Okay, so I got this crazy idea to track a high-altitude balloon. You know, those giant weather balloons that go way up high? Yeah, I wanted to see if I could follow one of those things. It sounded like a fun, albeit slightly insane, weekend project.
Getting Started
First, I needed to figure out what I actually needed. I’m no expert, just a guy with some free time and a curious mind. After some digging around (mostly just frantic Googling, to be honest), I came up with a basic list:
- A tracking device. Obviously. This thing needed to send its location back to me somehow.
- Some way to receive the signal. Like, an antenna or something.
- Software. To make sense of all the data and put it on a map.
Sounds simple, right? Narrator voice: It was not simple.
The Nitty-Gritty
I went with a GPS tracker that uses the APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) network. It’s apparently a popular choice for this kind of thing because it uses radio frequencies, and you don’t need a cell signal way up there. Think of it like a text message system for ham radio nerds.
Getting the signal was… interesting. I ended up building a simple antenna out of some wire and a coat hanger. It looked ridiculous, but hey, it worked (sort of)! I connected it to a Software Defined Radio (SDR) dongle, which is basically a little gadget that plugs into your computer and lets you listen to radio signals.
The software part was a bit of a headache. I used some free program, I don’t quite remeber its name. I fumbled my way through the setup, and after a lot of trial and error (mostly error), I started seeing data points on a map!
The Actual Tracking
I set the device up on my balcony(Sadly,I don’t own a balloon.) and, miraculously, it started sending its position. Watching the little icon move across the map was way more exciting than it should have been. It felt like I was controlling a tiny spaceship or something.
It wasn’t perfect, of course. The signal would drop out sometimes, and the location wasn’t always super accurate. My janky antenna probably wasn’t helping things. But it was working, and that was good enough for me.
What I Learned
So, would I recommend this as a weekend project? Maybe. It was definitely more challenging than I expected, but also surprisingly rewarding. I learned a ton about radio, GPS, and how surprisingly much you can do with some cheap hardware and a little bit of ingenuity.
Plus, I can now say I’ve tracked something in near space. How cool is that?