This is the flight of CLOUD3, the main aim being to take photographs and video from “near space”. It was my 3rd such flight – the first of which (CLOUD1) was partially successful, and the second of which (CLOUD2) landed in the sea. As you will see, 1 + 2 […]
Read MoreNew Super-Light Payload
There are lots of reasons for wanting to get the payload weight down – it can save money (less helium / smaller balloon), or can mean more height with the same size balloon. Also very small payloads are used for foil balloon flights which, although they only get to 4km […]
Read MoreBuzz2 – To the UK Altitude Record, And Beyond!
Buzz2 aka Buzznik was my second attempt at getting a payload up in amongst the top of the UK high altitude table for amateur weather balloon launches. Buzz1 burst earlier than planned, though was otherwise a successful flight recovered in a field in Cambridgeshire. Gaining high altitudes is an inexact […]
Read MoreCloud2 – Lost At Sea
The day started well, with a bright moon shining through and between the broken clouds. Not the last broken cloud of the day! That’s Jupiter below and to the right of the moon. When everyone arrived, we set off to the launch site to get the balloon inflated and the […]
Read MoreCloud2
Cloud2 is my second attempt at a photographic flight. Basically, it’s similar to my first flight but with smaller and lighter GPS receiver, GPS antenna and flight computer. The container is much more compact than before, and is designed for much quicker assembly before launch. A piece of coax connects […]
Read MoreBuzz1 is Ready
With the software all written and tested, it was time to package the electronics into Buzz’s spaceship. That involved unsoldering all the wires then connecting everything up again using measured lengths of fine wire. Here’s the tiny flight computer: I fitted the components into the spaceship top, except for the […]
Read MoreBuzz – To 40km and beyond!
Well, that’s the plan! The aim with my first balloon launch was to take photographs from around 29km (100,000 feet); this one will be to get as high as possible. The UK record was till a few weeks ago set at around 36km, but is now 40.5km. My target is […]
Read MoreSuccess!
On Sunday, with great help from some friends, I successfully launched and retrieved the balloon, recovering complete video footage of the entire flight. Not everything worked (see below), but nevertheless I’m very pleased with the result. The morning started with at around 9am, feeding the helpers with tea, coffee, bacon […]
Read MoreReady To Launch …
An update is well overdue, so here it is … I needed a suitable radio receiver both to test that my radio transmitter was working OK, and to track the balloon during the flight. After a couple of abortive purchases I ended up with an AOR AR8000 which is a […]
Read MoreName That Tune
Next job was to get the transmitter running and prove it was transmitting correctly by hooking up a receiver to decode the radio signal. The program waggles a single output pin which is then reduced in amplitude and offset a little to match the transmitter’s requirements. Here’s the resulting signal […]
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