High-altitude balloon flight

Kelly VE3KLX has offered to opportunity of another high altitude balloon flight for club members. This is just for fun. The plan now is to send up two cameras and possibly a temperature probe along with whatever other payload is required.

Flights are dependant on weather and winds, as the hope is to launch and recover the balloon without having to drive hundreds of kilometres to do so.

If you're interested in participating, please contact Kelly or myself.

There are costs associated with such a flight, and Kelly has proposed a cost- and risk-sharing plan. Fixed costs, such as the balloon itself, the helium gas, batteries, etc. would be shared equally among those participating. Further, we would also all contribute to an insurance fund to cover the costs of replacing all of the equipment (cameras, Raspberry Pi, radios, etc.) should the payload not be recovered.

If everything goes well and we recover the payload undamaged, we would get the 'insurance' portion of our contribution back. Costs are dependant upon the payload contents and balloon, but are in the neighbourhood of $1000. As an example, split four ways this would be $250 each, with about $75 of that being spent on balloon, helium, etc.

Thanks!

Bill
ve3tgi@gmail.com