[W5SFA] Balloon Launch Update

[Roger Klein]

Folks,

Yesterday afternoon around 3:00 pm conditions were good (almost no wind, no clouds) so I launched my U4B package weighing 25.5 grams. The balloon reported for 70 minutes, almost reaching Hempstead at an altitude over 10,000 feet. The balloon then went quiet.

However, this morning it reported in at 8:10 am from grid square FM29, up in New Jersey. It is currently in grid square FM39gc (off the coast of New Jersey), altitude 23,600 feet and speed of 100 mph. Ironically, it passed very close to Lakehurst, NJ - site of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. Hopefully that's not an omen.

You can track the balloon's progress at the QRP Labs web site: http://qrp-labs.com/tracking.html Look about halfway down the page for N5RWK-Stat and click the link, it will take you to a map and telemetry page.

This has been a collaborative effort between Ray WA5IWB, Gary KF5ZRT, Joe KA8WEP, Dan W5AOV and others, and it seems we have finally licked most of the technical problems. One of the problems we had was overfilling the balloons - at altitude the pressure differential caused the balloon to fail. This balloon only had 5 grams of lift, using less hydrogen.

We are still planning to launch one or two balloons tomorrow at 8 am, conditions permitting. I will send an update later today.

73,

Roger

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