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This is not news. The first time I remember seeing this kind of feat was 2002: Balloon 1.0
This is from the time before disposable mobile phones with embedded GPS...this guy had to make his own telemetry gear - much more of an accomplishment!

Balloon 1.0

Amateur... um, balloonists have been doing stuff like this for many a-year. Balloon v1.0 was featured on Slashdot back in 2002. Others have added put up geiger counters and even an R/C glider plane that returned to the laucnhing site.

This guy who did a similar project:

http://vpizza.org/~jmeehan/balloon/

was very careful to follow the regulations. Not sure if the UT guys knew what they were doing in that regards. Basically, you do not necessarily need FAA permission if the balloon is small enough, just so one does not end with one's payload smashing through an airplane windscreen or blowing up a turbine. To quote above link, one generally doesn't need to file a flight plan unless the balloon:

(i) Carries a payload package that weighs more than four pounds and has a weight/size ratio of more than three ounces per square inch on any surface of the package, determined by dividing the total weight in ounces of the payload package by the area in square inches of its smallest surface;
(ii) Carries a payload package that weighs more than six pounds;
(iii) Carries a payload, of two or more packages, that weighs more than 12 pounds; or
(iv) Uses a rope or other device for suspension of the payload that requires an impact force of more than 50 pounds to separate the suspended payload from the balloon.

Still very cool. http://vpizza.org/~jmeehan/balloon/

http://vpizza.org/~jmeehan/balloon/

This is the properly crafted URL. What a maroon!

All in all, I was much more impressed by the Balloon 1.0 project, even though an unpowered balloon isn't half as cool as a powered and automatically guided RC aircraft travelling such a huge distance unaided.

Does anyone have any good links for other projects in a similar vein which aren't so coy about the gory technical details?

Maybe there's something wrong with my glasses (all geeks wear glasses, you know), but I personally wouldn't have put this picture:

http://speed.vpizza.org/~jmeehan/albums/20021103-b alloon-highlights/11040058.jpg
in the "Gallery of best pictures"...

Still, good effort, by george. what what.

Wait a minute, is that the spam kings house? spam kings house?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I found this on his site: http://speed.vpizza.org/~jmeehan/albums/20021103-b alloon-v1.0-ground/133-3394_IMG.JPG

http://speed.vpizza.org/~jmeehan/albums/20021103-b alloon-v1.0-ground/PB030563.JPG

Yikes!

...this guy should buy a belt:

http://speed.vpizza.org/~jmeehan/albums/20021103-b alloon-v1.0-ground/PB030546.JPG

Look at this one. I hope you got permission from the San Jose Airport to do this. Don't the generally frown on people sending up ballons/model rockets/etc. in their airspace?

At first it might seem that building your own dish is the cheapest solution--but I really question that. I considered building two antennas for my shot that's about a mile. If you really want something to work, consider getting a real (professional) antenna. They aren't that much more expensive when you factor in your cost in time plus they are almost guaranteed to work.

I just ordered a couple of PacWireless parabolic dishes (21 dBi) and pigtails. Sure, I'm paying roughly $175 all said and done--but that's much cheaper than my time right now. If you want to buy, look at NetNimble and Electro-Comm Wireless.

Obviously, it's much more "cool" to have put together your own antenna with a pringles can, a primestar dish, or aluminum foil. I can't doubt that one bit. But my neighbor's aren't going to complain about a (relatively) tasteful dish up on my roof compared to a hacked-up job that's rusting away. Add to that this guy's story, and I was sold: 300-400Kbps for the homemade deal compared to 3.5Mbps with a dish. I can feel comfortable knowing that my link will need to experience a huge amount of interference before it goes down.

Go to this link and hit reload repeatedly. If we get enough people doing it, I'm sure we can /. the site.

I'd rather have some of this.

can i get wireless access to that