Matt NE3U (ex KY4EOD)'s SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver (and his Globe-circling Balloons!)

Matt was one of the first builders of this receiver (see above). He heroically stuck with the very small speaker that we had used in the high school receiver. 

Matt wrote: 

I just wanted to publicly thank you for doing this. I’m sure it’s been a lot of work but I’m very grateful for the experience. I’ve always wanted to home brew and I’ve done a few little things such as filters and attenuators but this has really given me the motivation to really dive in deep.

I’m 44 and I’ve only been a ham a few years so hopefully I have lots of time ahead to get others excited about home brewing. We have a very active club here in KY and there are quite a few folks mildly interested in home brewing, I’m going to push some of them to start a builders group in the club with me. This is entirely due to the effort you have put into this project!

Thank you. 

Matt also builds balloons with tiny solar-powered ham radio transmitters aboard.  These balloons fly around the world.  He is advising Vienna Wireless Society on their balloon project.  Just last night Matt wrote: 

In case anyone is interested, my balloon that has been spending a lot of time in the northern latitudes popped back up again today after being quite for nearly two weeks. Looking at the path prediction on HYSPLIT it's going to make another loop to the north but at least the earth is tilting back to give me a more favorable solar angle. It's only going to get better as spring rolls in.This balloon lost a little altitude shortly after launch for unknown reasons so it's not quite a high as I would like but as long as it can stay away from spring storms, it should still have quite a bit of life left in it. This one is still flying on my old callsign. I got my vanity callsign when I thought the balloon had gone down, then it showed back up. Whoops, oh well, I tried. Matt NE3U

Spot Search Dashboard - Traquito

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Matt is a veteran.  Thank you Matt! 

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For more information on how you too can build the receiver: 

Join the discussion - SolderSmoke Discord Server:

https://discord.gg/Fu6B7yGxx2

 

Documentation on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.io/project/190327-high-schoolers-build-a-radio-receiver

 

SolderSmoke YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@soldersmoke 

Ham Radio Pico Balloons Feared Shot Down by USAF

The Aviation Week article below helped to confirm some of my worst fears about the balloon thing.  For a long I've wanted to launch one of these balloons.  Recently I've been thinking about doing it from SolderSmoke Shack South (in the Dominican Republic -- they are BIG on party balloons down there!). 

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/hobby-clubs-missing-balloon-feared-shot-down-usaf?fbclid=IwAR0ra3U4QPlzrNiVDNXz1UzQdDNfFUpccrQIRhVaCKkrZWHIPXQ0hwxEVKI

Check out Hans's site about the circumnavigators: 

http://www.qrp-labs.com/circumnavigators.html

SolderSmoke FDIM Interviews: Hans Summers G0UPL Talks about the QDX and His New Balloon Tracker

 

Thanks to Bob Crane W8SX for getting us this wonderful interview with Hans G0UPL.  Its really amazing to hear Hans talk about how many QDX rigs and Baloon Trackers have been sold by QRP Labs, and how quickly they sell.  Really great.  Hans's comments on the realities of the parts shortage was also very interesting. 

Listen here (about 7 minutes):  http://soldersmoke.com/2022 G0UPL.mp3

U4B Balloon Tracker 

Cosmic Rays, Bit Flips, and Computer Vulnerability

Here is a very interesting video about a problem that many of us have been blissfully unaware. 

You can see the role played by the solar cycle.  This is the subject of some on-going research by the folks who put out the SpaceWeather.com web site.  They have been flying balloons to measure high altitude cosmic rays: 

I've been meaning to build a cloud chamber for a long time.  I recently discovered that my local 

supermarket sells dry ice... 

Thanks to Dave, K8WPE for alerting us to this video.  

A Parachute that Flies Home Autonomously

 

Too often ham radio bloggers and podcasters tend to focus their efforts on the projects of, well, older guys like us.  I think it is a good idea to direct attention toward young innovators, the next generations of people who are working on interesting new projects using new technology.  

