Birthday "Dinner"

I finally started feeling "normal" from all of the shifts at Balloon Fiesta.  Headed out to Costco when they opened to pick up some supplies.  Basically recovered and rested most of the day. 

Decided to head over to The Local Brewhouse for my birthday dinner.  Knew they would have the football game on the TV - and it was the Packers vs the 49ers.  Donned my leather Packer jacket and headed out.

Looks like business is bad here, now.  They no longer are open for lunch during the week (open at 3pm).  I wanted a brat for dinner with my beer, but thy no longer have the brat on the menu.  I saw on their facebook that they were advertising for help, including a cook. 

Anyway, I had their Southern BBQ bacon-cheeseburger with fries and two pints of their amber ale.  Got a glass of water, too, to wash down the food.  I had enough of my burger and paid my bill.  Was a early evening - was back home about as the 2nd quarter started.  Looks like I missed a good game.

A Wash-out

The weather forecast was not good, but the rain was supposed to hold off until late in the day.  It was not to be - there was a little rain spitting as I drove to Balloon Fiesta Park.  Once there, the bottom dropped out several times.  It was obvious this was going to be a "no-launch" day.

The club manned the booth for a while as some folks wandered through the Discovery Tent.  In short time, all of the displays in the Discovery Tent started being dismantled and packed up.  So was our radio display.

Long Morning at Balloon Fiesta

Another "O-Dark-30" arrival at Balloon Fiesta Park for my shift in the Discovery Tent.  Calm winds this morning, so dawn patrol and mass ascension took off as scheduled.  I was able to get a couple more photos of the balloons illuminated in the dark, before they took off.

New Mexico sky photos can be very
'uninteresting" - so many of our days are wall-2-wall sunshine.  Saturday, with the remnants of a tropical storm coming in, there were some clouds to add some interest into the sky.

We were busy after the balloon launch, fielding questions about amateur radio.

A Late Balloon Launch

Today was a busy day on the air.  There were 2 local 2M nets that were run from the Amateur Radio booth in the Discovery tent - the Caravan Club SCAT (Senior Citizen & Travelers) and Rusty's Raiders nets. As such.we have 7 ham volunteers this morning.

Surface winds delayed balloon launching.  Dawn Patrol was scrubbed.  It was almost 9 am before a smaller "mass ascension" launched.  I still was able to get some good photos. Got good views of the Van Gogh and fractal balloons.

Thanks to fellow members of High Desert ARC and the Caravan Club for manning the booth and net control stations.

After my shift was over, I was at Toltec Brewing for the Geezerz lunch.  Chile cheeseburger and pint of Altbeir.

High Winds Aloft

After the poor service yesterday morning at IHOP (Unser just South of Southern), I skipped breakfast this morning.  Grabbed a donut and coffee after at the tent.

Morning winds seemed light and there were hopes for balloon launch.  I started to become concerned when they were not launching balloons for Dawn Patrol.  Seemed balloons were being inflated but not launched.  One of our radio clug crew was able to tune into the balloon frequency.  It seems that winds aloft were too high.

We spent most of the shift making contacts using digital JT8, basically filling up 2 log pages.  Paying closer attention, I  noticed that the computer was set up to make contacts as the club's call, not the Special Event call "W5B".  Sent a message this evening wondering why this was.

During the shift, winds started picking up at ground level.   Weather forcast for the next 2 days are not for balloon launch.  As a committee member, I will monitor the next couple days until I again have a shift at the Balloon Fiesta Park on Wednesday morning.  At this time, forecast for Wednesday is clear skies, and, hopefully, light winds.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta - Day 1

Early depart from the house this morning.  Stopped by IHOP in Rio Rancho (Unser just South of Southern).  I thought perhaps they got their shit together over the last year,  WRONG!  Even with apparent new manager, the service sucked.  It took me half and hour to get an senior order of french toast w/ sausage. And, it was delivered with bacon instead of sausage.

After the disappointed breakfast, I headed to Balloon Fiesta Park.  At 4:00, traffic was already backed up turning off the frontage road, and slow going the street into the park.  It was about 4:15 when I got parked. 

When allowed to the Discovery Tent, I settled into doing final adjustments to the club's display. 

It was a beautiful morning for the start of Balloon Fiesta 2018.  Very light winds, clear sky.  I was a little late getting over to the field for Dawn Patrol.  Was there to catch the Air Force (?) fly-over.  The Canon balloon carried the US Flag aloft with the strains of the National Anthem.  

The field was still in the shadows from the Sandia Mountains when the mass ascension commenced.  Eventually, the sun started illuminated the balloons.  Wave after wave of balloons launched from the field. 

As the mass ascension was tapering off, the crowds started entering the Balloon Discovery Tent.  While testing the radios before the mass ascension, we were able to make a few digital contacts.  Then we had some software glitch.  The other station was able to make a couple SSB contacts.

This year we were set up in the same part of the tent where the astronaut and other speakers held their presentations. They had a strong PA system, which caused it difficult for us to hear folks that may want to discuss ham radio.  We did have some conversations.

A sample of the photos (over 80) I took during the mass ascension are on my facebook page and the club's (NM5HD.com) facebook page.

Back tomorrow for the same morning shift.  Hope the weather continues to cooperate.

Balloon Fiests Set-up

After the Thursday coffee/breakfast at Flying Star, nost of the attendees headed over to Balloon Fiesta Park to set up High Desert Amateur Radio Club display for Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta..  In addition to setting up the informational booth shown here, the group erected 3 antennas for HF, VHF, and UHF (high frequency, very-high  frequency, and ultra-high frequency) contacts.

The club will be operating  SSTV (slow-scan TV), voice, digital modes, and "Morse" code.  Two popular Albuquerque area nets will be run fron this station during the fiesta.

At the Balloon Fiesta you will find us in the Balloon Discovery Tent at the North end of the field.  On the air, listen to call-sign W5B.