[bars] NEST Balloon Launch Saturday

[Tim KC1RET]

Awhile back I purchased an Arrow 70cm/20m handheld satellite antenna.  
After reading up on the HABGAB project I thought it would be a perfect 
first use.  Well, it turns out that the antenna uses BNC connectors 
rather than '259s and I was one adapter short of hooking it up through a 
duplexer to my HT.  RATS!

After a few moments of disappointment while watching the live feed on 
Youtube I realized that they were sending the downlink audio on the 
livestream.  Ah HA!  I'll just use the HT for the uplink (no duplexer 
required) and listen to the downlink on the live stream. I forgot about 
the delay. I did hear myself but it was several seconds delayed, far too 
long to complete a QSO with W1U.

Finally, I stuck upon the idea of using my main station 2m radio as the 
uplink and listen to the downlink on the HT with the Arrow antenna.  It 
was a bit of handful pointing the antenna in the general direction of 
the balloon with one hand and keying the mic with the other but I got 
them (W1U) on the first call!

Joy!  My first balloon-repeater QSO!

I did hear at least one other club member, N1CVO, Shawn in Lowell, on 
the downlink.

Congrats to Eric and the rest of the team!!

Eric, I am curious how well your picotracker payload performed. I didn't 
try tracking it.

73,
Tim - KC1RET

On 7/19/2023 11:56, Eric L. Johnson wrote:
> Below is a notice from the New England Sci-Tech Club (NEST) for the 
> upcoming (weather permitting) high altitude balloon launch.
> Following the link https://nescitech.org/habgab will get you all the 
> details, including instructions for using the HABGAB repeater during the
> flight.  We are encouraging Hams across New England to listen to or 
> contact the HABGAB repeater.
> I have been involved with this club over the past few months, and have 
> attached a small pico-balloon payload which we
> will use at a later date to attempt an around-the-world flight.
>
> Thank You,
> Eric Johnson KC1OAV
>
> ============================================================================================
> HABGab 2023 Balloon Launch
> presented by
> New England Weather Balloon Society
>
> Weather forecast is looking great for the weekend.  Still on for 
> Saturday.  Keep in mind, the ways to participate include:
>
> Launch Site: Current predictions are placing it in Eastern 
> Connecticut, and we'd aim to be there at 9am to start setup.  Final 
> launch site will be sent out the morning of launch very early.
>
> HABGab HQ NEST Event: NEST will be hosting people interested in 
> watching the flight remotely, doing makerspace activities, and getting 
> help from Joe Fitzgerald K1MP, an engineer who works with satellites 
> and satellite tracking, to make contact with the balloon repeater from 
> the radio room and earn a special event QSL card.
>
> Recovery Efforts: Help out your fellow team by tracking the positions 
> of the payloads on https://amateur.sondehub.org/, and reporting the 
> landing locations here on groups.io <http://groups.io/> for others 
> interested in helping with recovery of payloads.  Join us at one of 
> the 3 payload landing sites to help with onsite efforts to retrieve 
> the payloads.  Come prepared for heavy wilderness exploration (thick 
> pants, heavy boots, long sleeve shirts, tough gloves, hats, bug spray, 
> flashlights, water, snacks, etc.).
>
> Participate from Home: Track payloads online, watch the livestream, 
> contact or listen to the repeater, join the Discord 
> <https://discord.gg/ZWnvCbVymg> conversation.  Instructions all at 
> https://nescitech.org/habgab <https://nescitech.org/habgab>.
>
> =========================================================================================
> -- 
> Eric L. Johnson
> ericlee.johnson at gmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> bars mailing list
> bars at w1hh.org
> http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org

-- 

Courageously sent from a non-Apple device that /includes/ a headphone jack.

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      Tim Carter - KC1RET

			

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