As a kid, I enjoyed participating in mass balloon launches with various groups. We would put our name & address on paper and stuck tape on both sides, taped to the balloon. We always hoped to hear back from someone about how far our balloon went. Once we heard back from someone two states away who had found one of our balloons in their back yard.
I was considering doing something low tech like this for my son's YMCA Adventure Guides group. Today I lucked out and found a helium tank and unopened balloons set at a local thrift store for $6, so I have that part covered. According to the box, there's enough helium in there to launch nearly 30 balloons.
Now I'm trying to decide whether we should just do the low tech launch, or perhaps try to incorporate something higher tech into it. I've heard of people launching cell phones that call back gps coordinates & such. I don't really want anything that fancy, but I'm wondering - does anyone offer some sort of kit that runs off of a watch battery or aaa battery and sends out a radio "ping" at regular intervals? I was thinking we might be able to use a directional antenna of some sort to follow it for a few hours. It would at least give us a very cheap way to verify that the balloon was still aloft and the general direction it took.
We have the balloons, we have the helium, and now I'm just looking for some sort of el cheapo (hopefully $10 or less) disposable transmitter kit, plus a directional antenna that we could use. Any suggestions that might help us turn this into an actual project for the club would be greatly appreciated - Thanks!
I was considering doing something low tech like this for my son's YMCA Adventure Guides group. Today I lucked out and found a helium tank and unopened balloons set at a local thrift store for $6, so I have that part covered. According to the box, there's enough helium in there to launch nearly 30 balloons.
Now I'm trying to decide whether we should just do the low tech launch, or perhaps try to incorporate something higher tech into it. I've heard of people launching cell phones that call back gps coordinates & such. I don't really want anything that fancy, but I'm wondering - does anyone offer some sort of kit that runs off of a watch battery or aaa battery and sends out a radio "ping" at regular intervals? I was thinking we might be able to use a directional antenna of some sort to follow it for a few hours. It would at least give us a very cheap way to verify that the balloon was still aloft and the general direction it took.
We have the balloons, we have the helium, and now I'm just looking for some sort of el cheapo (hopefully $10 or less) disposable transmitter kit, plus a directional antenna that we could use. Any suggestions that might help us turn this into an actual project for the club would be greatly appreciated - Thanks!
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