Yohan Hadji is definitely one of these young innovators.  He is 16 years-old and is working to develop a system that would guide the parachutes of descending balloon payloads to designated safe landing areas.  Having spent a lot of time chasing the parachutes of Estes rockets, and after having to PERSONALLY guide my own parachute to a safe landing area (sometimes without success),  Yohan's project caught my attention.  

The videos above describe the project.  

A Hack-A-Day article provides good background: 

https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/gps-guided-parachutes-for-high-altitude-balloons/#more-454705

And finally, if you want to support Yohan's work, he has a GoFundMe site: 

https://gofund.me/c0ae8d1f

FDIM: Listen to Bob Crane Interview Hans Summers, G0UPL

Bob Crane, our intrepid correspondent at the 2017 Four Day in May event, caught up with Homebrew Hero Hans Summers G0UPL.  Hans's amazing web sites have been the inspiration for many projects in my shacks.   My favorite so far was his QRSS transmitter using an LED based multivibrator circuit to generate a shark fin pattern on grabber screens.  That was fun.  I am now really tempted to send one of Hans's WSPR transmitters into the stratosphere using party balloons. 

Listen to the interview here:

http://soldersmoke.com/FDIM17G0UPL.mp3

Visit Hans's QRP-Labs here:

https://www.qrp-labs.com/

Thanks Bob!  Thanks Hans!

Christmas Present! 4Z1UG's Interview with Han Summers G0UPL

I found myself almost cheering out loud as I listened to this wonderful interview, especially at the point where Hans lets it be known that he has NO COMMERCIAL HAM GEAR in his shack!  Yes!  That's the ticket!   You can also hear the story of Hans and Farhan meeting up in Mumbai for dinner. The interview includes discussion of  WSPR and QRSS and BITX and crystal ovens and, at the end, a special QSO TODAY overtime session in which Hans describes the little WSPR rigs that fly around the world, carried aloft by half-filled birthday party balloons. 

Thanks to Eric 4Z1UG and Hans G0UPL for this very nice Christmas present.

Listen here:

http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/g0upl

WSPR Party Balloons Make it Across the Pond

		Hans Summers April 15 at 11:25am
VE3KCL/QRP Labs S-9 balloon finally reached Europe! What a crazy way to cross the Atlantic. Crossed Portugal, now into Spain. France is next! 16mW 30m WSPR signal was reported in ZL and VK (19,000km DX). Who says you need 5W on HF WSPR? 73 Hans G0UPL http://qrp-labs.com

VE3KCL Balloon makes "several loops around Greenland"

Oh, I really want to do this.  We had a bunch of balloons for my daughter's birthday and I found myself trying to guestimate how much they could lift.  There is a balloon store that sells the metalized party balloons used here.  They have a helium tank.   I hate to be a party pooper (!) but wouldn't the antenna represent a bit of a hazard?  If it came down in power lines, that wouldn't be good right?
In any case, three cheers for Dave VE3KCL and for Hans, G0UPL, the wizard who makes the QRSS/WSPR transmitter that is currently flying over Iceland.  

Hi all

Some of you must have seen this already - but the rest of you may find it interesting. Dave VE3KCL launched his S-9 balloon 4 days ago (2 standard party-balloons, hydrogen-filled) with modified QRP Labs Ultimate3S QRSS/WSPR transmitter onboard.

We are using WSPR messages for tracking - one normal WSPR message and one with a special data protocol to provide altitude, speed, Maidenhead 5/6th characters, battery voltage, temperature and GPS/satellite status. The transmitter has about 16mW power output, on 30m band. It is sending CW and JT9 as well. Altitude is a little over 10,000m. So far it has traveled in several loops around Greenland and the North Atlantic. Currently it is near the Faroe islands. See live tracking at QRP Labs website http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons/ve3kcl-s9.html

G-landers, don't get too excited that it appears to be heading your way - the wind prediction shows it likely to head back West almost as far as Newfoundland, before turning back East towards Spain!

