Tag Archives: High Altitude Balloon

Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities

HAB-2 Launch This Saturday – How To Track Our High-Altitude Balloon

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We are planning the second launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-2) this Saturday, October 28th at approximately 11 am ET.

You can view the story of our first launch here on our website and you can view the video from our first High-Altitude Balloon launch above.

High-Altitude Balloon Launch Site and Weather

The weather and Jetstream conditions look good for our HAB-2 launch!

High-Altitude Balloon 2 Launch Site in Winchester NH
HAB-2 Launch Site in Winchester NH

We will be launching from the school in Winchester, NH at around 11 am ET. Nashua Area Radio Society members and friends are invited to join us for our launch.

High-Altitude Balloon 1 Launch!
HAB-1 Launch!

We have been working with the STEM club at Bishop-Guertin HS here in Nashua, NH. The students will handle HAB-2 launch preparations and the launch. Launch preparations will begin on site at 9:30 am ET.

WInchester NH Weather Forecast for Launch
Winchester NH Weather Forecast for Launch

The weather forecast looks great for our launch on Saturday with clear skies and moderate winds. These conditions should enable us to capture some spectacular video from HAB-2 during its flight!

Tracking HAB-2

I wanted to share some information about tracking our HAB-2 as it flies. Our balloon will carry’s a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS Transmitter.

High-Altitude Balloon Flight Platform
HAB Flight Platform

The onboard APRS transmitter will operate on the Amateur Radio standard terrestrial APRS frequency of 144.390 MHz and will transmit our HAB’s position, heading, speed, altitude and other telemetry data every minute during HAB-2’s flight. The transmitter is battery-powered and generates a 250 mW signal into a dipole antenna suspended from HAB’-2s flight platform. HAB-2 will use N1FD-11 as its call sign.

High-Altitude Balloon On Aprs.fi
HAB-2 On Aprs.fi

HAB-2’s APRS packets will be picked up by ground-based Digipeaters and iGates and will be relayed to aprs.fi where the HAB’s current location and flight path can be tracked.  You can click on the link in the previous line to see HAB-2’s current location and flight track.

High-Altitude Balloon 2 Flight Path Projection
HAB-2 Flight Path Projection

Based upon online HAB flight prediction calculators that we have been using, we expect the HAB’s flight to last a little more than 2 1/2 hours. The HAB should reach an altitude of over 105,000 ft before the balloon bursts and the parachute on the flight platform brings HAB-2 back to the ground at a safe speed. The above predictions will likely somewhat different from HAB-2’s actual flight path. Based upon the predictions, HAB-2 will be traveling approximately 100 km between its takeoff point and landing near Maine.

High-Altitude Balloon APRS Packet Information
HAB APRS Packet Information

Aprs.fi will store and display a copy of all of the APRS AX.25 packets transmitted by HAB-2 during its flight. Of particular interest to the STEM element of the flight will be the Balloon’s data on atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions at different altitudes.

All you need to track HAB-2 during its flight is Internet access and a web browser. Just click on one of the aprs.fi links here to see HAB-2’s current location and altitude. If you have an APRS ground station, you may also be able to receive HAB-2’s telemetry directly during the flight.

We will post updates on launch plans and the flight in the Youth Forum on our website.

T minus 1 day and counting until HAB-2 launches….

[waiting name=”Balloon Launch 2 Countdown”]

 

Fred, AB1OC

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities

Sharing Our Club’s Activities at Boxboro Hamvention 2017

We had the good fortune of attending and speaking at the Boxboro Hamvention this past weekend. We shared three presentations related to our club’s activities and projects. I wanted to share copies of these presentations here.

All of these presentations were well attended. In particular, there was great interest in the second presentation among other clubs in the New England area.

Also, we are planning to have our 2.0 Satellite Station setup at our upcoming Technician License Class on Sept. 30 – Oct. 1. If you are in the area and would like to see the station in operation, please contact us at [email protected]  to arrange for a visit. If you’d like to register for one of our license classes, you can do that here.

Videos from our Boxboro Hamvention Presentations

Our High-Altitude Balloon Launch Video

Growing HAM Radio – How Clubs Can Help

Satellite Station 2.0 Operation and Contacts



More Information

You can find more information about our HAB Project via this link. Also, you can learn more about our club’s portable satellite station activities via this link. Finally, you can visit Anita’s and My Station Project Blog for more articles and information about Satellite Station construction and operation.

Fred, AB1OC

Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities

Academy for Science and Design SPARK Day

John Keslo, W1MBG, Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX, and I recently had the chance to again be part of SPARK Day at the Academy for Science and Design (ASD) in Nashua, New Hampshire. We attended SPARK Day to provide an Introduction to Amateur Radio for the students at ASD. ASD’s goal is to be a world-class school that specializes in science, engineering, mathematics, and design. The school provides education for students in grades 6-12. ASD periodically holds SPARK (Symposium Promoting Advancement of Real-world Knowledge) conferences, which enable ASD students to learn about areas which might help them to develop careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and/or Math (STEM).

SPARK Day Group Learning About Amateur Radio
ASD Group Learning About Amateur Radio

The students at ASD are extremely bright and are highly motivated to develop STEM careers. We had about 65 students elect to attend the two sessions that we presented. The kids showed a lot of interested in our presentations and demonstrations.

SPARK Day Classroom Activities

 

Explaining the HAB to the ASD Students at SPARK Day
Explaining the HAB to the ASD Students

We began each session with some classroom time where we explained what Amateur Radio is about and some of our club’s Amateur Radio projects. We talked about and showed components of our High Altitude Balloon Project, our Satellite Ground Station and our Field Day activities. The interest level among the kids was high and lots of questions were asked.

SPARK DAY GOTA Station

 

Making an HF Contact using our GOTA Station at SPARK Day
Making an HF Contact using our GOTA Station

We also put together an HF GOTA station in the lobby of the school. This gave the kids a chance to get on the air and experience Amateur Radio first hand. After the kids got over the usual “mic-fright”, they had a lot of fun.

We are looking forward to our next opportunity to participate in ASD’s SPARK Day in the fall. This is one of the most enjoyable events of the year for me.

Fred, AB1OC

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide