Category: Iceland

VE3KCL Balloon makes “several loops around Greenland”

Oh, I really want to do this. We had a bunch of balloons for my daughter’s birthday and I found myself trying to guestimate how much they could lift. There is a balloon store that sells the metalized party balloons used here. They have a helium tank. I hate to be a party pooper (!) but wouldn’t the antenna represent a bit of a hazard? If it came down in power lines, that wouldn’t be good right?
In any case, three cheers for Dave VE3KCL and for Hans, G0UPL, the wizard who makes the QRSS/WSPR transmitter that is currently flying over Iceland.

Hi all


Some of you must have seen this already – but the rest of you may find it interesting. Dave VE3KCL launched his S-9 balloon 4 days ago (2 standard party-balloons, hydrogen-filled) with modified QRP Labs Ultimate3S QRSS/WSPR transmitter onboard.

We are using WSPR messages for tracking – one normal WSPR message and one with a special data protocol to provide altitude, speed, Maidenhead 5/6th characters, battery voltage, temperature and GPS/satellite status. The transmitter has about 16mW power output, on 30m band. It is sending CW and JT9 as well. Altitude is a little over 10,000m. So far it has traveled in several loops around Greenland and the North Atlantic. Currently it is near the Faroe islands. See live tracking at QRP Labs website http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons/ve3kcl-s9.html

G-landers, don’t get too excited that it appears to be heading your way – the wind prediction shows it likely to head back West almost as far as Newfoundland, before turning back East towards Spain!

73 Hans G0UPL

Mystic Steampunk Icelandic Radio Symbology

Mike, KC7IT, alerted me to this one. Check out the decoration on the top of this box. The artist explains:

“The electrolytically etched brass plate on top of the box depicts symbols used in science, engineering, and alchemy. An Icelandic Vegvísir is featured prominently surrounded by the components of a modern magnetron microwave transmitting tube. The background features the schematic diagram for a vintage Heathkit oscilloscope. The Vegvísir is often thought of as a mystical symbol but it is in fact a very practical mnemonic device for mastering navigational rules of thumb.”


Billy has been interested in the whole “steampunk” thing (he will be a steampunk guy on Halloween) so this one caught my eye. It also made me think that we need to jazz up those Altoid tins! (Speaking of boxes, while I had the 2-B on the bench yesterday, I took its old metal case out to the garage and gave it several coats of black paint. It looks wonderful.)

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20