73 Hans G0UPL

http://qrp-labs.com

http://hanssummers.com

The Amazing History of the Gibson Girl Rescue Radio

 

A video about the Kon-Tiki expedition got us wondering about how you could generate hydrogen gas for an antenna balloon while on a raft at sea. (That's the kind of question that keeps Knack victims up at night.)  This led us to the Gibson Girl rescue radio.  This morning I found a fascinating web site that gives the long, multi-country history of the curvaceous rescue rig: 

 

http://www.wftw.nl/gibsongirl.html 

Kon-Tiki and the Gibson Girl

Back in July we shared a very nice video sent to us by Rupert G6HVY on the radios used by the Kon-Tiki expedition.  Many of us had questions about the device used by the intrepid radio operator to generate hydrogen gas (for the antenna balloon) while on the high seas.   Mike Herr WA6ARA supplied the answer:   1200 grams of Calcium Hydride crystals.  This was part of the WWII rescue  radio set CRT-3 (aka the Gibson Girl). 

Fair Radio Sales occasionally sells this intriguing device: 
https://www.fairradio.com/catalog.php?mode=search&keywords=hydrogen&submit.x=21&submit.y=8

And here is great site with more details on the other antenna supports in the Gibson Girl set, including a ROCKET LAUNCHED KITE! 

https://billboyheritagesurvey.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/war-kite-the-gibson-girl-kites/

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Ham Radio on the Kon-Tiki

Hi Bill

Just found a short Youtube QRP video which is quite fun. It's of the radio side of  Thor Heyerdahl's cross-Pacific Kon-Tiki raft expedition in 1947, operating /MM with 7 watts. I found a longer description of what they had and what they did - including a thrilling tale of drying components on coral reefs while they desperately tried to make contact having washed up on an island - but not of the unusual parrot incident with a hydrogen balloon-lofted antenna during the voyage. That's only in the video.

 

It's all gripping adventure radio stuff, and shows what HF and a bunch of tubes could do before the digital satcom age.

 

The video's here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEvM4HxQxSQ

and the write-up (excerpted below) is here - http://www.arrl.org/news/last-surviving-crew-member-of-i-kon-tiki-i-expedition-passes-away

 

"The expedition used call sign LI2B and carried three watertight radio transmitters. The first operated on the 40 and 20 meters, the second on 10 meters and the third on 6 meters. Each unit was made up entirely of 2E30 vacuum tubes providing 10 W of RF input. As an emergency backup, they also carried a German Mark V transceiver originally re-created by Britain's Special Operations Executive in 1942. Other equipment included a hand-cranked emergency set of the Gibson Girl type for use on the maritime bands, a special VHF set for contacting aircraft and two British Mark II transmitters. The Kon-Tiki also carried a National Radio Company NC-173 receiver. Dry batteries and a hand-cranked generator supplied the power."

73s

Rupert, G6HVY

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Two Party Balloons, an Arduino and an Si5351 FLY! ALOFT! UP IN THE AIR!

http://www.qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/balloon.html

Farhan alerted me to this.  This is clearly the coolest use so far of the Dynamic Duo (Arduino+Si5351).

It took me a moment to get my head around this.  It is so fantastic.  Let me break it down for you:

You take two party balloons.  You build a little payload consisting of an Arduino Nano, an Si5351 board, a GPS module and a battery.  You load the Nano with firmware that will take the GPS info and transmit it via WSPR and JT9.   Then you release the whole thing and sit back to receive the telemetry packets that tell you where the thing is.  Very cool.  Very cool indeed.  

THE Si5351 SERVES AS THE WHOLE TRANSMITTER.  It connects to the antenna.  (Steve Smith will, I'm sure,  insists on a low pass filter, even here!)

