Author Archives: dave

Contact: dave@daveakerman.com

PIE5 Flight On Bloomberg

Posted on 16/05/2013 by dave

Tom Gibson from Bloomberg came along to my last launch to video the proceedings and interview me for this nice little article that went live today. Click the above image to view on the Bloomberg site, or watch on YouTube … Continue reading →

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Dressed To Chill

Posted on 02/05/2013 by dave

Probably my most unusual flight to date, this one began when I was contacted on Twitter by a media production company Sitcom Soldiers who asked for my help in launching a high altitude balloon for Wreck My Dress. They wanted … Continue reading →

Posted in Weather Balloon | 4 Comments

Watching A Big Cheese Over Switzerland

Posted on 15/04/2013 by dave

This was my fifth “Pi In The Sky” flight and originally was to be an altitude record attempt using an extremely light photographic payload, however such a flight this time of year is likely to end up in the North … Continue reading →

Posted in Raspberry Pi, Weather Balloon | 8 Comments

PIE5 – Trans-European Express

Posted on 11/04/2013 by dave

All being well I will launch the 5th “Pi In The Sky” this Saturday morning from Cambridgeshire. The intention is to get the balloon to float all day rather than burst, and the projected flight path takes it over Holland … Continue reading →

Posted in Weather Balloon | 3 Comments

Peli Case Tracking Station

Posted on 01/04/2013 by dave

Last week I helped out at a balloon launch, providing the tracking and video streaming from the launch site. Normally I do that stuff from the back of my car, but this time the site was some distance from the … Continue reading →

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The Cambridge Diet

Posted on 21/03/2013 by dave

Since I started using the Raspberry Pi as a radio tracker, I’ve been wanting to try two things both in the interest of reducing payload weight. As a simple telemetry tracker the Pi just cannot compete on weight with say … Continue reading →

Posted in Weather Balloon | 10 Comments

Eben Upton at Oxford Geek Night

Posted on 15/03/2013 by dave

Earlier this week I went along to the Oxford Geek Night where they had a Raspberry Pi themed night. The Pi is obviously popular in Oxford (despite any possible Oxford – Cambridge rivalry – the Pi was born in Cambridge), … Continue reading →

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BBC “Cracking The Code”

Posted on 15/03/2013 by dave

Just a quick post about a launch I did late last year for the TV production company Glasshead. It was for part of a new educational programme aimed at 8-11 year olds, to encourage them to program by showing them … Continue reading →

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TARDIS And Raspberry Pi In “Space”

Posted on 01/03/2013 by dave

Raspberry Pi in a TARDIS takes stratospheric self-portrait For my fourth Raspberry PI weather balloon flight I wanted to pack as much into the flight as I could, making full use of what the Pi has to offer: 3G link … Continue reading →

Posted in Raspberry Pi, Weather Balloon | 65 Comments

Next Launch – TARDIS

Posted on 23/02/2013 by dave

If you want to watch the live action during my next launch, this is what you need. The flight will be the fourth outing for my Raspberry Pi tracker. As usual it will be sending down GPS telemetry plus live … Continue reading →

Posted in Weather Balloon | 1 Comment