Radio club launches balloon
The East Rand Amateur Radio Club launched an unmanned balloon near Kriel, in Mpumalanga, on May 1.
The balloon, the latest of 11 such balloons the club has launched in the past, was set off from a disused airport near Kriel.
The balloon has a tracking device on it called Aprs, which is broadcast to frequency 144.800.
The payload, containing a tiny transmitter and a small camera, is suspended from the balloon by a feed line, which is approximately 10m long.
The balloon was chased by teams in cars, which carried the necessary radio equipment.
“The balloon experience was one of amazement; something as remote as building a balloon with radio transmitting and picture taking capabilities, at an altitude of 40km, where pictures of the curvature of the earth can clearly be seen and the whole voyage can be tracked by radio waves or seen on a personal computer, to me defies the odds,” said Connel Paul.
The balloon followed a route which had the teams chasing all over Mpumalanga.
It was visible near Belfast, at an altitude of about 35 000m.
It then followed a path into Swaziland, came back into South Africa, then headed for Mozambique, where the team had to stop at the Komatipoort border post, after which they turned back.
The balloon eventually passed over Maputo and fell into the Mozambique Channel.
Details of the event and pictures of the balloon chase are on the club’s Facebook page, Habex 11.
“The fact that there is no off-the-shelf-solution, but it all has to be constructed and there is no guarantee that you may ever recover the balloon leads to a pioneering attitude,” said Paul.
East Rand Amateur Radio Club was formed with the purpose of promoting amateur radio.
The group meets at their clubhouse, in Arrowe Park, on Ebenezer Street, at Homestead Lake, every Thursday evening.
For more information, or to join the club, contact Paul on 083 627 3576.
