Bruce Crandall

Amateur High |Altitude Balloon (HAB) Launches – W4OVH Field Day 2025  One Field Day bonus is an educational project. At one of the planning meetings, we decided to do a balloon launch with a radio package as our educational project.  We has done one before, but with disappointing telemetry. Bruce, KN4GDX, took the project on again for 2025.  Payloads Planning and Testing Two amateur payloads were planned and prepared for the Field Day 2025 launch.  Launch was planned for ~1500 on June 28 at the field day W4OVH site; and actually occurred at about 1530.  The following description covers the planning, launch activities and tracking of the two payloads. The first payload, from Zachtek, was similar to the 2024 HAB payload launch, which worked while testing, but unfortunately did not … Read more >>

W4OVH Amateur Balloon Payload Experiment – Field Day, 2024 Our W4OVH team of radio experiment enthusiasts launched an amateur radio high altitude balloon (HAB) payload on Field Day, June 22. Our first ever launch attempt zoomed into the blue sky trailing a lengthy HF antenna. To the amazement of the small group of spectators, the balloon and payload headed toward an uncertain fate. How did we get here?   Background The earliest known hydrogen gas balloon launch, according to Wikipedia, took place near Paris in 1783. One of the spectators in attendance was Benjamin Franklin. The balloon, fashioned in rubberized silk, was about 13 feet in diameter. The hydrogen was generated by pouring sulfuric acid over iron, then delivered into the balloon via lead pipes. You can read the details … Read more >>

The amateur radio and amateur satellite hobby has been a popular and innovative niche for many years. When I started in amateur radio in the 1980s, packet was a very popular digital mode for terrestrial communications, with growing amateur satellite packet options. That continues today, but many hams are more familiar with packet use in popular applications such as APRS. Since then, there has been a large global deployment of digital-repeaters globally and especially in the US, supporting the packet digital hobby and increased satellite-packet options. Today, the terrestrial packet hobby coexists with other advanced forms of digital HF and VHF communications such as VARAC and Winlink. And short satellite packet contacts of several minutes have been normal. What has been missing in the US, are longer dwell satellite contact … Read more >>

H.A.M. For 2023, rest assured a meaning has finally come into our hobby. After lengthy and never ending discussions on the meaning of ‘ham’, typically among oldies and newbies, and the assertions that it represents the initials of important people, the REAL answer has come to light (er, electromagnetic propagation). HAM stands for Heuristic Algorithmic Menagerie. (apologies to Arthur C. Clarke) Heuristic because … Heuristic — A heuristic, or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, short-term goal or approximation. Wikipedia Algorithmic because … duh: algorithms are embedded in everything we do. Menagerie because … It’s obvious to any observer of the typical ham … Read more >>