[aprssig] Iridium humbles APRS

[Jason KG4WSV]

On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 2:35 PM, Eric Hansen <skyssx at gmail.com> wrote:
> but what about situations like the CA group that got one of their balloons to float all the way to the Mediterranean?

I agree, an Iridium modem (or a SPOT, etc) might be a better choice
for a trans-oceanic flight, but those are still fairly rare.

One group of students I work with have created a complex ground
station, piping data from the balloon to a web site.  Trouble is, it's
frequently worthless for the chase team in the foothills of the
Appalachians in northeast AL/northwest GA/southeastern TN because
there is no cell phone coverage.

The grounds station work is valuable for their cubesat preparation,
but relying on tracking by cell phone out in the boonies is folly.

-Jason
kg4wsv