|
Re: Circuit boards for pico balloon trackers
Rodney Sparks
I use PCBWay.com for all of my quick-turn PCBs. A small batch of boards is $23 shipped, and the record so far for receiving boards from them is 69 hours from ordering until boards in hand. Always good quality too. Boards that aren't green and 1.6mm thick take a few days more though.
|
|
|
|
Re: Circuit boards for pico balloon trackers
Bill Brown
Hi Chuck,
I get mine from JLCPCB in China. Send them Gerber files and specify board thickness in mm. You will receive high quality boards that are ultra-thin in just a bit over a week and they are inexpensive to boot. I order the 0.6mm boards which equates to 0.024 " thickness. You can go with 0.4mm boards as well but 0.6mm seemed to be the best compromise for strength vs thinness.
- Bill WB8ELK
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck KG5CA <goldsmith@...> To: GPSL@groups.io Sent: Sat, Jan 23, 2021 5:22 pm Subject: [GPSL] Circuit boards for pico balloon trackers Question for those of you building ultra-small trackers for pico balloons:
What thickness of FR4 boards are you using, and where do you get them manufactured? Many shops will build 0.0625" thick, but that seems unnecessarily thick and heavy. What are good alternatives? Thanks....
|
|
|
|
Re: Circuit boards for pico balloon trackers
On Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 03:24 PM, greg@... wrote:
Oshpark.comGreg, Thanks for the referral. I see they also manufacture 4mil thick polyimide boards. Might be even lighter.... :-) -- Chuck / KG5CA StratoCasters
|
|
|
|
Re: Google's Loon project coming to an end
Christopher Rose
It did sound fantastic Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message -------- From: James Ewen VE6SRV <ve6srv@...> Date: 1/23/21 12:28 PM (GMT-05:00) To: GPSL@groups.io Subject: Re: [GPSL] Google's Loon project coming to an end That would be people reporting not understanding the terms. The payload wouldn’t have been the size of a tennis court. Even the envelope at launch wouldn’t really be that size. Take a look at the “auto-launcher” photos. A tennis court sized payload with any amount of equipment on it would probably be fairly significant mass. That would require a lift envelope the size of a battleship. Imagine that landing on your house, or across a roadway. Definitely needs to have a controlled landing in an area with lots of room to land. James VE6SRV On Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 10:18 AM Christopher Rose <kb8uih88@...> wrote:
James
VE6SRV
|
|
|
|
Re: Google's Loon project coming to an end
Would have been interesting to hear the debrief. I wonder if they decided a fixed-fixed wing alternative provided more flexibility in coverage than the "mostly" unguided floating vehicle.
https://medium.com/loon-for-all/hapsmobile-loon-first-in-the-world-to-deliver-lte-from-a-fixed-wing-stratospheric-aircraft-114bf4f041ad?source=collection_home---4------3----------------------- --- Chuck / KG5CA StratoCasters
|
|
|
|
Re: Circuit boards for pico balloon trackers
greg@bigredbee.com
Oshpark.com does .8mm boards. I'm a happy repeat customer for prototypes) Greg K7RKT
On Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 3:22 PM Chuck KG5CA <goldsmith@...> wrote: Question for those of you building ultra-small trackers for pico balloons:
|
|
|
|
Circuit boards for pico balloon trackers
Question for those of you building ultra-small trackers for pico balloons:
What thickness of FR4 boards are you using, and where do you get them manufactured? Many shops will build 0.0625" thick, but that seems unnecessarily thick and heavy. What are good alternatives? Thanks....
|
|
|
|
Re: Google's Loon project coming to an end
Carlton Corbitt
Wow, Loon has been a neat project to folllow and i wish i could have been apart of.
Dan Bowen are you in the group photo?
My guess is your the guy standing behind the guy with a bald head?
Carlton
|
|
|
|
Re: Google's Loon project coming to an end
James Ewen VE6SRV
That would be people reporting not understanding the terms. The payload wouldn’t have been the size of a tennis court. Even the envelope at launch wouldn’t really be that size. Take a look at the “auto-launcher” photos. A tennis court sized payload with any amount of equipment on it would probably be fairly significant mass. That would require a lift envelope the size of a battleship. Imagine that landing on your house, or across a roadway. Definitely needs to have a controlled landing in an area with lots of room to land. James VE6SRV
On Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 10:18 AM Christopher Rose <kb8uih88@...> wrote:
--
James VE6SRV
|
|
|
|
Re: Google's Loon project coming to an end
Christopher Rose
Hi, If the payload was as big as a tennis court, how big is the envelope(s)?
----------------------------------------- From: "Mark Conner N9XTN"To: GPSL@groups.io Cc: Sent: Thursday January 21 2021 7:58:33PM Subject: [GPSL] Google's Loon project coming to an end
|
|
|
|
Re: Google's Loon project coming to an end
Sorry to hear of their exit, it was interesting to follow their exploits. One of those unfortunate circumstances where you have to spend many millions of dollars just to find out if a cool idea is really feasible.
