Balloon tracker site showing unusual data for me.
#u4b
I just hung my new U4B and antenna-system up in my living room (Wife is away and it's POURING rain outside right now.)
I'm seeing people report my WSPR transmissions:
But the balloon tracker for Vertical_1 shows unusual values that don't make sense.
I see some tracking sites show values for voltage, temp and number of spots that make sense, but a lot of them do not.
Did the WSPR/TELE protocol change at some point and so the web processor needs an update?
Or is it because my GPS can't get a lock inside my house? (I don't know if it's locked or not since I'm not plugged-in to the USB port.)
It's not a big deal right now since I'm kilometers away from launching a balloon, but it would be great to see it working before launch.
73 Alan KC1QHV
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Re: Remote "bottom of the garden" QDX...
On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 01:07 PM, G3SPL wrote:
https://youtu.be/GPlvy_8QNrw
Peter. Your video is amazing. Thank you for sharing.
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
Yeah - you generate oxygen as well as hydrogen. Hydrogen develops at the anode and oxygen is found at the cathode.
Lee KX4TT
On Saturday, 28 May 2022, 04:04:12 pm GMT-4, John AE5X <ae5x@...> wrote:
Yes, I am aware of the Hindenburg and have no desire to re-enact it in miniature. Regarding electrolysis, would the (necessary) addition of an electrolytic affect the composition/dilution of the gases produced? It would seem so, but I'm no chemist.
Here's a YouTube video of the process:
Those of you interested in the Hindenburg, and science in general, might find "" interesting. Germany's pre-H development of Zeppelins makes for a fascinating read, from the request by the German government in WWI not to eat sausages (so that the intestinal linings of cows and sheep) could be used as the internal airbags in Zepps), to the affect of high altitudes on airship crews, to the circumnavigation of the Graf Zeppelin.
73,
--
John AE5X
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Is there not an issue launching a balloon and interfering with aircraft flight paths? I am a retired aircraft mechanic and have seen what foreign object damage can be done to an engine. I am curious to know?
Glenn WA7SPY
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Remote "bottom of the garden" QDX...
Some of you may remember I had a dream last year (more a revelation actually) when lying abed about the QDX.? I realised that it had no physical controls and operated purely under software control via the USB link.? This meant that it could be located remote from the operating position at the bottom of the garden, avoiding long runs of coax into the house and in a quieter area electrically.
?
Well, my dream has come to fruition.? In fact I now have a Software Defined Receiver and a QDX at the bottom of the garden.? It's taken a few months of, sometimes faltering, progress to get to this, but, finally, I have got a system that's working.
?
One thing that I realised I needed was some telemetry/remote control so that I could at the very least switch either the QDX or the SDR on and off.? I had a vague idea that an Arduino would do the trick and after a cursory glance at the specs I shelled out ?19 odd to buy a Uno. Once I plucked up enough courage to plug it into my PC, I found it was pretty easy to get going. The simplified C++ language used was not difficult to get my head around.??
?
For the PC end of the job, I needed something to read the serial data and display it appropriately.? Twenty odd years ago, for this sort of thing I successfully used the Borland Delphi development environment which utilised an extended version of Pascal. That time was when we called things "programs" and "apps" hadn't been invented!? When I looked at getting the up to date version of Delphi, I was shocked to discover the cost was way beyond my pocket.
?
I eventually stumbled on Microsoft Visual Studio and was delighted to find they offer a free "community" edition for small scale and non-commercial developments like mine.? It offers the way to build an app using all the usual controls familiar to Windows users and to program in several different languages. As I had a lot of experience in the final years before retirement of using Visual Basic for Applications with Excel, I chose the Visual Basic language to develop my Telemetry Windows Form App.
?
Then followed a lot of trial and error (mostly error!) trying to get the Windows Forms App to accept data gathered from the Arduino over the serial USB link.? I eventually found the way to do it was for the PC to send a single polling byte to the Arduino every 80mS via a timer event, to which the Arduino sent out 12 strings of data with the telemetry readings.? The polling byte varied depending on the control command, with 5 bits of on-off control used.? Bit 0, for example, turned the SDR on and off.
?
For anyone interested, I have made a Youtube video about my "bottom of the garden" installation.? This includes a demonstration of the Windows Forms App (near the end) showing what facilities the Arduino provides.
?
The Youtube video is here: https://youtu.be/GPlvy_8QNrw
?
--
Peter Lee G3SPL
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
Yes, I am aware of the Hindenburg and have no desire to re-enact it in miniature. Regarding electrolysis, would the (necessary) addition of an electrolytic affect the composition/dilution of the gases produced? It would seem so, but I'm no chemist.
Here's a YouTube video of the process:
Those of you interested in the Hindenburg, and science in general, might find "" interesting. Germany's pre-H development of Zeppelins makes for a fascinating read, from the request by the German government in WWI not to eat sausages (so that the intestinal linings of cows and sheep) could be used as the internal airbags in Zepps), to the affect of high altitudes on airship crews, to the circumnavigation of the Graf Zeppelin.
73,
--
John AE5X
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d85OX6yEwE0
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Antenna System Multi-band
Hi there. I am considering different antenna types in anticipation of setting up a QDX?Transceiver.
Right now, I use a??that is resonant on 80, 40, 30, and 20 meter bands. I have a magnetic loop, but that does not cover 80 meter band, so its use would be limited to 40, 30, and 20 meter bands when using the QDX?Transceiver.
I am considering a QRP tuner and an open wire 600 ¦¸ ladder line antenna that covers 80 to 10 meters. The tuner previously mentioned in this group that I am considering is the following:?. It supports low power operation and it allows coaxial or ladder line wire to be used on the output. For the QXD to tuner connectivity, I am considering a short length of BNC male to S0-239 male cable. I have not sourced this part. I am considering SO-239 connectors on the tuner because those connectors are more universal.
The potential system would be QDX -> Tuner -> ladder line -> dipole.
My thinking with a ladder line is the capability to tune the bands with a tuner and not have to worry as much about unclipping sections of my?. I can use the segmented dipole because it resonates on each band, but it requires taking down the antenna to switch bands. That is not too much of a hassle, but it increases the complexity of radio operation.?
I am wondering if anyone has experiences that can be shared in working with open-wire 600 ¦¸ ladder line dipoles. I know about the pros and cons of operating near metal objects or working with sharp bends in the wire. None of which I am anticipating being near my operation. My operation would be portable with a pushup pole in a field or near trees (support). My priority is less complexity.
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On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 11:28 AM, Kees T wrote:
Remember that you can substitute BS270 for them and they work just fine and are in stock.
73 Kees K5BCQ?
That's good to know.
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Re: QDX and eliminating the laptop
On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 06:57 PM, <rentwist@...> wrote:
Trying to remember, I think I bought the machine with W7 and got the free W10 upgrade back when that was happening.? I made the mistake of putting W10 64 Bit on it as it has a 64 bit processor.? Result: Dog!? Started over and installed W10 32-bit recently.? Result: Much better!
Life in that ASUS EEE PC afterall. Glad it worked for you. Those things are built like tanks. 73 de Andy
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Re: QDX V3 arrival and build
My oder # is 57185 the way I? take it is ,what I use to say to my kid when they ask when do we get there I always said "when we get there "? I am sure the QRP LAB team are on over load trying to get the kits to us.
None KE2UN
On May 28, 2022, at 11:00 AM, A Kiddoo <kt0tt.ham@...> wrote: On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 06:44 AM, Edward Reynolds wrote:
?My QDX V3 order (a kit) went in on the 8th, it shipped on the 21st and arrived in Oregon on the 25th, this might help you with a time frame as to receives vs shipped. I figured about 3-4 weeks and it was early. Note: it shipped from Turkey so depending on your order number ( if a kit or assembled) it could ship tomorrow or in two weeks from now, hang in there FedEx will notify you with a tracking number and estimated delivery day and time.
73¡¯²õ
Ed de N7SNT?
-------------------- Apparently order dates and numbers are meaningless - Mine is Order ID: #57506 Date Added: 01/05/2022 and still listed as 'complete'. So anybody's guess. And yes I realize EU calendar dd/mm/yyyy. -- KT0TT Allen Kiddoo Muscatine Iowa USA
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Re: U4 tracker map display
Thanks
I tried the Avast Browssr but still get the Google Development warning and map overlay
r
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
Or use lye, aluminum and water and avoid the electrolysis...................use lots of care in this reaction; it generates a lot of heat as well as potentially explosive hydrogen gas. Do this outdoors and away from any ignition sources. You have been warned!
Lee KX4TT
On Saturday, 28 May 2022, 02:12:59 pm GMT-4, Jim Strohm <jim.strohm@...> wrote:
You can make your own hydrogen with water, an electrolytic salt (like sodium chloride), and some low voltage DC. ?O2 comes off one electrode and H2 comes off the other. ?
