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Indiegogo

Something else was completed today, aside from building software to interface with Google Earth and tracking the balloon in virtual 3D space in real time: I went live on my Indiegogo campaign.

After getting the reply from HotWired, saying that the box would cost about R2000 to make, I decided it was time to start a crowed funding campaign which could hopefully earn something. Without having any previous experience with running a campaign, I dived right in and see where the process would take me. After my previous research on the different crowdfunding platforms, I knew that Indiegogo would be the best option, so I headed over to their site and clicked “Start a campaign”. This took me to an option page to choose between a project or a cause. Since this is a project that I am working on, and not a charity, I clicked up fundraiser and continued. Continue reading “Indiegogo”

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Building the Housing

When I first started thinking about the housing, I thought it was going to be a quick and easy process of simply buying the Polystyrene, placing the cameras inside, cutting some holes for the lenses and then duct-taping it closed. However, after the apparent parachute failure of the first test sounding I observed, I gave the box a bit more thought as it was essentially the protector of my entire project…

Continue reading “Building the Housing”

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A Short History On Cameras

Today I started designing the housing for my cameras in SketchUp. However, I got slightly sidetracked and ended up researching the history of the camera instead. No matter.

While trying to calculate the angle of the field of view, so that I could cut out a conical hole in the side of the box as opposed to a cylindrical one, which would allow for total stability while maintaining complete viewing angle, I found out some interesting things about cameras that I didn’t know before. Continue reading “A Short History On Cameras”

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The Tracking Process

I have had a chance to think about the first launch yesterday and sleep on what I learned. I decided it would be best to write up the complete process of how the tracking of the balloon was completed, and what I’m planning to do to improve it for my specific requirements.

The first step was to install the D-MET software onto my laptop, so that it can interface with the tracking station which picks up the signals from the radiosonde. The software was installed from a USB and it was the latest version, which was better and more advanced than what the SA weather bureau was running to predict the weather for the entire country!

D-Met Sounding Control software

Continue reading “The Tracking Process”

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The First.

Today I witnessed the first launch of a weather balloon. My dad, my sister Elinor and her friend (Kate) accompanied me as we went to Intermet to get everything set up and to watch the launch. As this was a tracking training launch, the first set should have been to install their software on my laptop, so that I had a way to interface with the tracking stations, which communicated with the radiosondes trailing behind the balloon. Continue reading “The First.”

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How to Buy a Camera

After deciding on what cameras to buy yesterday, it was time to get hold of the sellers. I knew that the fastest way to ask someone something is to talk to them, or in this case phone them. Out of the four people I called, only two replied. Both said I should send them a WhatsApp message, as that is apparently the norm for Gumtree sales. (First lesson learned). I applied what I learned with the first two phone calls to the rest of the sellers and sent them all a WhatsApp message telling them who I was and that I was interested in buying their camera. Continue reading “How to Buy a Camera”

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Meeting Michael

Michael Talbot was a name that I got from Rian. He told me that if anyone could help me with this project, it would be him. I first contacted him 5 days ago, after much dithering and procrastination. We set up a meeting for Friday, but unbeknown to me, my mom had other plans with the car. So we set up a meeting for Monday, today, where I planned to ask him questions on pretty much everything. Continue reading “Meeting Michael”