[MLB-WIRELESS] Slashdotted weather balloon experiment

[Tony Langdon, VK3JED]

At 12:28 PM 16/01/2003 +1100, Simon Butcher wrote:

>It reminds me of an amateur radio 'balloon hunt' I heard about years and
>years ago - basically a free floating balloon with a beacon many ham
>geeks would try to track to its final destination (the person who found
>it first won something)..

There were a few balloon launches in the late 80's and early 90's around 
Melbourne.

>With seemingly a lot of debate about using balloons for wifi lately, is
>anyone here willing to band together to build a free floating balloon
>like this, perhaps with an 802.11 link as a secondary payload to
>experiment with? (psst, PBCC or OFDM would help the distance issue)
>
>If MW pushed the limits of a 4-watt 802.11-based link, it could be good
>PR (in geek circles, naturally).. Have any other CWN's attempted
>something like this?

You have to watch weight (there is limited lift capacity).  Also, consider 
the payload as "disposable", even if you can get a ham Tx (2m or 70cm would 
be ideal) and hams onside to foxhunt the balloon.  Interesting idea, but 
weight (especially for batteries) will be a challenge to overcome.  There 
is still a very good chance you'll never see the payload again.

73 de Tony, VK3JED
http://vkradio.com


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