A Raspberry Pi

Dave Akerman has used a Raspberry Pi computer board as the flight computer on a High Altitude Balloon (HAB) and sent back live images from near space at an altitude of almost 40 km.

Image credit Dave Akerman

The balloon, appropriately called PIE1, was launched from Brightwalton, in Berkshire on July 14, 2012. The images were transmitted on 434.650 MHz (300 bps, 600 Hz shift) in the amateur radio 70cm band using the Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) standard.

PIE1 reached an altitude of 39,994 metres and images were received as far away as Northern Ireland (that’s over 500 km, not bad for just 10 mW on 434.650 MHz!).

See the images sent by PIE1 http://sanslogic.co.uk/ssdv/live

The full story and pictures are on Dave Akerman’s website http://www.daveakerman.com/?p=592

Read The Register article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/17/pi_ascent/

Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv

UK High Altitude Society http://www.ukhas.org.uk/

High Altitude Balloons have featured at a recent AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford.

You can watch a video online of the presentation that Cambridge University Spaceflight gave called “Teddy Bears in Space” at http://www.batc.tv/channel.php?ch=1
In the Archive List category box select AMSAT then click Select Category then in the stream box select Teddys and click on Select Stream

Or download a copy of the video at http://www.batc.tv/vod/Teddys.flv

This years AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium takes place Sept. 15-16 details at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve

Image credit Dave Akerman

A PongSat

On September 22 it’s planned to send 1000 student projects built into PongSats (ping pong balls) to the edge of space.

These experiments and projects are made by those in kindergarten, university professors, high school science classes and home schools kids.

PongSats on the Edge of Space – Image credit JP Aerospace

Projects range from plant seeds to filling a PongSat with a marshmallow. At 100,000 feet (30 km) the marshmallow puffs up completely filling the ball. Then it freeze dries. The student gets to hold in her hand the direct results of traveling the top of the atmosphere.

The launch of the PongSats will take place from the Black Rock desert in Nevada. The vehicles that carry them are called High Rack. They are made of foam and carbon fiber. There are four separate telemetry links to the High Rack tracking it during the flight. At the end of the flight the balloon is released and the High Rack descends by parachute.

It will take four High Racks, each with its own balloon to carry the thousand ping pong balls.

Watch PongSats

This project is using Kickstarter to raise donations http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1569698176/1000-student-projects-to-the-edge-of-space

More on PongSats and MiniCubes at JP Aerospace, a volunteer-based DIY Space Program http://www.jpaerospace.com/

Kickstarter is also being used by the satellite project SkyCube http://www.uk.amsat.org/8955

Erin King AK4JG being interviewed by Gary Pearce KN4AQ of HamRadioNow

Erin King AK4JG, a 17-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, was named Amateur Radio Newsline’s Young Ham of the Year for 2012. She re-founded her high school’s radio club and then built a ham radio-carrying balloon that got to 91,000 feet (27.7 km), recovered the flight data and used it to produce a truly striking video of the flight.

She’s just starting her Freshman year at MIT. Yes, she’s exceptional, but she exhibits the qualities we like to see in every young ham.

In this video she is interviewed by Gary Pearce KN4AQ at the Huntsville Hamfest.

Episode 17 of HamRadioNow starts with Erin accepting her award at the Huntsville Hamfest, and continues with an in-depth interview.

Watch HamRadioNow Episode 17 – Erin King AK4JG, Young Ham of the Year

See the video of the amateur radio high altitude balloon mission built by Erin King AK4JG  http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8745

HamRadioNow http://www.hamradionow.tv/

EMF 2012 badge of attendee Graham Shirville G3VZV

The technology camp EMF 2012 being held at Pineham Park, Milton Keynes runs from Friday August 31 to Sunday, September 2. BBC TV reports that two 20m high masts linked by microwaves have been erected for the event, one at the campsite and the other in the car park of a data centre 2.5 km away.

Among the weekend of presentations are some by radio amateurs such as Adam Greig M0RND (formerly M6AGG). Adam is a member of the UK High Altitude Society (UKHAS) and Cambridge University Space Flight (CUSF) and will be talking about High Altitude Ballooning. The balloons use 434 MHz for the telemetry and video image downlinks.