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Re: QDX V3 arrival and build
On Fri, May 27, 2022 at 04:16 PM, Mike - N5AQM wrote:
>>What is your output power @7V input?
Looks to be under 3 watts but frankly I would be inclined to operate at 8 to 9 volts.
Whilst I said eBay, I looked where I bought the power supply kit from - Banggood. Currently showing GBP8. ?It worked ok for an hour but output started ?to drop voltage after that.
Looking at the angst about delivery on this as list. ?I have declare my V3 arrived after my order missed the pileup in December 21. ?Hans has been 100% true to his word, - hence my V3 arriving quickly.
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
Hydrogen would have the CHEAPEST lift. ?
FWIW, the reason that the Hindenburg was full of hydrogen was that the US wouldn¡¯t sell helium to Nazi Germany.?
The Hindenburg made multiple trips across the Atlantic using hydrogen without any issues. ? However, part of the disaster was that the coating on the outer envelope was thermite. ?
Looked nice, repelled UV very nicely, but was more flammable than hydro. ?
73 Jim N6OTQ?
Sent from my quenched-gap spark transmitter.?
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On May 28, 2022, at 1:57 PM, Colin Kaminski <colinskaminski@...> wrote:
?Hydrogen is lighter but also a bigger molecule so it is less likely to leak.?
Colin K6JTH?
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
I don¡¯t have answers to your questions. Here¡¯s a BBC report explaining why the availability and price of helium has become so unstable.
¡ªMike Perry, WA4MP
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
Hydrogen is lighter but also a bigger molecule so it is less likely to leak.?
Colin K6JTH?
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
Umm, yes. ?Filling a balloon with it is left as an exercise for the student?
How bad is party store helium, assuming you can get it?
Also, how much do you need? ?Local stores appear to have 15 CuFt for $50 or 9 CuFt for $24.
And I have an 80 CuFt scuba tank with Heliox (80% helium, 20% oxygen), but not sure how buoyant that is. ?Scuba stores will certainly sell helium but you have to have tanks and they may require a ¡¯trimix¡¯ course certification, so that¡¯s not for everyone.
Hydrogen would have the greatest lift, yes?
73, Willie N1JBJ
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You can make your own hydrogen
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
IIRC, hydrogen is lighter than helium but has larger atoms, so it doesn¡¯t deflate a balloon as quickly as helium. ??
?But if you¡¯re careless, it is rather reactive. ?
73 Jim N6OTQ? Sent from my quenched-gap spark transmitter.?
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On May 28, 2022, at 1:20 PM, W2BEE <itsadealnow@...> wrote:
? You can make your own hydrogen with water, an electrolytic salt (like sodium chloride), and some low voltage DC.? O2 comes off one electrode and H2 comes off the other. ? You figure out which.?
This is a dirt-simple science fair experiment, so you can Google for more info. ? ?
73 Jim N6OTQ? Sent from my quenched-gap spark transmitter.? ? My local Airgas distributor will order a small hydrogen cylinder. It looks like a small CO2 tank and is $48. It comes in 3 grades and I have requested a typical COA for each one to see if the grade matters to us. A cheap hydrogen regulator is $120.?
Colin K6JTH? On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 11:01 AM John AE5X < ae5x@...> wrote: I'm wondering if anyone can suggest where these gases might be obtained in small quantities? Welding supply houses sell both gases in larger amounts than I would ever use; "party store" helium is diluted. - but maybe that's what successful balloon flights use?
--
John AE5X
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Re: Sources for hydrogen/helium in small quantities?
#u4b
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
You can make your own hydrogen with water, an electrolytic salt (like sodium chloride), and some low voltage DC.? O2 comes off one electrode and H2 comes off the other. ? You figure out which.?
This is a dirt-simple science fair experiment, so you can Google for more info. ? ?
73 Jim N6OTQ? Sent from my quenched-gap spark transmitter.? ? My local Airgas distributor will order a small hydrogen cylinder. It looks like a small CO2 tank and is $48. It comes in 3 grades and I have requested a typical COA for each one to see if the grade matters to us. A cheap hydrogen regulator is $120.?
Colin K6JTH? On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 11:01 AM John AE5X < ae5x@...> wrote: I'm wondering if anyone can suggest where these gases might be obtained in small quantities? Welding supply houses sell both gases in larger amounts than I would ever use; "party store" helium is diluted. - but maybe that's what successful balloon flights use?
--
John AE5X
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Lee
Joshua KJ7LVZ
Mike Perry, WA4MP
Colin Kaminski