Mission Launch Anouncement – Flying Squirrel #1

Meet our intrepid explorer Flying Squirrel One. This very brave explorer will be the first Squirrel Engineering project to be launched in to the upper atmosphere lofted by nothing more than a 36 inch Helium filled party balloon. During the flight, our explorer will dutifully report temperature, air pressure and altitude back to mission control […]

Flying Squirrels #5 – The Flight controller

The flight controller of Flying Squirrel #1 is the brains of the flight. The controller will measure the environment around the balloon, format the data into a Telemetry message and transmit the telemetry signal back to the ground using the chosen protocol (FSQ) for the flight.  The flight controller will also manage the power to […]

Flying Squirrels #3 – Can you hear me now? – Building a transmitter

Now that I have a list of protocols and a general plan to transmit telemetry on the 20 meter Ham bands, how do I get “on the air”?  This post will describe the transmitter hardware for the telemetry system. Generating Radio Frequency – There is a board for that. After a lot of searching an […]