High altitude floater
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stan siems
I am working on launching several long term floaters with hopefully multiple passes around the earth I have several persons saying this has been done with up to 7 passes although I have not found data to support this. If any one would have information on any of these flights I would appreciate receiving the information on those flights. I will be using a APRS LIGHT W tracker with a usb battery and solar panel to charge it on the first flight with the possibility of adding a cross band repeater Later if I can prove that we can keep them up for sufficient period of time. The electronics is the easy part the Balloon is the difficult part. I am looking at making my own balloon using stratofilm 430 ,If any one has done this I would appreciate any information they have and what there experience was. I would also appreciate any anyone offering information on a project of this type.
Thanks Stan Siems WB0EMJ
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Stan, Alan Adamson has had multiple long duration flights. I believe his e-mail is: adamson_alan@... Bill Brown wb8elk@... is experienced in all types of balloon flights including extended duration floaters Ron Meadows K6RPT is someone who has flown extended flights and manufactured balloon envelopes. See www.cnsp-inc.com Howard, KC9QBN, BASE_DePauw
On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 11:05 AM stan siems <ssiems@...> wrote: I am working on launching several long term floaters with hopefully multiple passes around the earth I have several persons saying this has been done with up to 7 passes although I have not found data to support this. If any one would have information on any of these flights I would appreciate receiving the information on those flights. I will be using a APRS LIGHT W tracker with a usb battery and solar panel to charge it on the first flight with the possibility of adding a cross band repeater Later if I can prove that we can keep them up for sufficient period of time. The electronics is the easy part the Balloon is the difficult part. I am looking at making my own balloon using stratofilm 430 ,If any one has done this I would appreciate any information they have and what there experience was. I would also appreciate any anyone offering information on a project of this type. --
Howard L. Brooks Professor of Physics and Astronomy 241 Julian Science and Mathematics Center DePauw University 2 E. Hanna Street Greencastle, IN 46135 hlbrooks@... Office: (765) 658-4653 FAX: (765) 658-4732
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Jerry
As Howard pointed out, Alan holds the record. The last account I have seen is HIRF-6 was up for 767 days and 35 laps. I'm sure it went farther than that. You can see some of the info here: http://www.scientificballoonsolutions.com/news/ This is Ron Meadows company. He made the balloons Alan used.
On Thursday, March 19, 2020, 8:23:26 AM MST, BASE_DePauw <hlbrooks@...> wrote:
Stan, Alan Adamson has had multiple long duration flights. I believe his e-mail is: adamson_alan@... Bill Brown wb8elk@... is experienced in all types of balloon flights including extended duration floaters Ron Meadows K6RPT is someone who has flown extended flights and manufactured balloon envelopes. See www.cnsp-inc.com Howard, KC9QBN, BASE_DePauw On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 11:05 AM stan siems <ssiems@...> wrote: I am working on launching several long term floaters with hopefully multiple passes around the earth I have several persons saying this has been done with up to 7 passes although I have not found data to support this. If any one would have information on any of these flights I would appreciate receiving the information on those flights. I will be using a APRS LIGHT W tracker with a usb battery and solar panel to charge it on the first flight with the possibility of adding a cross band repeater Later if I can prove that we can keep them up for sufficient period of time. The electronics is the easy part the Balloon is the difficult part. I am looking at making my own balloon using stratofilm 430 ,If any one has done this I would appreciate any information they have and what there experience was. I would also appreciate any anyone offering information on a project of this type. Howard L. Brooks Professor of Physics and Astronomy 241 Julian Science and Mathematics Center DePauw University 2 E. Hanna Street Greencastle, IN 46135 hlbrooks@... Office: (765) 658-4653 FAX: (765) 658-4732
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Jim Reed
Let me know when you guys have a floater up. We are now teaching from home and I teach introduction to programming. I think using a floater or two in my curriculum would be a nice discussion point. Please let us know when you are up and flying!! Thanks!!
On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 10:05 AM stan siems <ssiems@...> wrote: I am working on launching several long term floaters with hopefully multiple passes around the earth I have several persons saying this has been done with up to 7 passes although I have not found data to support this. If any one would have information on any of these flights I would appreciate receiving the information on those flights. I will be using a APRS LIGHT W tracker with a usb battery and solar panel to charge it on the first flight with the possibility of adding a cross band repeater Later if I can prove that we can keep them up for sufficient period of time. The electronics is the easy part the Balloon is the difficult part. I am looking at making my own balloon using stratofilm 430 ,If any one has done this I would appreciate any information they have and what there experience was. I would also appreciate any anyone offering information on a project of this type.
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Alan Adamson
Thanks for the kind words. I got sucked into the world of satellites (professionally) and haven’t had a chance to play much with balloons.
But a few comments. The original author’s intent sounded like something very different from mine, and something that I actually haven’t heard of.
My balloon that flew for over 2 years and finally broke the record that NASA held with the ghost balloon program, was extremely light.
The payload was custom built and weighed ~9grams Ron’s company made the balloon (envelope) and it was made from a special material that was used in the food industry for wrapping sushi 😊 My balloon flew on H2, not HE As a result for 767 days it was at approx. 46000 ft and was considered a Super Pressure balloon (fully sealed envelope)
The primary tricks are - you have to float at above 41000 to stay away from airplanes You have to use a material that won’t *leak* your lifting gas Your payload has to be extremely light And in my case I flew a solar only balloon, it didn’t have a heavy battery instead it used a super capacitor and solar panels For radio(s) you have to use something that can be tracked world wide (APRS isn’t that btw). So my balloon used *both* APRS for when it was in coverage, and WSPR (yes on 20mtrs) for full world coverage (it has 2 antennas a ½ wave on 2mtrs and a ½ wave on 20mts Of the first 2 years, it was heard and tracked via telemetry every day but 3. There was a gap at the end as over time it developed an intermittent problem.
Here is the last version of a Presentation that used with a few local Ham Radio clubs before I left Atlanta and moved to Utah.
I do have some plans upcoming for a few more launches and the second board that is referenced in that presentation will likely be available after further testing (the company I work for hired the developer – but we’ve been completely consumed working on low cost, commercial satellites 😊 )…
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gnchy5tqw2g4gy0/HAB%20-%202019.pdf?dl=0
I can answer questions, but my responses will likely be delayed so bear with me, Alan Adamson W7QO Ps. The balloon flew under the call of K4JCW, because my call was on a sister balloon that was still up when we launched the record setting one.
From: GPSL@groups.io <GPSL@groups.io> On Behalf Of Jerry via Groups.Io
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:29 AM To: GPSL@groups.io Subject: Re: [GPSL] High altitude floater
As Howard pointed out, Alan holds the record. The last account I have seen is HIRF-6 was up for 767 days and 35 laps. I'm sure it went farther than that. You can see some of the info here: http://www.scientificballoonsolutions.com/news/
This is Ron Meadows company. He made the balloons Alan used.
Jerry Gable
On Thursday, March 19, 2020, 8:23:26 AM MST, BASE_DePauw <hlbrooks@...> wrote:
Stan,
Alan Adamson has had multiple long duration flights. I believe his e-mail is: adamson_alan@...
Bill Brown wb8elk@... is experienced in all types of balloon flights including extended duration floaters
Ron Meadows K6RPT is someone who has flown extended flights and manufactured balloon envelopes. See www.cnsp-inc.com
Howard, KC9QBN, BASE_DePauw
On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 11:05 AM stan siems <ssiems@...> wrote:
-- Howard L. Brooks
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