Robert Rochte KC8UCH of the
Grosse Pointe Academy
in Michigan launched a superpressure balloon carrying a HamBONE
beacon on what we hoped would be a trans-Atlantic flight. The 10m CW beacon is
adapted from the HamBONE-LD series.
The balloon was launched from near Detroit, MI at 4:40 pm EDT (2040Z)
on July 9, 2007, and reached an altitude of around 30,000 feet.
Then the signal was lost and we assume the balloon descended.
Any reception of the CW beacon on 28.636 MHz should be reported by
email to pt@rifton.com; we might be able to recover it.
Similar beacons have
been recovered several times in the past; one flew four times before
we managed to lose it in the wilds of Appalachia.
The payload package includes:
Telemetry frame format (sent every 2 minutes on 28.636 MHz) :
DE KA2QPG BLN M 1434 A 033 T N55 B 8R7V EMAIL PT AT RIFTON.COM AR
where:
M = mission elapsed time in hours and minutes
A = altimeter (absolute pressure [higher # = lower alt], 0 - 255)
T = outside temperature (00 - 99 degrees C, N = negative)
B = battery voltage (0.0 - 9.9 volts)
The remaining time in the 2-minute cycle will have a
Morse "dit" every 4 seconds.
Press this button for an email link:
Page updated July 9, 2007 at 10:00 EDT