[BLT] CONGRATULATIONS ON BLT-17!!!!!!!!

[Andrew MacAllister]

Greetings!

My sincere congratualtions to the South Texas Balloon Launch Team on a SUPER
launch!  It's been five days since the flight of BLT-17, and I still feel
great about it!  Yes, we had some glitches, but this had to be one of the
best flights yet.  There were between 40 and 50 folks at the launch, and we
still had a group of TWENTY SIX at the BBQ restaurant in Wharton!

Launching a balloon with three payloads, having all the critical components
work, and getting it back in record time is NOT supposed to be easy, but you
certainly made it look that way!  Personally I enjoyed everything that I had
a chance to look at, experience or work with:

The ride down to Wharton
Watching Tim and Bronwyn get the main payload ready
Watching Charlie and Tony take care of ALL Helium issues
Helping Pete wrap up the cross-band HT box with red duct tape
Getting a "tour" of the contents of Howard's radiation-detector system
Observing the rollout of the almost-ultra-light
Videotaping skydivers jumping from perfectly good airplanes
Talking with folks I haven't seen in a LONG time
Visiting Mikey's trailer/radio station complete with generator
Taking pictures while the "crew" launched BLT-17
Writing "15JUL00" on Mr. Ball (his 5th flight)
Watching video from the balloon even if it was a bit washed out
Successfully commanding the system to switch to the up-cam
Noting that the up-cam worked better than the side-cam...
Loosing things in Mike's Ford Explorer (and then finding them)
Viewing the balloon at 50K feet with George's ultra binoculars
Viewing the balloon via the up-cam
Viewing the fully deployed parachute via the up-cam
Listening to the data from Howard's radiation experiment
Making contacts through Pete's cross-band repeater project
Watching the ground track on multiple computers set for APRS
Comparing reality with John's (AB5SS) fantastic flight predictions
Chasing the balloon with Comm control by Mikey & Bill Allen
Actually getting to the landing site fast with only one wrong turn
Taking pictures of lots of folks in BLT-17 T-shirts
Watching Bob N5LCO return from the field with the payloads
Taking more pictures in 102 deg TEXAS heat
Having TEXAS BBQ in AIR CONDITIONING
Going home with payload

IT WAS A GREAT LAUNCH!!!

We will have a presentation and "debrief" at the Houston Amateur Television
Society meeting at 7 PM on August 9, 2000, in the Fujitsu offices on the 9th
Floor of the Coastal Bank Building at Westheimer and Bering.  Most of us
will also be at Mama's Restaurant from 5:30 to 6:50 (across from Bering
Hardware on Westheimer) for pre-meeting dinner and Margaritas.  I hope to
have some video tape to show.  We will also discuss things we would like to
improve for future flights, so bring your notes!

I am updating the pictures on the website when I have time.  In addition to
the link to John Moore's pix, I now have 10 of my best shots posted... and
more coming.  Check it out!

http://members.xoom.com/macallis1/index.htm

73 de Andy W5ACM
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