TV stations, and our club president Fred (AB1OC) and our member Skip (K1NKR) have chosen to use construct a station which uses a Raspberry Pi (RPi) with an Arduino shield to sit at the heart of the transceiver. The RPi is the brains of the TV which runs Linux and among other things is responsible for sequencing, transmit/receive control, automatic VSWR monitoring, and a touch-screen controlling interface to configure and operate the system. Learn about what it takes to build and operate one of these stations. We may even be able to make a contact! More information can be found at https://stationproject.wordpress.com/category/amateur-television/.
Kit Building with Nashua ARC
The Nashua ARC holds kit-building nights were both inexperienced and experienced members homebrew in a relaxed, learning environment. In the past, we have built Pixie QRP (low-wattage) kits transmitting Morse Code on the 40m amateur band. But, on February 18 from 1 – 5 pm, First Church in Nashua, Nauss Hall, we will build the digital oscilloscope kit DSO138 (shown to left). This kit comes with a clear acrylic case to protect it, build instructions, and among its specs has a 1 Msps sampling rate, 12-bit accuracy, 200 kHz bandwidth (good for audio signals), capable of freezing the waveform display, and comes with a 1Hz / 3.3V test source. We invite you to join us and will bring some kits with us. More info can be found on our website at https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/27/inexpensive-diy-digital-oscilloscope-kit/.
We hope you will join us for our event! Please bring friends, family, but most importantly we want you to have fun and enjoy this hobby with us!!
Several members of our club have been working on a High Altitude Balloon Project to promote STEM interest and learning by young people. Our project team currently includes the following folks:
Other interested club members are welcome to join us.
We want to provide a STEM learning opportunity and project to be planned and executed by young people ages 10 – 16. We are actively seeking engagement and support from local schools, Scout Troops and other youth organizations to help us with this project.
Our goals for the project include:
Building and launching a high altitude balloon carrying Amateur Radio to near space and back
Enabling young people to plan and execute the project with help and guidance from members of the Nashua Area Radio Club and supporting adults from organizations that wish to assist us
Helping young people gain STEM-based experience and learnings by handling all phases of the project including:
Planning the flight, the balloon, and its payload
Building the balloon and testing it on the ground
Launching, tracking and recovering the balloon’s payload
Analysis of the flight data and the creation of a presentation to be delivered to fellow students and other interested groups
We plan to introduce new technology, experiments, and flight elements and develop team member skills and expertise across multiple launches. Later phases of the project are expected to include design and construction of additional payload electronics, high altitude/longer duration flights, and additional on-board atmospheric science experiments.
Typical High Altitude Balloon System
Our goals for the initial flight mission of this project will include:
Building a helium filled balloon which carries a payload of < 4 lbs. to altitudes in excess of 90,000 ft (27,400 m)
Parachute controls decent rate after balloon bursts
Capturing a video of flight using on-board GoPro video camera(s)
Flying an on-board APRS transmitter allows tracking from the ground via Amateur 2m APRS and aprs.fi
Flight computer plus APRS provides altitude, position and temperature data throughout the flight
Anyone with a device that has internet access and a web browser will be able to track the flight
Augmenting the APRS system with commercial satellite tracker to assure successful recovery of our payload by the project team
High Altitude Balloons
The balloon is filled with enough Helium to carry its payload to a target altitude in excess of 90,000 ft and then burst. A parachute will deploy to control the rate at which the payload descends and will ensure a controlled safe and soft landing.
Payload Components
The payload will be built around a light-weight platform which will carry a Video Camera, a Flight Computer/APRS Transmitter, and a Commercial Satellite Tracker. The camera will capture a video of the flight and the flight computer will record altitude, temperature and position data and relay this information to the ground via APRS on 2m. A commercial satellite tracker would be included to ensure we could locate the payload once it is back on the ground.
High Altitude Flight Planning
A key part of the project will involve planning the target altitude and flight path for our balloon. There are some good resources available to help us do this. Check out the Balloon Performance Calculator here. Tools also exist to estimate a balloon’s flight path and track based on Jetstream and other flight parameters.
Once we recover our balloon payload, we will guide our young team members in analyzing the data from the flight to help them to learn about atmospheric conditions and to prepare to share the results along with the video captured with classmates and other interested groups. You can get an idea of the video that we can expect below.
We are working to raise the necessary funds to support our project. We are counting on the generosity of our members and friends to help us. Please consider making a donation here.
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