HamRadioNow: The China Balloon (and Ham Radio?) Bill Brown WB8ELK started launching near-space ham radio balloons in 1987. He can tell us more about this balloon from China than we’re getting from CNN. Joining Bill is Todd McKinney KN4TPG, a Masters student in Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Todd got interested in HAB (High Altitude Ballooning), and got his ham license so he could fly balloons with APRS and WSPR transmitters. He specializes in 'balloon trajectories' - predicting and tracking the flight paths of high-altitude balloons as they circumnavigate the planet. Together they have insights on the Balloon from China that you won’t hear in the mainstream media. And then we talk about what’s happening on the balloon front in ham radio. And yes, they're worried about a 'crackdown' on international scientific balloon flights. HamRadioNow is also an audio podcast on your favorite podcast app, and our website: https://HamRadioNow.tv 73, Gary K4AAQ (East Coast Host)
The 'alarm' of the PRC balloon was initiated by pilots, not public. And justifiably so. The problem was that people were seeing it from the ground and calling their local police. So the POWER of social media was to discourage that reporting (as it should) since folks could find out for themselves on the net, when it became public. It would be really cool if the PRC debacle encouraged hams to get into ballooning (w/ham radio). Suggest listing some links ...
A friend, KW7DSP, found a sudden path to stations all over China on FT8 when the balloon reached a certain position over the USA. I've seen the log of his FT8 QSOs with Chinese stations and it was very impressive. I have been a ham for 62 years and he worked more Chinese stations in that single pass than I have since 1991! de K7QXG
NO. 'Social media' shouldn't have the power to discourage anybody from reporting anything. 'Social Media' are not your friends.
And here we are already... hip deep in the morass of the Zed. Sorry, Fred - I love the Zoo, just not the animals.
Perhaps it would help to clarify my meaning. What I was referring to is funneling these sort of queries to police, and so on. At least for many people, in the past, seeing something odd in the sky would lead to a call to the police, air force, and so on. These days, BEFORE such calls are made, many folks get on local 'patch' links on the web, or use other forms of social media to see 'wats up'. This takes the burden off police, and so on, and allows a commonality of shared info, in real time. Granted, not all of that info is correct, but that's just how people work. You are on social media right now. Surely we are not being unfriendly. 73 W1YW
That's interesting! I've had 11 visits to my QRZ page by HAMS from the PRC (according to my FLAG COUNTER app) and I've never had contact with anyone from there using ANY mode/type of transmission!
Out here near Seattle, Chinese stations are almost as common as Japan these days. Hasn't always been that way - not sure what's changed but I didn't work my first B station until around 2013 but now they're on FT8 nightly on all bands (especially 20m well after local dark) - and also very common in any of the big CW/SSB contests with international exposure. I've heard that Italy stations for East Coasters are something similar -almost to the level of QRM at times - that's how JA and B stations can be for us out here in the West Dave W7UUU
How is making contacts on amateur radio helping them? Also I don't view the average Chinese citizen as an enemy. Their government, yes.
