Montana's Ham Radio Forum

Howdy Gang,

I got this posting on the NWAPRS yahoo group from K7GPS Dave Dobbins Cascade, Mt. He has been working with several students to build, launch, recover a high altitude balloon. Woo Hoo !!! Way to go Dave and all the students. I will be there to support you... APRS Rocks.....

We're making preps for a balloon launch from Simms HS or that area, nw of Great Falls, MT, on or about Feb 1st. The package will contain some Borealis project components made by students of Simms HS. K7GPS-11 and K7GPS-12 will be redundant APRS trackers along for the ride. K7GPS-9 will chase, along with K7GPS-7.


David K7GPS

I will be on 144.390 so it will be easy to track... I have my 446.000 simplex repeater that I will offer up to Dave to attach to the balloon. It is a small 440 Radio Shack mini handheld and a Radio Shack simplex repeater (Records 30 seconds then plays back).

It is really cool that Dave K7GPS is working with young folks and involving them in Amateur Radio. We don't see many young folks these days so I must applaud Dave for his efforts..

As I looked over the Section Managers Responsibilities as posted on the ARRL Page, two kind of stand out to me.

Promotes recruitment of new amateurs and new ARRL members

Encourages attitudes and actions which welcome new radio amateurs and integrate them into League and club activities.

I look at this and would have to say it is all of our responsibilities not just the Section Managers. Way to go Dave to show how it should be done !!! Gee Haw !!!

Here is some additional information.

The upcoming balloon launch is a class project of Mr. Raimund Hahn, who is a science teacher at Simms High School. Unfortunately, he is not a ham and did not know how to set up a radio telemetry system to track the balloon. He contacted the Great Falls Area Amateur Radio Club for assistance.

I put him in touch with David Dobbins (K7GPS), who is a science teacher at the high school in Cascade, MT. David did a successful balloon launch several years ago with his students and is hands down the local expert on this topic. David has graciously stepped forward and agreed to assist Mr. Hahn in his efforts with this science class project.

So not only is David (K7GPS) lending his expertise and equipment, he is also helping out a fellow teacher at a neighboring high school. This is an outstanding example of helping young students learn more about science and Amateur Radio, even when they are not students at your own school. This spirit of cooperation is benefiting the students at Simms High School, and for that David deserves extra praise.

Hi Bruce - Thanks for that great additional information. I just had a blast watching the flight on 01 February. It was exciting seeing it take off go NE to 70,000 feet to NW of Great Falls, do three or four loop de loops, then turn west and climb to 93,000 feet and land not to far from Simms. I am learning how to make a 3d graph of the data from the flight and display it on google earth... Great job by everyone on their success. I see Dave Dobbins, K7GPS, posted some pictures on face book. Thanks Dave..

Cheers Bruce

Bill K7MT

If anyone is interested, the successful balloon launch and flight were featured in the Fairfield Sun Times newspaper. Please see the attachment.