Amateur Radio Station at EMF 2012 – Image Credit Kitty Wong

EMF 2012 is a festival for anyone interested in radio, electronics, space, homebrewing, robots, UAVs, 3D printing, DIYBio, knitting, Internet culture or pretty much anything else you can think of. It is a volunteer effort by a non-profit group, inspired by European and US hacker camps like Chaos Communication Camp, HAR, and toorcamp.

BBC Technology reporter Zoe Kleinman produced this TV report on the Milton Keynes Electromagnetic Field Festival (EMF) 2012 as it was being set up on Friday. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19441861

Among the talks and workshops are
- High Altitude Ballooning by UKHAS / CUSF
- Basic Electronics
- Learn to Solder (Properly)
- Radio Design
- Vodafone repeater umbrella, and antenna design
- Space Shuttle

The amateur radio tent is the colourful gazebo on the helipad (next to the info tent).

EMFM radio will be operating during the event, see http://wiki.emfcamp.org/wiki/EMFM_Radio

20m Mast and antennas at EMF 2012 Milton Keynes – Image Credit Kitty Wong

A full list of talks and workshops at the EMF 2012 event being held at Pineham Park, Milton Keynes August 31 to September 2 can be seen at https://www.emfcamp.org/talks

It is understood the talks will be streamed to the web, links at
http://wiki.emfcamp.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_Field_2012

Pictures from EMF 2012 can be found on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/ just enter the tag EMFMK2012 into the search box.

EMF 2012 site https://www.emfcamp.org/

Videos of some of the satellite related presentations given at the popular Chaos Communication Camp can be seen at:

From OSCAR 1 to Mars and Beyond http://www.uk.amsat.org/3035

Not your Grandfathers moon landing http://www.uk.amsat.org/9258

MURSAT1 – A (Hacker) Space Art Project http://www.uk.amsat.org/5317

Building a Distributed Satellite Ground Station Network http://www.uk.amsat.org/3892

Hackspaces, places where people meet up to carry out construction projects, are springing up all over the country, see http://www.southgatearc.org/news/july2012/new_hackspace_in_chelmsford.htm

On May 19, 2012 a high altitude amateur radio balloon was launched from La Pampa, Argentina, reaching 34 km. It carried a 430 MHz to 144 MHz band 4 watt CTCSS activated FM repeater, APRS lu7aa-11, Robot-36 live SSTV, CW, and 40/20m CW telemetry beacon with 2 video cameras. (Total weight 970 grams).

It also provided a practice run for the upcoming LUSEX satellite.

Details (in Google English) at http://tinyurl.com/AMSAT-LU-May2012-Balloon

During the 4 hour flight, over 200 stations made contacts through the balloon repeater mostly using dual band handies as part of a contest. The winner was from Uruguay and received a dual-band handheld. The participants got certificates http://www.amsat.org.ar/cx2tq.jpg

The balloon payload was recovered from a mud on October 6 by a 4×4 Adventure Group in an isolated and flooded area. They recovered the payload photos and data, see http://www.amsat.org.ar/rescate.jpg

Over 6 hours of video were taken by the two on-board cameras.

Watch the edited video

The experiment is part of the AMSAT-LU development and field tests as well as user practice for the LUSEX satellite http://www.lusex.org.ar/

It is planned to repeat the balloon flight during the Nov/Dec timeframe pending flight authorization by Argentina Federal Aviation Authorities.

73, LU7AA, AMSAT Argentina
http://www.amsat.org.ar
http://www.facebook.com/Amsat.LU

James Coxon M6JCX launches PICO a 434.301 MHz USB RTTY balloon – Image Credit David Bowkis M0MDB

PICO, a single foil balloon was launched by James Coxon M6JCX on Saturday, October 20, 2012 from Suffolk in the UK. It carried GPS and a miniature radio transmitter sending RTTY (ascii-8) on 434.301 MHz USB running 10 mW output.

During the 19 hour flight it crossed the North Sea and landed somewhere in central Sweden.

PICO Payload – Image Credit David Bowkis M0MDB

An increasing number of radio amateurs, including Foundation licence holders, are experimenting with ultra light balloon payloads, typically weighing less than 100 grams.

Balloons such as these do not go to high altitudes instead they float between 3,500 and 6,000 metres for an extended period.

