On Tuesday the 21st of October 2014, the Thurrock Acorns Amateur Radio Club (TAARC) held its monthly meeting. The subject for the evening’s talk was Meteorological Balloons, with a presentation by Simon Parkyns M1GGY
During the evening, Simon (shown here holding the parachute) explained that the wind speed and direction can change as you go higher into space, also the temperature gets colder as you ascend.
The picture shows a TAARC club member holding the deflated balloon which when inflated is about 1 metre in diameter. Under the balloon is a small transmitter which collects the data as the balloon gains height. This data is transmitted back to a base station and used by the aeronautical community. Once the balloon gets to a certain height its bursts and the parachute brings the small transmitter safely back to earth.
Anyone wishing to know more about weather balloons or wishes to contact the Thurrock Acorns Amateur Radio Club, please go to the club’s web site www.taarc.co.uk
Thanks to the team at TAARC for submitting this article to Essex Ham for publication. If you’d like your club event promoted, please mail us your news story.
