I am back ...

[mea@nic.funet.fi]

... although I had to rearrange my initial schedules a bit.
Now I am at home to recuperate from the ordeal to be well
rested for next weekends amateur astronomer summer camp.

I became quite exhausted at the Finnish HAM summer-vention
after four days of meeting the people and (more importantly)
not sleeping quite enough each night (nor well enough).

On late friday/early saturnday (until 4 AM) a small group of
people were doing a last-moment construction and integration
of an airborn radio-amateur beacon, and GPS/APRS transmitters.

It was launched with two 300g hydrogen filled balloons at 10 AM
the next morning, and an another group of people went on to track,
and to retrieve it after it dropped back.  Flight time: 51 minutes
to reach top-altitude of 18.7 km (circa 63000 feet), then descend
with a parachute for circa 30 minutes.

Quite a weekend.  (And of course, I took part at the construction,
integration, and launch, but not to its retrieve.)

/Matti Aarnio