Most latex balloons are used to rapidly ascend to burst altitude and land gracefully with a parachute (aka burster, pop & drop, etc.) We tried something different. Last Sunday we tried a latex balloon for a high altitude float: K6RGG-14. It was a 100g Hwoyee with 5 g of net lift. The payload was 20 g due to heavier antenna wires. It took off with a ~ 2 m/s and gradually leveled out at ~50 K’. Next time we’ll use APRS to keep tabs better. One possibility for a next flight is adding a valve to release gas once a vertical altitude is reached. Note on the second day it traveled much less as it was higher up. Latex balloons can carry a much heavier payload which will allow more interesting contents like a crossband repeater and other fun instruments.
SF-HAB 