You can see the track of PICO at http://spacenear.us/tracker/?filter=PICO

In an attempt to understand the concepts of foil balloons and super-pressure a collection of statistics from Pico balloon flights have been compiled at http://ukhas.org.uk/projects:microballoons:data

The telemetry data it transmitted could be decoded using the free dl-fldigi software (select PICO in the payload drop down and then autoconfigure).

Watch a short video by David Bowkis M0MDB of the PICO launch

Watch the presentation given by James Coxon M6JCX at the UKHAS Conference in 2011

Thomas Krahn KT5TK launching the Mylar ballons carrying the KT5TK-11 APRS payload

On Friday, October 19 CST, Thomas Krahn KT5TK launched five Mylar balloons each 80cm diameter, that carried a Pecan 144.390 MHz APRS transmitter KT5TH-11 weighing just 55 grams. It transmitted every 5 minutes to save battery power.

In the United Kingdom these flights don’t use an amateur radio callsign since balloon flights are outside the scope of the UK amateur licence. They operate under licence exempt regulations in the 433.050 – 434.790 MHz band.

You can see tracks of current balloon launches by checking this page http://spacenear.us/tracker/

APRS track (enter a callsign such as KT5TK-11) http://aprs.fi/

You can download dl-fldigi for Windows, Mac and Ubuntu Linux at http://wiki.ukhas.org.uk/projects:dl-fldigi
dl-fldigi can decode many different amateur radio digital modes.

Amateur Radio Party Balloon Success! http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=6857

Around the World 28 MHz Party-Balloons
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2012/around_the_world_28_mhz_balloon.htm

The FSpace team of young engineers and students at the FPT University have successfully launched and recovered a High Altitude Balloon that carried an amateur radio APRS payload on 145.980 MHz.

The recovered balloon payload showing the Yaesu VX-8GR HT

This was the first high altitude balloon experiment in Vietnam.

The balloon carrying a Yaesu VX-8GR HT was released from Hanoi on Monday, December 10. It reaching an altitude of about 70,000ft (more than 21km) and landed in Quang Ninh province 200km away (just 20m from the sea).

The flight lasted 2 hours but it took the team 2 days and a 500km journey by motorbike to recover it and come back.

In October a CubeSat, F-1, developed by the FSpace team was deployed from the International Space Station.

Flight path of the balloon

BBC Sky Balloon image received by Graeme 2I0WGM and Philip MI0VIM

Graeme 2I0WGM and Philip MI0VIM got some publicity for the Mid-Ulster Amateur Radio Club by submitting a picture received from a BBC balloon on 434.650 MHz.

It was a BBC Stargazing Live experiment to send a balloon to the stratosphere that would tweet data from near space. The SWIFT balloon carried a transmitter on 434.650 MHz that sent pictures using 300 bps FSK and reached an altitude of 18.982 km.

Graeme 2I0WGM and Philip MI0VIM submitted their picture to the BBC which can be seen at
https://twitter.com/BBCSkyBalloon/status/289016211143016448/photo/1

The balloon carried a VIP passenger, Pudsey the bear from BBC Children in Need. Pudsey survived his epic journey unharmed.

The balloon was tracked at http://spacenear.us/tracker/

BBC Sky Balloon on Twitter https://twitter.com/BBCSkyBalloon

Lismore school and BBC to capture the final frontier
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20671527

BBC – Giant weather balloon carries out its sky mission
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20959699

Mid-Ulster Amateur Radio Club http://www.muarc.com/

A Raspberry Pi computer board

On Saturday, April 13 at 1000 UT, two balloons both carrying 434 MHz transmitters were launched from Cambridge, UK . One transmitting video images from a Rapsberry Pi computer board, the other carried a 144.800 MHz APRS beacon M0UPU-11 in addition to the 434 MHz beacon.

The first balloon PIE5 is flying a Raspberry Pi computer board which transmitted live Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) images back to the ground by a pair of transmitters to double the bandwidth. The data was RTTY 300 baud 8N2. The frequencies used were 434.070 and 434.074 MHz. The balloon call sign was $$PIE.

The second balloon AVA flew a 70cms tracker on 434.450 MHz 50 baud 7N2. Additionally once it entered air space where the airborne use of APRS is permitted a second APRS transmitter was enabled (the APRS frequency is 144.800 MHz) with the call sign M0UPU-11.

The balloons had been expected to head for Poland and on Saturday evening they were over Germany but by early Sunday morning PIE5 was over Switzerland and AVA was over Austria.

