Cornell Grad Students Go Ballooning (Again)

ballooner writes "A group of Cornell University graduate students are attempting to break the Amateur Radio Ballooning duration record this weekend. The project is a continuation from last year when some other Cornell grad students broke the altitude record. The progress of the team can be tracked via their Twitter feed or by monitoring their APRS beacons. For all the HAMs out there, downlinks are available on a 30m wavelength, too."

Comments

We're not HAMs

[Mr_Perl]

It's not HAM, it's ham. It's not an acronym.

73,
ai1p

Re:We're not HAMs

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it is an acronym HAm Radio is High Frequency Amateur Radio.

We put the HF in VHF/UHF

73 from the Morehead State Space Tracking Facility
KJ4HVL

Re:We're not HAMs

[gaderael]

I have a ham sandwich

Re:We're not HAMs

[civilizedINTENSITY]

Etymology of ham radio
False etymologies

Ham-Fisted
One alternate explanation is that "ham" is a shortened version of "ham-fisted", meaning clumsy. This is a reasonable conjecture, given that all early amateur radio stations used hand-operated telegraph keys to transmit Morse code, and sending style is referred to as an operator's "fist", so someone who sends badly could be called ham-fisted. But the earliest references to "ham" use only the single word, and there is no evidence that it evolved as a truncation of a longer phrase.
"A little station called HAM"
This widely circulated but fanciful tale claims that, around 1911, an impassioned speech made by Harvard University student Albert Hyman to the United States Congress, in support of amateur radio operators, turned the tide and helped defeat a bill that would have ended amateur radio activity entirely, by assigning the entire radio spectrum over to the military. An amateur station that Hyman supposedly shared with two others (Bob Almy and Peggie Murray), which was said to be using the self-assigned call sign HAM (short for Hyman-Almy-Murray), thus came to represent all of amateur radio. However, this story seems to have first surfaced in 1948, and practically none of the facts in the account check out, including the existence of "a little station called HAM" in the first place. [9][10][11]
"Home Amateur Mechanic" magazine
In this version, supposedly HAM was derived from the initials of a "very popular" magazine which covered radio extensively. But there is no evidence that there ever was a magazine by this name.
Hertz-Armstrong-Marconi
It is sometimes claimed that HAM came from the first letter from the last names of three radio pioneers: Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Edwin Armstrong, and Guglielmo Marconi. However, this cannot be the source of the term as Armstrong was an unknown college student when the term first appeared
.
Hammarlund legend
Likely an example of corporate wishful thinking, Hammarlund products were supposedly so preeminent in the pioneering era of radio that they became a part of the language of radio. As the story goes, early radio enthusiasts affectionately referred to Hammarlund products as "Ham" products, and called themselves "Ham" operators.[12] In truth, Hammarlund was a minor and barely known company at the time "ham" started to be used.

Troll

[p51d007]

And the next time a natural disaster hits your area, and your internet, cell phone and every other form of communications is down, say thank you to the "fags" who set up and get the information in and out of your area. 73's KB0GNK

Re:Troll

[Anonymous Coward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_emergency_communications

Recent examples include the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan, the 2003 North America blackout and Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, where amateur radio was used to coordinate disaster relief activities when other systems failed. ...
The largest disaster response by U.S. amateur radio operators was during Hurricane Katrina which first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane went through Miami, Florida on August 25, 2005, eventually strengthening to Category 5. More than a thousand ham operators from all over the U.S. converged on the Gulf Coast in an effort to provide emergency communications assistance. Subsequent Congressional hearings highlighted the Amateur Radio response as one of the few examples of what went right in the disaster relief effort.

You won't see them paddling down the street or trudging through snow, but converging by the thousands to coordinate the emergency efforts of those who are paddling and trudging.

They are invaluable in times of emergency and crisis. Until local law enforcement has an international network of volunteer radio operators it will never match the resources of HAMs. If you've been through many natural disasters chances are you should be thanking them for their tireless efforts. Communication, coordination and organization between disparate groups is vital in any rescue effort. These HAMs have helped save countless lives the world over, and this may well include yours.

