The payload weighed in at 3 oz. It was a modified version of a Fireball 3.2 beacon system with 10-40 mW of CW beeps (speed proportional to temperature) on 28.322 and 50.001 MHz - built by Tim KD5DTW (SK).
A close-up of the component side of the circuit. The IC is a low-power NE555 in astable mode with an external thermistor. Power was from a 6VDC Sulphur-Dioxide Lithium battery.
Bill WA5VQH and Andy W5ACM put some gas to the party balloon.
Chainsaw cruises by, "I need another beer!"
Andy, Bill and Charlie K5ENG begin moving the balloon and payload to the launch pad by the lake.
Careful! Careful! Bill does a nice slow hand-over-hand release before he LET IT GO!
Ray KC5LCP captured this great view of BLT-18.75 just after launch at 8:02 PM.
The dedicated balloonatics watch BLT-18.75 rise into the evening sky while the rest of the crew clean fish at FishFest 2003.
We had a lot of fun with BLT-18.75. The ascent rate was brisk - 1000 feet per minute. Reception reports from Randy KD5IIA indicated burst at 55 minutes after launch. The estimated altitude based on time of flight and the repetition rate of the beeps was 55,000 feet.
The next event will be BLT-19 featuring more devices provided by Bronwyn, for previous BLT Payload Master Tim Sargent KD5DTW (SK).
Don't Miss It! We're on for August 23, 2003!