Launching balloons in UK

[andrew....@googlemail.com]

Someone mentioned issues with transmitting from air and alternatives for UK – can I ask for some advice on this?

Andy

[Chuck Snell]

Hey Andrew - 

I can contribute / add to this thread a little bit (unlike radio astronomy topics)

I have done some of the pico-ballooning hobby. I have launched a balloon with a WSPR transmitter - transmitting my callsign, elevation, speed, temperature, and so forth.

There are 3 countries I cannot transmit over: United Kingdom, Yemen, and North Korea. (one of these things is not like the other)

I am told that the UK restriction is a law on the books left over from WWII (or so) restricting any aerial transmission or broadcast of any kind.

-Chuck

[andrew....@googlemail.com]

Thanks Chuck – Rhys’ school followed the balloon in some way, so I need to find out how they did it.

Andy

 

From: sara...@googlegroups.com <sara...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Chuck Snell
Sent: 06 August 2026 16:06
To: Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [SARA] Re: Launching balloons in UK

 

Hey Andrew - 

 

I can contribute / add to this thread a little bit (unlike radio astronomy topics)

 

I have done some of the pico-ballooning hobby. I have launched a balloon with a WSPR transmitter - transmitting my callsign, elevation, speed, temperature, and so forth.

 

There are 3 countries I cannot transmit over: United Kingdom, Syria, and North Korea. (one of these things is not like the other)

 

I am told that the UK restriction is a law on the books left over from WWII (or so) restricting any aerial transmission or broadcast of any kind.

 

-Chuck

On Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 12:16:40 PM UTC-5 andrew....@googlemail.com wrote:

Someone mentioned issues with transmitting from air and alternatives for UK – can I ask for some advice on this?

Andy

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To post to this group, send email to sara...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
sara-list-...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sara-list+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/7d8e1880-4f8b-4485-bd58-3c975a745e54n%40googlegroups.com.

[Chuck Snell]

website to track:

https://amateur.sondehub.org/#!mt=Mapnik&mz=3&qm=12h&mc=54.05939,-32.51953

you search / track based on their callsign

some of the balloons are weather balloons or weather-balloon-like (some science projects) - big/heavy require notifying FAA and plotting expected path - burst and parachute down

the pico-balloon hobby: when the weight is less than (i think ~ 12 grams) - no one cares - launch with no restrictions

my balloon liked just a little but going around the world twice!! - if you can make it to altitude, that is above most weather the odds improve about getting around the world with is the goal in the hobby. I am told that the odds are about 1 out of 10 to get around.

[Laris Turkic]

OFCOM rules prohibit transmission on ham frequencies while airborne, so using regular APRS is not an option. RSGB just had a challenge to build a LoRa based tracker for balloons, so that could be a good place to start.

https://ukhas.org.uk/doku.php?id=general:aprs_legislation

https://rsgb.org/main/coding-and-amateur-radio/lora-balloon-project/how-can-i-use-my-lora-tracker-now-the-rsgb-challenge-has-finished/

Laris

On Thu, Aug 6, 2026, 13:16 andrew.thornett via Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Someone mentioned issues with transmitting from air and alternatives for UK – can I ask for some advice on this?

Andy

--

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To post to this group, send email to sara...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
sara-list-...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sara-list+...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/000601dd25c7%2454934480%24fdb9cd80%24%40googlemail.com.