fram2ham: Ham Radio in Polar Orbit! Post written by Elizabeth Ziemer, KD9ORR one of our founding members.  This spring, the fram2 mission will launch 4 astronauts into polar orbit for the first time ever aboard Crew Dragon. Rabea Rogge, mission specialist and German amateur radio operator, will be operating amateur radio equipment from Dragon to send SSTV signals to earth!

More Information on Fram2 First Human Space flight to earths polar regions.

January 31st 2024 The Stretchinator The group meets with Stewart Spies, the creator of the “Stretchinator” a device used to pre-stretch a balloon by filling it with air to a precise diameter and circumference. During flight, a balloon’s pre-stretched circumference will be maintained during the flight allowing the balloon to maintain a steady altitude.

June 17th 2023 Surface Mount Soldering Session The group meets to learn the art of Surface Mount Soldering (SMD). Using a microscope, soldering small components on a Printed Circuit Board.

April 15th 2023 Fun at the Faire and conducting our 1st Ham Exam Having some fun at the Lake County Makers Faire and following up with the NIBBB Exam Team conducting an Amateur Radio Exam for our youngest member, Calvin Knowles, passing his General Exam with a perfect score, practice makes perfect.

February 14th 2023, Pico Balloon K9YO Missing in Action and 7th Circumnavigation of Pico Balloon KD9UQB launched from Antarctica After 123 days of flight, Pico Balloon K9YO goes Missing in Action over Yukon Terrirtory, Cananda on February 14th 2023. Pico Balloon KD9UQB launched from Antarctica, flying 7 times around the world in 82 days will become missing in action near Peru after 100 days of flight due to high storms.

September 11th 2022 While we’re flying we’re still working One of the most difficult parts of our Pico Balloon Project is building the solar panel package. The Polycystalline solar panels are so fragile, that a sudden touch can break a panel. Jim Janiak, NE9JJ (formerly KD9UQB) designed a template to hold a single solar panel in place for ease of soldering. One side is soldered, then glued to the plate, soldered and repeated.

Each solar panel is glued to the styrofoam plate and soldered in series. After working on several renditions of this package, Jim KD9UQB had designed our current board. Jim was our Elmer and Guide who patiently worked with each of us.

August 24th 2022 Planning, Building, Launching As we’re coming up on our 1st year Anniversary of our first flight, we are continually meeting to improve our package. Here at the NIBBB we operate as a group, albeit a small one. The original Pico Tracker was designed many years before us, we refer to as the ICT board from Eduard Voiculescu YO3ICT (newer tracker).

July 9th 2022 The Icarus Device Test After losing many balloons in trees during a launch, The Icarus Device was created. Attached to a pole to safely lift a balloon and automatically release after 10 seconds.

8th Launch December 22nd 2021, First long flight,19 days of KD9ORR After 3 months of flying, we had our first successful launch and long flight of Pico Balloon KD9ORR which flew for 19 days, including spending 8 days around the Marshall Islands.