How far can a Party Balloon go ?
 

If someone was to release a helium filled party balloon, with an attached low power radio transmitter and gps transmitting a digital signal, how high and how far do you think it could go ?

Would you believe an altitude of 9 kilometers and two and a three quarter times around the world ?

http://bbspics.com/images/2015/08/12...dGraphic-3.png

http://picospace.net/?p=923

That's pretty cool....

I never would have believed

im surprised it went that far :2 cents::2 cents:

A new one was launched on the 8th August which I have been tracking.

My last signal from it was at 4am this morning and it's off the coast of Queensland, so it's gone from Melbourne up toward Sydney then parallel to the Gold Coast and out to the ocean from there.

amazing :thumbsup

Tracking these balloons is a lot of fun and a challenge, because the transmitter on the balloon is only 25 milliwatts. That's not a lot less power than your wireless router. However the transmitter operates on HF frequencies so using a good antenna and being lucky with propagation allows you to receive the signal.

It helps to have a rotator for your antenna so you can point it toward where you think the balloon will be, having DSP functions on your receiver help you discard the noise and receive the very weak signal.

Using a computer attached to your radio allows you to decode the data being transmitted and pinpoint the location.

Until it lands on some remote tropical island and the indigenous natives start worshipping a GPS transmitter as their new god.


http://schools.yrdsb.ca/markville.ss...s/image001.jpg

(cool little project, tho)

Cold this hit a plane's engine?

No, if you look at the site you'll see that projections are made of it's location and altitude and NOAA maps are made to ensure that can't happen.

Projection: an estimate or forecast of a future situation or trend based on a study of present ones. Sounds safe to me:thumbsup

You'd be surprised how many unmanned balloons are launched each and every day.

so they are able to track this party balloon mid-ocean, but a plane gets lost. Maybe the airplane industry should adopt party ballon technology.

It's tracked by Amateur radio operators.

In simple terms the ballonn has a little transmitter that sends a signal that reports data like it's location, battery voltage, altitude etc.

Planes are supposed to send similar data but in the case of MH370 most of it's devices to send such data were switched off. What the airline industry need to do is make it impossible for someone to impair these systems.

you sir , deserve more upvotes ... :thumbsup

true, didnt know devices were switched off.

aka global trashing.

9 KM & 2 and 3qtr times around the world :thumbsup



Why do people ask a question, for others to take their time googling the answer, if they know the answer :mad: :1orglaugh

Only joking :thumbsup

Nice one for the info & the thread, very interesting & very far.

I wonder whether it was the gas escaping or the balloon popping that created it to cease floatation :2 cents:

That is absolutely amazing. What type of balloon and radio transmitter have you used and what is the battery life?

That's pretty cool. One of those projects I never have time to do. You can also launch your own satellite.
Check this out: Your Own Satellite: 7 Things to Know Before You Go | Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers

In the case of the balloon I posted about it hit a weather front over the Indian Ocean and went down.

When the balloons encounter large weather systems the rapidly changing air pressure and temperature can cause the balloon to fail. In normal weather conditions, even if they change, the balloon can slowly expand, deflate in accordance with the conditions, but sudden changes can be catastrophic to the integrity of the balloon.

It's not my balloon, I don't launch them another guy in Melbourne does that.

The balloon itself is just a normal silver party balloon you buy at any party shop or department store.

However the transmitter is a 25 milliwatt transmitter which is powered by a solar charged battery. Frequencies vary. The more recent ones transmit on 10.1387Mhz and 14.095Mhz (30 metre and 20 metre HF radio bands). The power output is less than a quarter of most home wireless routers.

The transmitter is connected to devices like a GPS receiver and other tiny payloads for collecting information about the balloon. It transmits data using a radio mode called JT9 which is specifically designed for low power situations. You can decode JT9 with various applications that run on your computer and you receive the data from your radio through the computer's sound card.

The radio I use to receive the signals is an IC-7600 by Icom, it's an all mode HF transceiver with inbuilt DSP and a high resolution display which can display a signal waterfall helping you discern weak signals and tune in to them. It's the large radio on the bottom with the big display (to the left of the laptop).

http://bbspics.com/images/2015/08/13/IMG_0080-2.md.jpg

Cube Sats are going up all the time, they are also fun to track and you can use them as repeaters to talk to people all over the world while one is passing over you. However they use VHF and UHF frequencies as opposed to the balloons which use HF (commonly known as short wave).

Wow, what a setup, I never would thought it would be possible for a balloon to travel such great distances and such a small radio to transmit so far.

It's amazing how far a signal can travel.

Think of the New Horizons probe, it's billions of kilometres away but with the right antenna (a big dish) they can receive signals from it that carry large amounts of data (slowly).

There are some crazy amateurs who build little low power QRP radios and transmit and receive morse code on them with just 1 watt of power or less and manage to communicate across the globe on short wave.

Interesing stoy

when i was in grade 5 or 6 we did a low tech version - same balloon but with a brighly colored letter in a plastic bag. on the letter was an explanation that it was a kids project and asking them to mail it back to the school with a description of where it landed. out of 30 or so 5 came back from around the world, i though it was pretty fun

Fuck this industry has corrupted me.

I've looked at this thread title a bunch of times, finally clicked it now. Every single time I read it as:

"How far can a balloon party go?"

I was expecting some kind of balloon fetish pics/videos. :1orglaugh

This is really cool

Is there an easy way to help out

Damn, that has a be a special balloon though. Wind, rain, or something would have to pop that eventually.

Ah it cant go that far

Nothing special, just a normal silver party balloon you'd buy from a gift store.

I suppose humidity has a big effect on the balloons condition then.