The 434 MHz downlinks  on the balloons are generated using Radiometrix NTX2 transmitter modules, the batteries were expected to last 24 hours.

A third balloon callsign XABEN transmitting on 434.350MHz, 470Hz shift, 7N1 was also launched. Tthis was configured to have a short lifetime, going straight-up until the balloon burst rather than floating at 30km across Europe.

Live video of the launch was streamed by the British Amateur TV Club (BATC) at http://www.batc.tv/

Tracks of both balloons are at http://www.spacenear.us/tracker

Direct link to M0UPU-11 APRS track
http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FM0UPU-11&timerange=86400&tail=86400

Images from the PIE5 Raspberry Pi balloon transmitted using SSDV can be seen at http://ssdv.habhub.org/

To get details of upcoming launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address: ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Twitter #ukhas https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ukhas

Beginners Guide to Tracking using dl-fldigi http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

Digital Slow Scan Video http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv

Tomasz Brol SP9UOB plans to launch three High Altitude Balloons to near-space this week carrying amateur radio payloads on 437.600, 437.595 and 437.615 MHz.

At maximum altitude the 10 mW signal from these balloons could have a potential range of up to 700 km.

Thomasz posts:

I’m planning on launching 3 balloons from Gliwice Glider Airport [Upper Silesia], with ultralight (36-40 grams) payloads.

First launch on Wednesday, May 1 at 9:00 UTC – under 100g kaysam / Helium – just for hardware check 437.600 MHz

Second on Saturday, May 4 at 9:00 UTC – 1600 g Hwoyee / Hydrogen – 437.595 MHz

Third on Saturday, May 4 at 10:00 UTC – 1600 g Hwoye / Hydrogen – 437.615 MHz

RTTY, 470 Hz shift / 50 baud / 7n1

The IARU Region 1 site carries this report on the May 4 balloon launch:

On Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 9:00 UTC (11:00 am – local time), the team from the club SP9PDF – directed by Tomasz, SP9UOB – will launch an unmanned stratospheric balloon. The current record of flight altitude is 44,376 feet above sea level.

The balloon named SEBA-1 will be launched from the Aero Club of Gliwice within the project “From Gliwice to Space”, started in June 2012.

A telemetry transmitter (its power – 10 mW) will be  placed in a capsule, the balloon will operate on RTTY on the frequency 437.600 MHz USB (+ / – thermal drift of about 10 kHz), 50 baud, 470 Hz shift, 7N1. To receive telemetric data, you should use the dl-fldigi program.

Detailed instructions for configuration of the software can be found at: http://sp9uob.verox.pl/rtty_tracking.html

The capsule has a total weight of just 37 grams, including: the electronic circuits – 8 grams, the power (R6) – 14 grams, the antenna – 3 grams, the thermal insulation – 12 grams.

Such light weight load, combined with a giant balloon (2 kg of latex filled with hydrogen) should result, at least, in approaching the world record.

We invite everyone to track the flight of the balloon by listening on the indicated frequency, or  at the following website: http://spacenear.us/

Source of information: SP9PDF Club Team – IARU Region 1 http://www.iaru-r1.org/

Beginners Guide to Tracking using dl-fldigi http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

To get details of upcoming balloon launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address: ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Twitter #ukhas https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ukhas

Tracks of balloon launches can be seen at http://www.spacenear.us/tracker

The SEBA-3 high-altitude amateur radio balloon, with a 29.494 MHz RTTY transmitter, launches Saturday, May 25. Other balloons carrying 434 MHz transmitters are also launching this weekend.

One of the 434 MHz balloons PIE will have live video streaming of the launch and from the chase car via the British Amateur TV Club website at http://www.batc.tv/ (select “Live Events” then UKHAS Balloon Launches)

The IARU Region 1 website announcement regarding SEBA-3 says:

On Saturday May 25 at 1000 UT (1100 BST), the team from the club SP9PDF – directed by Tomasz, SP9UOB – will conduct another experiment of flight of an unmanned stratospheric balloon.

The balloon, with the code name SEBA-3, will start from the place of the nationwide amateur radio picnic named “ŁOŚ” (long.: 18.6689 E, lat.: 51.0399 N, QTH locator: JO91IA).

