Here is the project that started it all.   I had heard through the Amateur Radio grapevine that some of the local middle school's were looking for technical help with launching a high altitude weather balloon.   Being such an ATV nut, my first idea was to install a video camera payload and transmit video back to the ground.  After attending a planning meeting, I was now officially supporting the Brennan Middle School in Attleboro, MA.  The balloon project was supposed to be handled by another group, but things didn't happen as planned.   I ended up assembling my miniature 1.5 Watt 439.25 MHz ATV transmitter into a 6 foot tall high power rocket.  The rocket was assembled by the students and overseen by an engineer from Texas Instruments.  That day, there were 7 high power rockets, and the kids from Brennan won top awards for best design, and best payload!!

This is a shot of our rocket being launched to an altitude of approximately 1.5 miles!  This was an impressive launch, and I hear the transmitted video was incredible, but unfortunately there was a problem with the VCR recording the signals and is was never captured onto video tape. (I was quite bummed about that.....)  The rocket was launched by a member of the NASA launch team.   This rocket took a "J" sized engine, and you need to have a special license to purchase and launch.

Here is the rocket pre-launch.  Much care was taken to prevent the transmitter from being turned on accidentally and wasting precious batteries, or scratching the tiny color camera lens.

The 1.5 Watt video transmitter was small, lightweight, and able to slip inside the rocket body and padded with bubble wrap.

Here I am holding the rocket after it had been launched. 

This is the group of students that built, and painted, the rocket.  The launch team from NASA was able to make our rocket land within 100 feet of the launch pad, and almost everybody was standing right under the rocket as it floated down from such a high altitude.  The kids were excited to have seen their rocket launch perfectly. 

Here is the balloon heading skyward right after it's release.  It was gaining altitude quite rapidly, and didn't take long to completely disappear from sight.

The balloon payload needed to be small, lightweight, and reliable, yet inexpensive because it would never be seen again.  The electronics were in a tiny plastic project box.  The battery was a 4 pack of AA cells, and the antenna, which doubled as the attach pint for the balloon, was a copper wire dipole tuned for 144 MHz.  Everything was packed inside a chunk of Styrofoam to insulate the electronics, and battery pack, from the possible severe cold the payload would encounter at high altitudes. The thermal resistor was hanging outside the foam so it would be exposed to the ambient temperatures and the transmitter could relay the telemetry back to the ground crew.