[PPRAANet] Fw: [COham] High School High Altitude Balloon Launch

[John Bloodgood]

I am sure many of you know about  Edge of Space Sciences (EOSS), but for those who do not, they launch high altitude balloons from Deer Trail and up near Greeley carrying payloads from many groups including NOAA, colleges and universities, high schools, and middle schools.  See http://eoss.org/ . As such, they are a great STEM resource: STEM being initiatives to energize students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  Many, if not all the EOSS members are amateur radio operators and they use ham radio for coordination of launches and recovery as well as for tracking via APRS and reporting longitude, latitude, altitude, heading, and speed to the FAA.  In fact EOSS had two launches just last weekend. I have supported several of their launches with my home APRS Internet Gateway and radios.

Amateur radio is a great STEM venue and the ARRL and ARRL clubs do a lot of STEM activities with schools ranging from school clubs to talking via ham radio to the International Space Station.    I have given presentations to several schools now regarding amateur radio and about amateur radio in public service/ARES and personally think that amateur radio clubs in schools are very worthwhile.  They not only help get students interested in STEM subjects, but also provide an influx of youth and diversity into the ham radio ranks.  

 
 
 
John Bloodgood, KD0SFY


 
> From: n0abc at msn.com
> To: ppraanet at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 21:10:05 -0700
> Subject: [PPRAANet] Fw: [COham] High School High Altitude Balloon Launch
> CC: boardmembers at ppraa.org
> 
> All,
> 
> I am just forwarding this along to the club as well as its members.
> 
> I would like to suggest that possibly the club could help out in this 
> endeavor, and that perhaps some of the members might also wish to 
> individually. Skyler has presented a clear and concise proposal, and I think 
> that gaining assistance for this could help promote more interest in ham 
> radio by the younger generation (i.e. the more they are doing, the more 
> visibility they will be giving our hobby and service).
> 
> 73
> 
> Dennis
> NØABC
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Skyler F
> Sent: Monday, November 09, 2015 7:06 PM
> To: Colorado Ham
> Subject: [COham] High School High Altitude Balloon Launch
> 
> Hi, its Skyler Fennell KD0WHB, I am a Senior in High School, and started
> the Colorado Amateur Satellite net (amsatnet.info).
> 
> This year, I have started an Amateur Radio club at my School (Denver School
> of the Arts Amateur Radio Club , KE0FXH) , and we have decided we want to
> build a payload for the Edge of Space Sciences launch in *February of 2016.*
> 
> We plan on performing an Amateur Radio experiment to either test RF
> propagation at the elevation or send data packets of live information or
> both. Although I have plenty of parts laying around for transmitting and
> receiving RF signals, and processors like the Arudino or raspberry pi, for
> the live data, the trip will cost us $350 to get a payload on the 100,000
> foot balloon launch.
> 
> This Amateur Radio club is almost entirely student funded, and I have
> already brought in stuff for a Fox Hunt, the construction of an AllStar/
> EchoLink repeater, and now we are building a Morse code transceiver. The
> next project will be the Balloon payload, given that we get the funds for
> the Launch.
> 
> I would greatly appreciate if anybody would be willing to donate a bit to
> the club for support of the High Altitude Balloon Launch. I believe this
> launch will inspire many students to learn about Science and Technology,
> and inspire them to get a ham license.
> 
> Here is a donation link. The video shows a payload, which I helped design
> for the STEM school in highlands ranch, Colorado, a sound propagation
> experiment:
> 
> https://www.gofundme.com/eu985jy4
> 
> Our club contains 5 Licensed amateurs so far, and we are recruiting more.
> We meet during lunch hour in one of the Science rooms.
> 
> 73, and Thanks from
> 
> Skyler Fennell KD0WHB - President, Founder, Trusty of the club Call
> Jordan Walters KD0MLV - Co-founder
> Ian Tompkins KE0GET
> Christopher Banchero - KE0DTG
> Dong Lee - KD0ZOE
> Other Students in the club, who plan on soon getting their ham license.
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