World Amateur Radio Day Celebration at the SCRC Open House

Click the image or title above to see photos from the Open House. An article is in the works. The event was featured in a Newsday article. https://archive.is/IGQaj

Here is a video from a SCRC club member, Joe – WI2M on his YouTube channel Ham Radio on the Go, showcasing the Open House and Balloon Launch! Yes, the SCRC launched a weather balloon for the event. The Weather Balloon was provided and launched by Joe, WJ2B. The Radiosonde that was carried into the skies by the balloon was programmed with the club call sign, W2DQ! This is the 1st time the writer is aware of any radio club on Long Island has launched a weather balloon. The balloon climbed to an maximum altitude of 76,571 feet before descending into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Here is a brief description and some pictures of the Balloon launch provided by Joe, WJ2B.

We had a very successful W2DQ amateur balloon launch at 2 PM which was delayed due to limited access to the baseball field. Thanks much to Joe KC2BZB and grandson who both helped me inflate and check lift for the 100 gram Kaymont balloon, spec sheet attached as a .jpg file. The measured lift was about 225 grams with a payload weight of 81 grams. The ascent rate hovered around 660 feet per minute. Burst height was 76,210 feet. The quality of the balloon and Great Whip Helium I used was way better than I expected. The reprogrammed RS41 sonde performed perfectly. It was set to full power and had 2 new Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries installed. I have attached the pics I took at the launch and the final path view and Grafana Data from amateur.sondehub.org  Kudos to N6RFM for having the last contact at 2470 feet as it fell into the Atlantic Ocean!!! Fun was had by all!!!  73, Joe WJ2B

There was even a Photo Booth on site for people to commemorate the event! As you can see some had lots of fun. Even Ed Wilson, N2XDD, the Hudson Division Director got in on the shenanigans!