There will be no WGARS December Meeting on 12/10/2024 due to the club Christmas Party. If you RSVP'd, we'll see you there!

August 8th Balloon Launch

WGARS successfully launched and retrieved a high-altitude weather balloon on Saturday, August  8th, 2020.  The weather balloon carried a cross-band repeater and APRS transmitter to aid in chase team communications and provide GPS data to the APRS network for tracking and recovery.

Approximately 20 people were on location for the preparation and launch.  Preparation was a bit different than past ones, using Hydrogen for lift rather than Helium. Balloon inflation went smoothly; so smooth there was a brief wait for the payload to be ready.

The payload consisted of an electronics package including a Raspberry Pi running APRS software and three hand-constructed transceivers, one to transmit APRS, and two to cross-band repeat.

APRS worked very well, allowing tracking of the balloon uninterrupted for most of the flight. Location was a bit more challenging than previous launches, with chase teams hearing the cross-band repeater but no APRS signals. Computer modeling software historically only provides a general area to search, and signals appeared to indicate the payload was located a good distance from the predicted landing spot.  However, the software was vindicated, as an APRS signal was finally  picked up as teams got closer, and the payload was discovered within 100 yards of the predicted landing location! Congratulations to WD8QLT & KM4WQC on locating the payload.

join

Upcoming Events

Thu Nov 14 @ 8:00PM
Carroll ARES Net
Mon Nov 18 @ 8:00PM
Club Net on 146.640mhz
Thu Nov 21 @ 8:00PM
Carroll ARES Net
Mon Nov 25 @ 8:00PM
Club Net on 146.640mhz
Thu Nov 28 @ 8:00PM
Carroll ARES Net
Mon Dec 02 @ 8:00PM
Club Net on 146.640mhz
Thu Dec 05 @ 8:00PM
Carroll ARES Net
Sat Dec 07 @10:00AM
License Testing
Mon Dec 09 @ 8:00PM
Club Net on 146.640mhz
Thu Dec 12 @ 8:00PM
Carroll ARES Net
Loading feeds...

Web Development Company


X-Ray:
GeoMagnetic:
Status
Status
West Georgia Amateur Radio Society, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit Corporation.
Copyright (c) WGARS 2014. All rights reserved.