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Comment by lukewrites | Hacker News Reader

I’ve been talking to my five year old about weather balloons lately and he’s interested in launching one of his own to try to get a picture of the Earth’s curvature. Can anyone recommend resources on this topic? Surely there are hobby groups around but I must not be searching for the right combo of keywords - haven’t found anything.

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Check out the Ham radio community. There are amateurs who launch balloons and put things on board like radio with APRS and such. You might get some good ideas and help your kid down the road to a pretty interesting hobby.

Doesn't answer your question, but if you're not aware, try watching some of Mark Rober's videos on YouTube with him. There was one recently about trying to safely drop an egg from space. He'd probably enjoy a lot of the other videos as well, including the squirrel obstacle courses.

Have you looked up FAA regulations?

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/atc_html...

Also, might be good to look into putting a device that will broadcast its location via radio or radar. I believe that above 60k feet airspace is unrestricted, but up till there it might be a good idea

Plus a broadcast signal might scream "This isn't a spy balloon" to USAF lol

https://www.highaltitudescience.com/

https://www.instructables.com/The-Ultimate-High-Altitude-Wea...

http://www.daveakerman.com/?p=592

I've only just got into radio after hearing about these pico balloons. I've found a decent community over on r/RTLSDR that share information and pictures about hobbyist/DIY radio stuff. I picked up the recommended gear for about $40 and will be trying to receive transmissions around my area.

From some posts there it looks like even beginner gear can get images from the NOAA weather satellites.

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