Good Afternoon,

Had time today to get a few of the smaller pieces. I’m holding out on the cameras until testing is complete; also, I’ll be looking for an online vendor to save $50+ in tax if possible.

Picked up…

– Extended battery pack with deep enclosure. It’s currently mounted on the borrowed camera for testing but it will easily move over to the new one/s when they come in. I’ll pick up the 2nd one with the camera order
– 2x 64GB Micro SD Cards – 64 is a big as the GoPros will accommodate
– USB Micro SD card reader. I want to pull the MicroSD cards out of the camera for viewing and backups
– SPOT Gen 3 GPS locator. I’ll activate the annual subscription next week and start driving around to see how good the tracking is. I may have a friend hide the transmitter so I can track and try finding it. For testing purposes of course… and because I’m a dork
– In the background there is quite a bit of styrofoam, adhesive and some tools to begin fabricating a payload container. There is ample there to mock something up, make adjustments and then settle on a final design. I want to start testing the GPS signal attenuation while evaluating the need to mount an antenna on the outside of the payload or not.

I think we are going to be fine on weight. 1814 grams to work with. If we have a buffer, I think it’s prudent to add some low-draw LEDs somewhere on the exterior in case we get hung out at night and need help locating the payload. I really want some kind of audible beep too, but I don’t think I want to listen to it the whole way up and down… need some kind of trigger that only starts the tone after we are back on the ground. That’s ver 2.0 though.

It’s all coming along. We are still a few weeks away from any kind of launch. The really expensive stuff is still hanging out there. I just want to take this a few manageable bites at a time.