Here is a similar project: 

http://picospace.net/

And be sure to stop by the QRP Labs online store.  Lots of good stuff there:

https://shop.qrp-labs.com/

I've been interested in balloons for a long time.  A few years ago Billy, Maria and I released a party balloon over Northern Virginia with a note requesting that the finder send us an e-mail (It landed about 10 miles away, across the Potomac river, in Washington D.C.).   Here is a picture of a paper-mache hot-air  balloon that we built and flew near Lavallette, New Jersey (Ocean Beach Unit III) sometime around 1969.  Many of the kids in the picture are my cousins:

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Beautiful French Aerial Photography Project. UPstagram! (Video)

We've put cameras in kites and rockets, but I think this is much cooler.

More details (and pictures) here: http://hackerloop.com/upstagram/

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

UK Balloon Launch and a North Sea Splashdown

I like balloon projects.
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Amateur Radio Balloon Crosses The Pond (and the Continent)

Wow, congratulations to the California Near Space team. Their balloon flew from Silicon Valley, across the U.S., across the Atlantic and is now en route to Italy. As a former Azores APRS operator, I was pleased to see the APRS report from those islands. George, KJ6VU, of Sierra Radio Systems, was present for the launch.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Balloons! Space Stations! Aurora!

My in-box seemed to have an outer space theme today. First, from Guanajuato, Mexico comes word that the radio club there is planning a second edge-of-space balloon launch. SARSEM ICARUS II is scheduled to go up on 20 November carrying a VHF/UHF repeater. SARSEM ICARUS I was obviously a big success. Check out the picture it took from 29000 meters up (above). Thanks Roberto!

A couple days ago we noted that the International Space Station would be visible over N. America this week. So far we have only one report of a sighting: Jim, AL7RV saw it from Mississippi. This morning Yahoo carried some pictures taken from the crew's cupola. This one shows some territory dear to our hearts!

Finally, spaceweather.com carried this beautiful aurora shot from Tromso, Norway. It was taken by Ole Christian Salomonsen on November 14. Spaceweather notes that "a solar wind stream has been buffeting the earth's magnetic field." This probably explains why Maria and I could hear very few stations on 75 meters last evening. And 75 seemed totally dead yesterday morning.

Portuguese Knack: Balloon Launch May 30

I don't think they are radio amateurs, but these guys seem to have The Knack. That's an edge-of-space balloon payload they built. They plan to launch on May 31. You will be able to follow the event live, on-line. They have a very interesting web site: http://spacebits.eu/

Pico-Sats, Texas, Dubai, Balloons

Our man in Dubai, Ron Sparks, AG5RS, sent in this very interesting report on the very small satellites. Obviously lots of QRP relevance here:

Hi Bill,

I am attaching some news you may find interesting. If you remember last year I did an echolink => IRLP => 2m linkup to make QSLs on the Balloon Launch (BLT-24). Besides the usual repeater and video gear, we also had an interesting "hitchhiker" on the payload.

It was the functional engineering model of the BEVO-1 picosat. You can see pictures of the model and the balloon payload here:

http://www.w5acm.net/b24.html

This unit sent beacon information during the balloon launch and we tested it environmentally by doing so. Data on the sat itself is at:

http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/06/09/picosatellite/

A sister satellite was being prepared by my alma mater, Texas A&M, who then docked their sat with the UT sat and put them on the Shuttle mission STS-127. Photos are here:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/dragonst.htm

All of this is part of NASAs DRAGONsat program. This is a new GPS system being developed by NASA.

I know that the satellite stuff is a little "far afield" for Soldersmoke, but you might find the connection to the Houston balloon community interesting. Those of us who get together and annually launch the balloon are without question Soldersmoke-ers with chronic cases of "the knack". It is fun for me to see that actually be useful toward a next generation replacement for GPS satellites.

All the best.
73 from Dubai, Ron AG5RS and A65BQ

Into Space (almost) with the Basic Stamp

L. Paul Verhage has been a leader in the edge-of-space balloon game for a long time now. This morning, Hack-A-Day led me to a site that has an on-line version of his book, and a collection of his balloon and Basic Stamp articles for Nuts-and-Volts. Inspirational stuff.

Here it is: http://www.parallax.com/tabid/567/Default.aspx