There is a new article in Exame Informática about Balua and our latest launch in Évora, Portugal.
The title of the article is “Engineers from IST launched an high altitude balloon to communicate with all of the Iberian Peninsula” . The online version of the article can be found here (in Portuguese) and it is an excellent description of our concept and the work developed in that launch.
Yesterday was an awesome day for Us!
1º – Our new tracker worked flawlessly during the flight (aside not reaching any igate except our chasing car during a very fast descent!)
2º – The very experimental cross-band repeater almost reached the entire Iberian peninsula and was very busy with QSOs from Cascais(PT), Algarve (PT), Entroncamento (PT) to Cordoba (ES), Villacarrillo (ES), Gibraltar (ES). Balua’s CR6BAL repeater was definitely a huge success! Something to improve and build on!
3º – Balua’s payload landed in Spain, few hundred meters from the Portuguese border, north of Badajoz (ES). The recovery was nice and easy with a helping hand from the land owners!
4º – Last but not least, this day was a better day thanks AMRAD (very busy as well hosting a great field day) and LARS. Thank you all!
Tomorrow at 14.00 GMT our new tracker will be tested. Launch coordinates are: 38°34’28″N 007°54’19″W.
It will be broadcasting APRS (144.800MHz) with callsign CR6BAL. You can follow us here.
We will also have a crossband repeater with uplink 145.950MHz, tone 123Hz, downlink 435.950MHz and 1W of power.
SPOT tracker link.
Live feed: (available soon)
We are very proud to announce that our new tracker has arrived. The boards were designed by our team and are already here but the stencil is still to arrive.
Meanwhile, since we are eager to test it, we’ve started hand soldering one of the boards.
Test reports as soon as we finish soldering it! Here’s a picture of our amazing pcb.
Dona Maria II high school First Flight!
Mr. Pikinhas (João Abel Vaz) found our most precious payload.
The new Balua launch, which will be done in collaboration with Escola Secundária D. Maria II, is set to April 4th (Friday) at 14.30 GMT.
The launch coordinates are: 41°32’56.1″N 8°25’05.2″W,
Will be emitting APRS (144.800MHz) callsign CR5BAL. You can follow it here: http://aprs.fi
The SPOT tracker link.
The live feed is available at: http://www.qsl.net/lars/
You are all welcome to join us tracking the balloon!
You heard it right. We will have another Balua launch in Braga really soon…
It will be in Braga on April 4 (Friday), between 13 and 17 hours. This launch will be in collaboration with the students and professors of Escola Secundária D. Maria II. This School is celebrating 50 years of existence and this launch is part of the celebration activities conducted by the school.
Really soon we will post more information regarding the accurate hour of the launch, GPS location of the launch, APRS callsign, SPOT link, etc…
We found it! =)
We and Solar do Mimo successfully launched and recovered everything. Here is a sample of the photos that were taken. More will come soon.
The new Balua launch which will be done in collaboration with the institution Solar do Mimo is set to March 29 (Saturday) at 14.30 GMT.
The coordinates of the launch are: 40º 24′ 07”N 7º44’02”W,
Will be emitting APRS (144.800MHz) callsign CQ7BALUA.
You are all welcome to join us tracking the balloon!
