[GCARC] Balloon launch postponed

[Jon Pearce]

The balloon launch has been postponed because a potential opportunity has arisen to have the lifting gas and related supplies donated to the Foundation and the school, and we need time to explore that option. Because of Field Day and other June activities the launch won't take place until early July. This will also give us more time for testing and configuration.

For anyone interested in tracking the balloons already floating around the world check out the link below. In particular, the W8BI-12 balloon was launched at the Dayton Hamvention and has travelled east and was last tracked off the coast of Japan. It's carrying an APRS tracker that will only report when within range of APRS internet gateways, which are not numerous in many parts of the world. Our balloons will carry a WSPR tracker on 20 meters which should give us many more reports and allow more consistent tracking. We'll use software to link those WSPR reports to sondehub.org and aprs.fi. The Monday night TechNet session on June 10 will cover the various balloon tracking options, both by radio and internet.

https://amateur.sondehub.org/

73 de Jon WB2MNF