Weather Balloon Photography

[ChiChoAndy]

Simpo Two said:

Very impressive!

100,000 feet next time?

What? Expand the horizons... TO THE MOON!!!!

[daveake]

Simpo Two said:

Very impressive!

100,000 feet next time?



NB Why the need for 3G and going online? Could it not have been located by standard DF techniques?

Yeah, 100,000 feet next time :-). It got close! We had a hitch with the transmitter which meant we halted the inflation for a while. Then when it was time to inflate fully it seemed the balloon had deflated a little (probably a leak in the filler somewhere) so I put a bit more in just in case. More helium means it pops at a lower altitude.

We needed 3G because after we lost the signal I made the mistake of restarting the decoder, thus losing the last position! Next time I'll switch logging on. At this point we had no signal at all via the roof antenna. We could have tried the Yagi but I decided to go online and see what other people had as the last location.

Dave

[JonnyFive]

How far did it travel from where you launched it?

Bloody brilliant project though, love it!

[14-7]

Fantastic.

Got a week off coming up so hoping to get the final things ordered for my launch.

[daveake]

14-7 said:

Fantastic.

Got a week off coming up so hoping to get the final things ordered for my launch.

Good stuff! Whereabouts are you? How will you be tracking it?

[Dogsey]

Great stuff Dave, are you going to put the video up online?

[daveake]

JonnyFive said:

How far did it travel from where you launched it?

Bloody brilliant project though, love it!

Landing spot was a mere 25 miles by road, and probably about 20 direct, from the launch site. It got further but turned back.

[JonnyFive]

daveake said:

JonnyFive said:

How far did it travel from where you launched it?

Bloody brilliant project though, love it!

Landing spot was a mere 25 miles by road, and probably about 20 direct, from the launch site. It got further but turned back.

Ah not too far then, how far did you expect it to travel or did you have no idea and just followed it as it went?

[daveake]

Dogsey said:

Great stuff Dave, are you going to put the video up online?

Yes, I'll do 3 - launch, near the top, and the landing :-)

A friend took a video of the launch sequence, chase and collection, and is going to do some editing of those and the payload video.

Dave

[Dan_1981]

Brilliant.

The origional video was awesome.

I'm still intending to do this at some point, i've been purchasing bits and bobs as and when.

[gary71]

Brilliant work

I can just imagine the look on the house owners face when the Ghostbuster team turned up!

[daveake]

JonnyFive said:

Ah not too far then, how far did you expect it to travel or did you have no idea and just followed it as it went?

The prediction had it going 8 miles further, so that's where we went.

I should have realised because on launch instead of going east, it went straight up.

Doing it again I'd want to get out to a high hill near the expected location, maybe delaying that a bit to see how well the prediction is holding up.

[Simpo Two]

ChiChoAndy said:

Expand the horizons... TO THE MOON!!!!

Don't be silly, a balloon works by displacement so it can't leave the atmosphere.

What you need is a LADDER and a spacesuit...

[14-7]

daveake said:

Good stuff! Whereabouts are you? How will you be tracking it?

Lancashire, but may launch from the south lake district area.

Tracking it by means of a GPS tracker that send out it's co-ordinates by a sim card.

[ChiChoAndy]

Simpo Two said:

Don't be silly, a balloon works by displacement so it can't leave the atmosphere.

What you need is a LADDER and a spacesuit...

Could you use the ladder, and spacesuit to take the balloon TO THE MOON???!!!11!!

[daveake]

14-7 said:

Lancashire, but may launch from the south lake district area.

Tracking it by means of a GPS tracker that send out it's co-ordinates by a sim card.

I had one as a backup. I forgot to check it had GPS before launch. It never got a GPS lock at all. I don't know why - could have been upside down.

[daveake]

ChiChoAndy said:

Could you use the ladder, and spacesuit to take the balloon TO THE MOON???!!!11!!

Only if he puts the ladder on a (very long) conveyor ;-)

[rix]

amazing, great project!

[markmullen]

Superb work!

[sharpfocus]

Awesome! Good job.