Just one week after our first failed attempt, (had to get the failures out of the way). We launched the next week at Henry KD9SRZ and Noah’s KD9RDT school, Central School in Glencoe, IL. Having learned from our first Launch, Michael, AA6DY added a fishing line swivel just below the balloon on the fishing line.

The school field looked a lot bigger when I viewed it with Noah after our first launch, what was I thinking?

Luckily Michael prepared 2 balloons, the first, a blue one that was a test to make sure it would clear the trees, it did. The balloons were 36″ Qualatex foil Mylar, at $3.50, we could afford to lose a few. Hard to see from the fuzzy picture that I took from across the field. From the left, John KD9THB, Michael AA6DY, Jenni the new Central School Ham Club advisor (not yet licensed) Henry KD9SRZ, their friend Oliver and Noah KD9RDT working the drone.

Then we launched AA6DY with a silver Qualatex balloon