-- Chuck / KG5CA StratoCasters
|
|
|
|
Google's Loon project coming to an end
|
|
|
|
Re: PENS-10p. It’s a Wrap
Bill Brown
Congrats to the PENS-10p team. It is great to see how this project has inspired the students (and adults).
- Bill WB8ELK
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike, n0mpm <n0mpm52@...> To: GPSL@groups.io Sent: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 6:48 pm Subject: [GPSL] PENS-10p. It’s a Wrap It’s great to see 170 Jefferson 5th graders receive their “World Travelers” certificate documenting 4 trips around the world for our Pico Balloon, PENS-10p. During these past 2 months the students learned about balloons and atmospheric science, tracked the voyage, predicted the future path, discovered new countries, provided interviews for local NBC and CBS TV stations, and had fun discussing the experiment with friends and family.
One student told me that her father, an engineering supervisor at Vermeer Corp, would end his weekly staff meetings with an update on the balloon progress. One day he forgot until his staff demanded they put APRS.fi up on the screen! It’s great to see projects like this spark the imagination of young and old alike! Guess what? I had as much fun as the students!
|
|
|
|
Re: PENS-10p. It’s a Wrap
Mark Garrett
What a fantastic way for students to get involved with a project that takes them around the world on a balloon they helped launch. I hope they can keep track of future efforts as it fun to follow along and maybe get a few siblings to get into the class.
On Sunday, January 17, 2021, 06:48:28 PM CST, Mike, n0mpm <n0mpm52@...> wrote:
It’s great to see 170 Jefferson 5th graders receive their “World Travelers” certificate documenting 4 trips around the world for our Pico Balloon, PENS-10p. During these past 2 months the students learned about balloons and atmospheric science, tracked the voyage, predicted the future path, discovered new countries, provided interviews for local NBC and CBS TV stations, and had fun discussing the experiment with friends and family.
One student told me that her father, an engineering supervisor at Vermeer Corp, would end his weekly staff meetings with an update on the balloon progress. One day he forgot until his staff demanded they put APRS.fi up on the screen! It’s great to see projects like this spark the imagination of young and old alike! Guess what? I had as much fun as the students!
|
|
|
|
Re: PENS-10p. It’s a Wrap
Fantastic to see this! I too live vicariously through the student excitement, enthusiasm, and curiosity. Well done! "A posse ad esse." CEO & Co-founder Magnitude.io +1 510 684 9773 http://www.linkedin.com/in/tagami
|
|
|
|
Re: PENS-10p. It’s a Wrap
Michael
Mike, that is awesome! I’ve tried to get some interest here in Granbury, but it appears our schools can’t seem to get beyond their standard curriculum in most cases. Congrats on your accomplishment!
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
--Michael Willett
On Jan 17, 2021, at 6:48 PM, Mike, n0mpm <n0mpm52@...> wrote:
|
|
|
|
PENS-10p. It’s a Wrap
Mike, n0mpm
It’s great to see 170 Jefferson 5th graders receive their “World Travelers” certificate documenting 4 trips around the world for our Pico Balloon, PENS-10p. During these past 2 months the students learned about balloons and atmospheric science, tracked the voyage, predicted the future path, discovered new countries, provided interviews for local NBC and CBS TV stations, and had fun discussing the experiment with friends and family.
One student told me that her father, an engineering supervisor at Vermeer Corp, would end his weekly staff meetings with an update on the balloon progress. One day he forgot until his staff demanded they put APRS.fi up on the screen! It’s great to see projects like this spark the imagination of young and old alike! Guess what? I had as much fun as the students!
|
|
|
|
Radiosonde launch in 67 mph winds
First one popped, second one made it after doing some extra surface data readings. 73 de Mark N9XTN
|
|
|
|
Re: Cutdown device?
Michael Hojnowski
Bill, Ya, I plan a similar setup. I want to make a tiny 3D printed box that the balloon line passes through between parachute and balloon. The box will route the string just like Joe's setup. It will have a small ESP32 board with bluetooth which can fire the nichrome. The main payload will have an ESP32 bluetooth/LoRa flight computer that can decide when to initiate cutdown. I can either stick an accelerometer in there or use altitude or whatever. I may put a second cutdown box between the chute and payload box so that if I get stuck in a tree, I have the option of abandoning the chute and cutting away. I've fallen in love with the ESP32 boards. They're SUPER cheap ($5 for the cutdown board I plan to use) and have a ton of functionality, and they're just as easy to program as arduino. I'll probably be switching over to them for most of my applications. So many projects, so little time! Mike / KD2EAT
On 11/24/2020 12:17 PM, Bill Brown via groups.io wrote:
|
|
|
|
Re: Cutdown device?
Michael Hojnowski
Joe, That's awesome! Thanks so much for making those measurements! That'll really help with my planning. Thanks again! Mike / KD2EAT
On 11/24/2020 11:49 AM, Chief Surfer via groups.io wrote:
Hello Mike!
|
|
|
