"Allan Butler" wrote in message
news:91vEb.426793$ao4.1361630@attbi_s51...
xpyttl wrote:

I was a little distracted by the main path of the conversation that we
were
having so I didn't ask at that time why they wanted 80 meters for a beacon
from that high. I also realize that it is going to take a fair amount of
battery to keep this thing going for any period of time.

These people do a lot with GPS. Maybe they are hoping to pass GPS
location
data to the ground crew after the payload lands so that they can go right
to it and pick it up. I have no idea what they are doing with antenna
ideas
or anything like that.

Now, what was his phone number? :-)

In the mean time thanks for the information. I will get to looking at it
and pass it on.

Al Butler
ka0ies

Al -

You have 2 very large helpful balloon organizations (NSTAR) in the Omaha /
Kansas City corridor ....
using GPS, VHF (2 meters, 70 cm, etc.) with VERY favorable results.

80 meters is a poor choice for project -- and 20 to 30 watts will be a power
hog (weight)
that is counter intuitive with what is trying to be accomplished.

LOW WEIGHT and HIGH PERFORMANCE are your criteria.

Check out the NSTAR light weight camera -- sending video at UHF to ground !
(you can't do this with 80 meters)

NSTAR
http://www.nstar.org/

Edge of Space Sciences
http://www.eoss.org/ansrecap/ar_060/recap55.htm

RCKARA
http://www.rckara.org/project_traveler/2001a/

NSTAR 2004 Flight Schedule
Future Flights
Here's our flight schedule for 2004. Those without a listed location will
be from our usual sites (near Treynor IA or west of Omaha NE).

a.. 04A - Mid to late February (SSTV scheduled)

b.. 04B - March 20 - Central Plains Severe Weather Symposium - Lincoln NE
(SSTV scheduled)

c.. 04C - April 17 - Strategic Air and Space Museum Family Day - Ashland
NE (SSTV scheduled)

d.. 04D - Mid to late May

e.. 04E - July 3 or 4 - Great Plains Super Launch - Hutchinson KS

f.. 04F - Mid to late August

g.. Perhaps 04G and 04H before the end of the year

W9GB