Well the Hamfest is over so now we can move onto something more fun!  We had tried this last year and I got busy and never got the building cleaned up to the point to build those Arrow Antennas but something has come along to force me out of hibernation and get this club back on track…  We are presented with the possibility to have a High-Altitude Balloon launch during Field Day this year.  I am still working to confirm this but for now we will begin preparations for this and go from there.  The goal is to create an open, collaborative and fun environment to learn about science, technology, engineering and math subjects and put those to use.  So to help get this started here is what I propose to do:

• Rebuild a VHF Eggbeater antenna that I have so we can use it for an APRS I-gate to help track the ballon
• Rebuild an Aprs Mobile I-gate that I have that has “hearing” issue in its current form.
• Help Roger with any help he needs planning payloads, plans, launch and recovery of the balloon.
• Rebuild the Slow Scan TV payload from the last launch including:  looking at battery needs, Enable the sun mode on the camera, look at adding sensors and adding that data to the images sent down and other options.
• Build a reliable receiving station for the SSTV images and move to the UHF eggbeater antenna I have to make receiving the images more reliable.
• Build a new antenna for the payload to allow better reception on the ground.
• Come up with the Helium for the launch.
• If our plan to have insurance falls through we may look at alternatives to help bring this launch a reality.
• Possibly create “recovery” teams to help Roger find the balloon after it comes back to earth.
• Learn more about the balloon launches including physics and other needed info.