According to SkyQuest HF Net, the balloon signals were evident for approximately 2 hours, indicating a healthy peak altitude. The microcontroller seems to have performed flawlessly even with some feature creep in the form of time marks added to the program late in the week. :)

Also flawless was the superb net control provided by Steve Ford, WB8IMY, through the facilties of W1AW. The net had almost 30 check-ins, and has provided the greatest feedback so far with respect to confirmed signal reach. I was able to monitor the last minutes of the HF net, and found it to be totally enjoyable. The experience of hearing far flung (for non-satellite VHF) operators checking in with their signal reports was as thrilling as hearing the balloon itself.

I'm seeking operators who have extended tapes of the balloon telemetry signal that they could loan to SkyQuest for analysis. Please email if you could share that material. Extended uninterrupted tapes are required to decode the altimeter data, and need not be perfect in quality because exact frequencies are not relevant to altitude measurement.

Look here for a more elaborate account of the event, and some early analysis such as a computed track of the balloon based on upper air soundings to be ready by late Sunday.

Hank Riley
SkyQuest