Getting Close!

     Successful test of the imaging system! I was able to get 139 minutes of quality video out of the batteries. Enough to get to 100,000 feet. Next I need to do a full scale test of the tracker. Weather isn't looking too good for Saturday, but I hope to have that testing completed by then anyway.

Flight Delayed

    I'd rather be saying it's postponed due to weather; it is too bad to fly, but I'm just not ready. With spring planting and building a chicken coop, I'm going to put it off for just 2 weeks.

I built a capsule, but it was heavier than expected; over 100 grams. So I build a second one and it's much lighter. The capsule itself weighs in at under 40 grams. The tracker, sans batteries is 70 grams and the cams weigh around 15 gm each (x2), so I'm looking good for a total weight of 250 grams. Might even have room for a very small payload of some sort.

Tracker Finished

     The tracker went togehter rather easily. The GPS locks within seconds.
I hung it up just 15' from an antenna and it was picked up by a local station a few miles away and gated to the internet as seen here:

Next up is to assemble the capsule.

New GPS and Scaled Down Flight

     After several months of messing with a Motorola GPS module, I finally gave up and bought a different unit. This Argent GPS is tiny compared to the Mototrola.

      This is the radio transmitter. (Bayonics MicroTrak 300) It transmits on the 2 meter Ham Radio band at 144.390 Mhz with about 300 mW of power. It should be able to be received for better than 60 miles.

     I've also decided against sending up the Arduino as a flight computer on the first flight. The plan now is to send up a small camera and GPS/Radio tracker and that's it.

     I have the rip-stop nylon fabric for the parachute, (black and lime green) that I cannibalized from an old Rokkaku kite I had built several years ago but broken one of the spars on. I just need to sew it together.

     Testing of the tracking unit should begin soon as I solder together this twinlead j-pole antenna.
  
     The first flight is now scheduled for March 26, 2011.

Fight Computer and GPS

 

I purchased an Arduino Duemilanove mini processor to use as the main flight computer.

I also purchased a Motorola GPS module off of eBay.

I purchased a Canon Powershot A560 which can be hacked to snap a picture every 15 seconds (or any interval).

 
My 600 gram balloon has also arrived, although I may have bought it prematurely. A 600g balloon will only lift 250 grams or about 9 oz! That's not very much.

I may forgo the flight computer and use only the GPS tracker and camera on the first flight. The camera alone weighs 165 g. If I can get the tracker under 100 g I should barley make it.

Bakersfield Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloon project

or BARHAB-1

I've decided to attempt to launch a camera along with radio tracking equipment into the stratosphere in the hopes of bringing back images from 20 miles above the Central Valley. The mobile tracking station is already coming together nicely due to a lucky find of a almost brand new $200 radio scanner I picked up for $30. That along with some free software and I'm already receiving digital location data from local ham radio operators.
My next step is going to be designing the flight computer. It will be part of the payload along with a GPS, radio transmitter and possibly some other sensors, like temperature and pressure. For the flight computer, I'm looking at an Arduino mini processor.
I'm planning a launch in the early spring of 2011 if all goes well.