I cannot believe anyone would survive multiple natural disasters and have such a contemptuous attitude toward volunteer rescue workers no matter what their shape. You're either a troll or a dangerously ignorant ungrateful scumbag.

Not just "because"

[nathan.fulton]

Apparently there's probably some real research going on. While breaking the record for the sake of breaking the record (and the beautiful pictures) is probably an OK reason, it looks like the grad students are making contributions to research regarding the optimal fuel and material composition for balloons (or, since it's /., "balloons")

It's pretty cool of Lockheed Martin to sponsor the project -- being that high up in a balloon has to be the experience of a life time.

Re:Not just "because"

[Anonymous Coward]

A pity the balloon is unmanned then.

Unmanned, you say. Then it's only an oon.

Up, up and away

[SamMichaels]

What would be really neat is an ATV downlink on UHF so we could watch it. I've always wanted to see the transition where the blue sky disappears.

FYI, APRS is pretty much text messaging for amateur radio. The most popular use is reporting your position (which is what the balloon does), but it's an easy way to pass short digital messages....or even send an email if you're near one of the gateways.

Off topic, but semi-related because of APRS: AT Golden Packet Event. An APRS packet is relayed up the entire Appalachian Trail.

Disclaimer: IAAH (I Am A Ham). dit-dit.

Thank you for posting us!

[NS3]

Calling all amateur radio users with 30 meter recieving capability to listen on 10.1465 MHz. Downlink arrives every 10 minutes on the ten minute mark (UTC). Format of message is N2XE Alt NLat WLong Battery Ballast Please send reports to pbhdata@gmail.com.

Re:Cornell students bring new meaning to getting h

[BTWR]

slope day isnt a fraction of what it used to be.

-Cornell '01 grad...

amateur students?

[Goldsmith]

It's really cool and all, but these guys are being paid to do this by an aerospace company (Lockheed) and are graduate researchers. Calling them amateurs and students is slightly insulting (I realize the amateur part is just the way these ballooning things are described, to separate them from NASA, but it's still an unfortunate word in this case).

These guys need to present themselves as professionals for their own sake. Part of the reason school administrators do stupid things like raise grad student tuition and cut grad student benefits is because they do not realize how much on-campus research is done by graduate students. I spent several years when I was in grad school trying to explain to deans, chancellors, and regents that graduate "students" were not just older undergraduates (some of these people were shocked to find out I only took classes for 2 out of 6 years of grad school... they had no idea what science and engineering graduate students do all day).

This kind of stuff drives me crazy. These guys did a great thing, and to play it off as "look what this group of students did" implies this was a small side project done in their spare time, or something a more senior person taught them to do, when this was well funded research which will likely go toward their degrees (and obviously has not been done before). Incidentally, Lockheed Martin's press release uses the phrases: young engineers, early career engineers, and employees. The word "student" is not present, only referenced by "employees' graduate studies." They get it.

Re:amateur students?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's amusing when people who aren't a part of something and really don't know what they're talking about make statements on the internet presenting their opinions as fact. Firstly, we are in fact students. While yes, we are professionals at the same time, we are still students. The project is also worked during our off work hours. We do not get paid to take days off from our real engineering job to work this project. Secondly, we are young engineers and early career engineers. There are limits to those who can participate in the program based on the number of years with the company. Thirdly, there is no research being conducted. Any lessons learned from flights are merely passed on to the next years class. This project acts as a vehicle for future leaders at Lockheed Martin to learn the engineering process that our company practices. I can assure you the technical aspect of the project is not the primary driver. No one on the team has had any experience with high altitude balloons before and that does in fact make us amateur balloonists. My final comments are directed towards etherelithic. You seem to contradict yourself saying that we take 3 years to complete a 1 year program but then state that they work us to the bone... To me it sounds like you are either jealous or unhappy with your own academic career. Also, if the surrounding area is so depressing, go find another site to work for. No one's forcing you to stay here.