Field Day 2026

Balloons and Amateur Radio

Who Is Mark Hoeft, WA5TBK

 

 

 

·         Software Engineer and Manager at HP for 22 Years

·         Got Ham License KE6TYS in 1992

·         Rejoined as KO6JUV in 2025

·         Took over Father’s Call sign WA5TBK

·         “Mark in Lompico”

·         wa5tbk-ham@gmail.com

·         http://wa5tbk.com

 

 

High Altitude Ballooning (HAB)

·         https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Amateur+Radio+high+alttude+balloons

·         https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=launching+weather+balloon

·         Amateur Weather balloons

·         MAX <12lbs, 6lb each payload; May 9 flight was 4 payloads 4.57lb, 2075gm

·         105,000’, 20 Miles, 32,000m High

·         -70 degrees C

San Francisco High Altitude Balloon Club SF-HAB

SF-HAB

·         Launches and Chases every couple of months

·         Mostly Hams

·         Up to 6 radios on a Balloon

·         https://sf-hab.org

·         All are welcome Launch and Chase (need co-pilots)

·         Launch from East Bay typically

·         Hit the dual band repeater and MeshCore 20 Miles up

·         Mark WA5TBK will post on https://k6bj.groups.io

·         https://amateur.sondehub.org

·         Viewing on Google Earth from Walnut Creek

·         https://groups.io/g/sf-hab-chatter/message/1166?

·         https://groups.io/g/sf-hab-chatter/message/1307?

441 MHz input

147.58 MHz output

pl 162.2 Hz

500 mW

Crossband Repeater

431.05

25 mW

UHF Radiosonde - Horus Binary

912.125 MHz ISM

158 mW

Meshtastic Geiger and Router

906.875 MHz ISM

158 mW

RAK Meshtastic

910.525

158 mW

MeshCore – WA5TBK

 

50 mW

Wenet

433.775 MHz ISM

150 mW

LoRa APRS

 

 

Multiple GoPros

Radar Reflector and Parachute

 

SFHAB-11 MeshCore Repeater Payload (WA5TBK)

·         Call Sign “SF-HAB.org 11”

·         Any Channel repeats but only those directly heard by the balloon

·         All forwarded as 0-hop to prevent Storm

·         You can request Telementary with GPS and lots of Data

·         Truck Companion node logs all packets -> USB -> PC for Post Flight analysis

·         Send MeshCore messages to you friends across that state

·         17.1 Degrees incline from Santa Cruz

·         Can see most of California and other states from 20 miles up

·         Radio Horizon  440 miles

·         +22 dBm, 150 mW

·         Meshtastic reached San Luis Obispo

·         Monitor #Public for in-flight messages

National Weather Service Balloons

·         https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=nws+weather+balloons

·         https://sondehub.org/

·         Take off from Oakland Airport at 00:00 and 12:00 UTC, 4am and 4pm

·         To follow it:

o   Click on black circle near Alameda

o   Left side will open, click on plots

o   Copy “serial”

o   Enter into https://sondesearch.lectrobox.com/analyzers/kml-converter/

o   Click download to see 4D Rollercoaster map in Google Earth!

o   404Mhz (RTL-SDR?)

Pico Balloons

B64

 

·         Super-pressure balloons 3’ at launch and at 40,000’

·         https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pico+balloons

·         20m WSPR

·         1.8gm radio with GPS https://qrp-labs.com/u4b

·         8-17 times around the world, up for months or longer

·         https://qrp-labs.com/circumnavigators.html#b64

·         https://qrp-labs.com/flights.html

·         https://sf-hab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/amateur-radio-ballooning-for-fun-and-science.pdf

Additional Information

·         Linux in the Cloud

o   https://www.digitalocean.com/

o   $4 a month

·         Domains

o   https://porkbun.com/

o   ham0.cc (my tinyurl redirector) cost $34 for 10 years