A self contained portable Allstar node What is this project about? The goal of this project it to build a cheap, small and portable Allstar base station node that can be used in a hotel room or some other travel scenario, such as inside an RV at camp. The node should be self-contained and be […]

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Arduino, Flying Squirrels, FS2, HAB, Ham Radio, High Altitude Balloon, Telemetry

A Squirrel’s eye view – A Google Earth movie of the FS2 flight.

June 10, 2018

As a Flying Squirrel takes off, I wonder “where did it go?” and what does the view from up there look like. Absent a camera, the FS2 GPS Data and Google Earth can provide an approximation of what our brave/foolish squirrel saw from “up there”. The video is best viewed in full screen and with […]

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Flying Squirrels, FS2, Telemetry, WSPR

Whispers in the wind – How WSPR performed on Flying Squirrel #2

May 24, 2018

In addition to the detailed locations provided by the FSQ telemetry, Flying Squirrel #2 also sent WSPR messages 4 times an hour. WSPR is a very weak signal digital mode, often decoding signals below the noise (i.e. you can’t even hear the signal with your ears). The WSPR mode sends a position as Maidenhead Gris […]

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Flying Squirrels, FS2, Mission Goals

Where did our squirrel go? – Summary of the FS2 Flight

May 21, 2018

Our brave squirrel #2 is now lost in the Mojave desert. Perhaps FS2 joined the army or needed to phone home via the Goldstone Deep space antenna network. The telemetry showed a deep decent at the end; indicating it was going to ground and the signal was probably lost because of mountains all around that […]

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Flying Squirrels, FS2, High Altitude Balloon, Telemetry

Some graphs showing the FS2 flight.

May 20, 2018

Gary W. produced a few graphs from the FS2 telemetry data that he received from the APRS.fi web site. The altitude (in feet) shows the deep, near death, dive bottoming out around the 86th data point. You can also clearly see the temp change upward at the same time period. Lower is warmer. […]

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FS2, Ham Radio, High Altitude Balloon, Mission Goals, Telemetry, Uncategorized

A short FS2 flight summary – more to come.

May 20, 2018

(This is a repost from the Facebook page.) FS2 was a very interesting (Strange) flight. FS2 flew a very slow circle around our launch site and then went in a northerly direction into Ft Irwin. FS went nowhere near the predicted path to the east. The balloon did not have the desired lift, so it […]

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Flying Squirrels, FS2, High Altitude Balloon, Launch Announcement

FS#2 Launch day!

May 19, 2018

Weather is perfect, all systems go for launch at 10AM PDT. Latest prediction has moved slightly east of prior predictions. The path is following I-40 very closely. Stay tuned for actual launch/flight announcements Please follow and like us:

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Flying Squirrels, FS2, FSQ, HAB, Ham Radio, High Altitude Balloon, Telemetry schedule, WSPR

Flying Squirrel #2 Telemetry Schedule update

May 19, 2018

Updated Schedule 5/11/2018 This is the final FS2 Telemetry schedule. The columns labeled “Min” is the minutes into the hour (i.e. 0 = top of the hour) that the scheduled event should happen. The schedule repeats after 30 minutes. Launch is tentatively targeted for some time in May 2018. Stay tuned. Click this link for […]

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Flying Squirrels, FS2, High Altitude Balloon, Launch Announcement

FS #2 Weather update May 18th – All Good

May 18, 2018

Weather predicted for tomorrow’s launch of Flying Squirrel #2 continues to look very good. Winds will be light, and temperatures are in the upper 80s and low 90s which is mild for the desert this time of year. All is looking good! The predicted landing location has moved a bit north into the Mojave National […]

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Flying Squirrels, FS2, HAB, Ham Radio, High Altitude Balloon, Launch Announcement, Mission Goals, Telemetry

The Flying Squirrel #2 Mission

May 16, 2018

Intro Flying Squirrel #2 (FS2) high altitude balloon is planned for launch the morning of May 19th 2018 at 10AM (approx.) from Lucerne Dry lake bed in Lucerne Valley, CA. FS2 will send telemetry using WSPR to send 6-digit grid squares and uses the FSQ data mode to send more detailed position and telemetry data. […]

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Squirrel Engineering

Build a portable Allstar Link Hotspot – Part 1 Intro

A Squirrel’s eye view – A Google Earth movie of the FS2 flight.

Whispers in the wind – How WSPR performed on Flying Squirrel #2

Where did our squirrel go? – Summary of the FS2 Flight

Some graphs showing the FS2 flight.

A short FS2 flight summary – more to come.

FS#2 Launch day!

Flying Squirrel #2 Telemetry Schedule update

FS #2 Weather update May 18th – All Good

The Flying Squirrel #2 Mission