trophyhead

3 ms·

1.
by trophyhead 6y ago
There are several approaches that can be taken with balloons. By design, they do not expand like a weather balloon does. One wants to put in enough lifting gas to make it fly high (mostly to avoid clouds that will bring down a balloon wit
2.
by trophyhead 6y ago
You can, but you may not get the results you're looking for. APRS is a line-of sight signal. In a balloon, you might be heard by transmitters 200 miles or so away. On a boat, I'd expect that range to drop to 50 or less. So if y
3.
by trophyhead 6y ago
I'm sure people in the UK are doing launches, but it's illegal for them to transmit when flying in UK airspace. In reality, it's an almost unenforcable law to begin with. Most of the WSPR transmissions are on the order of 10
4.
by trophyhead 6y ago
Airborne transmissions of this sort are not legal over the UK, North Korea, or Yemen. Guessing it's a leftover rule from WW2 in the case of the UK, not sure. These transmitters typically have geofencing routines that turn off the tran
5.
by trophyhead 6y ago
These are run by solar panels that only transmit during the day. The capacitor just gives a half a minute or so in the event of brief cloud cover, panel not facing the sun at a good angle, etc. Not strictly necessary, but since a WSPR mes
6.
by trophyhead 6y ago
At the altitudes these are flying at (10km+), the air is bone dry. Unless moisture is encountered on the ascent, there is no need for conformal coating. P.S. - I've done a fair number of these flights and can speak in more detail abou