Back at Work

Well I have entered the ranks of the employed again. This job may only last for a few months but it is nice to have a positive cash flow again. I am working for a company only 30 miles from Happy Road, but the project I am working on is in Oklahoma City. We are dismantling a can plant and shipping it to China. I am working on tagging all of the equipment and getting it ready for the manifest to be shipped.

This work is interesting, but after being off for so long it is hard to go straight into 10 hour days, 6 days a week. It is just real nice to be doing something again. I hope this turns into more work after this project. The company is family owned and seems to be a good group to work with.

My work is only 5 miles from Nancy's house, and it was nice to go and get a great meal the other night.

Well it is late and I need to get to bed and get my rest for tomorrows day at WORK.

UP, UP, and Away

Last Saturday I was able to work with a group of people from the Dallas area to launch a balloon from the Clarksville Texas airport. Well you may be thinking that is what a little kid does before he gets in the car as they are leaving the fair. This is much more complicated. These balloons are designed to go to very high altitudes, and they carry several pieces of electronic equipment. Some of these packages are radios that allow people to make contacts from all over the country while at the high altitudes.

ARBONET III was the designation for this balloon launch. ARBONET stands for Amateur Radio Balloons over North East Texas. The balloon flew for about 2hrs and 44minutes reaching an altitude of over 80,000 feet. From the report filed online at http://www.arbonet.net/ The descent after the balloon burst was fast and furious. At the high altitudes there is not enough air to open the parachute. Then when it does hit the denser air the parachute opens, and it is like slamming on the brakes when going at a very high rate of speed.

Several pieces of the equipment failed during the descent, but because of a Ham Radio operator in Alabama who had experience with over 300 balloon flights, he was able to use computer programs and calculate the landing area which was SE of Shreveport LA. The landing area where the balloon was found was 20 miles from where the last electronic position report was given. This equipment may have never been found with out the help of this Ham Radio Operator in Alabama.

I learned a lot about Amateur Radio Balloons, and I am looking forward to next year for the launch of ARBONET IV.