Doing HAB means that you have to get a few electronic components - that is if you don't own an 
electronics shop. So here is list of things I got until now: 
1. GSM and GPS module + antennas (first thing I bought - to play with the AT commands) 
2. Radiometrix UHF radio transmitter 
3. Wide band radio receiver 

Two days ago, I got my electronic components (resistors/capacitors/regulators etc.) for building 
the tracking board. I got a 100x70mm veroboard (stripboard), and only DIP (through-hole) 
components, which are much easier for development when you don't have fancy gear for surface mount. 
Up until now, I used a previous microcontroller project board that came from my final year project 
at university (4 years ago), and started with the PIC-C programming while deciding which components 
and sensors I wanted to include in my project. It went rather smooth, just struggling a little bit 
with the string handling in my code. The PIC micro does weird things sometimes, and after a simple 
power off/on, it reverts back to normal. Having a PIC that does this while testing code makes life 
a bit more difficult. I dont have a fancy in-circuit debugger, so I just have to make the best of 
what I got. 

So, yesterday I started soldering, probably for the first time in a few years. All went well, and 
after a few hours of planning, soldering and breaking some tracks, the board was finished. It 
actually was the first time I used veroboard for one of my projects. So just to explain, this 
verboard is actually an empty electronics prototyping board, with a grid of holes drilled in it. On 
the bottom side, there is a few parallel strips of copper that connects the holes in a line (only 
in the one direction). You can then place your components on the top, sticking the pins/wires 
through the holes, and soldering it at the bottom to connect to the copper tracks. One copper track 
creates one connection point, but sometimes you want to use one track for a few connection points. 
It such a case you have to physically break the copper track. I've read that a 5mm drill bit, works 
rather well to break these tracks, so I went to the hardware store and got one with sharp edges on 
the point. And I must say, its as easy as 1-2-3 and the copper is gone. 

I've used a simple piece of copper wire for the UHF antenna after a quick calculation to see how 
long a 1/4 wavelenght is. After a quick inspection everything seemed connected correctly. And then 
there was one thing left to do - giving it power and see if it works. A quick test and a few 
voltage measurements proved that everything was honkey-dory! I did a quick range test on the UHF 
signal. I live on the top floor of a three-story complex. After climbing down the stairs to the 
basement, I still got a UHF signal form my 10mW transmitter! The specifications say that the 
transmitter can be used for distances over 500m in open environments. Luckily, for the ballooning 
project I will have line-of-sight *mostly*. I will be testing it on greater distances soon, and 
after the launch I will know exactly how far you can stretch that 500m mark.