A telemetry transmitter with 500mW power, placed in the capsule of the balloon, will operate on RTTY 50 baud on 29.494 MHz USB with the shift 240 Hz, 7N2. ATV transmission from the camera in the capsule of the balloon is also planned.

Detailed instructions in English for configuring the software are available on the website: http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

We invite everyone to follow the flight through listening to the tracker, or to visit the website: http://spacenear.us/
–

SSDV picture from a previous PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman

Among the 434 MHz balloons launching this weekend are:

- PIE launching on Sunday from Brightwalton with live streaming of launch and from the chase car at http://www.batc.tv/
The PIE balloon will be transmitting images using Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV)
Callsign: PIE
Frequency: 434.075 MHz and 434.650 MHz 600Hz shift 600 Baud 8 bits no parity 2 stop bits

- BABSHAB from Great Tew, Oxfordshire
Exact location: Within 500m radius around latitude 51.956468, Longitude -1.416999
Callsign: BABSHAB
Frequency: 434.075 MHz RTTY 450 shift 50 Baud 7 ascii bpc No parity and 2 stop bits.

- XABEN50 launches about 11:30 BST on Sunday, May 26
Callsign: uXABEN Frequency 434.350MHz 7N1 ASCII FSK RTTY

Tracking site: http://spacenear.us/

Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) Guide http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv

The free balloon software dl-fldigi can decode many different amateur radio digital modes, download Windows, Mac or Ubuntu Linux versions at
http://wiki.ukhas.org.uk/projects:dl-fldigi

World-wide Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloon announcements
http://www.arhab.org/hab_launch_list.php?daysBack=30

To get details of upcoming UK balloon launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address:
ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Google Project Loon Antenna

Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas using High-Altitude Balloons (HAB) placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20 km to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.

The solar powered balloons are expected to stay aloft for over 100 days at a time and support not only air-to-ground Internet communications but also balloon-to-balloon communications enabling the signal to be relayed, if required, by several balloons to a ground-based station connected to an ISP, then onto the global Internet.

Google plans to sending up 300 balloons transmitting on 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz around the world at the southern fortieth parallel that would provide coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. The company hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km.

The first 30 balloons are being launched from New Zealand see http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10890750

Among those involved in the project is Erin King AK4JG, a student at MIT. She was winner of the 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award. See a video of her earlier balloon project while still at high school and a video of her presentation ‘Launching Radios and Other Cool Stuff into the Stratosphere’ at http://amsat-uk.org/2012/07/03/arnewsline-ham-of-the-year-erin-king-ak4jg/

Google Project Loon http://www.google.com/loon/

Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Loon

Google Project Loon Balloon

UKSEDS & ICSEDS Project Officer, TeeJay Taiwo, prepares his rockets for his license assesment. Photo credit: Kishan, ICSEDS

This video is the Imperial College Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (ICSEDS) entry to the RBS ESSA bronze awards. It showcases their projects and events throughout the 2012/13 year.

In the video are interviews with Engine Design Group member Madeleine Alexander, High Powered Rocketry Member Zoe Edwards, High Altitude Ballooning member Oscar Woolnough and ISEDS Vice Chair Joseph Dudley.

ICSEDS thank Imperial College London Chemical Engineering Department for their support in our High Altitude Balloon (HAB) Project (434 MHz). Also thanks to Alex Cherney at http://www.terrastro.com and David Peterson for giving permission to use the two spectacular clips in the introduction, of the video.

More information on ICSEDS can be found at: http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/guilds/icseds
Follow ICSEDS on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ICSEDS
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ICSEDS

Watch ICSEDS 2012/13 – Imperial College Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M6RPI

The 3rd UKHAS conference will take place on Saturday, September 7, 2013 in London. This year the venue will be at Greenwich University on the banks of the river Thames and just down the hill from the Royal Observatory and the (dreaded to HAB) meridian line (the venue is 51.48381, -0.0050) http://goo.gl/maps/KeOyc

The conference is open to all, you don’t have to have flown a High Altitude Balloon, you’ll probably get more out of it as a total beginner as there will be a huge wealth of experience in the room you can speak to.

A lecture theatre and adjacent classroom are being hired so will have a lot more space than last time. Lunch will be included as before.

The day plan will be most likely lectures in the morning and then in the afternoon workshops, demos and more informal talks. Provisional talks include:

James Coxon M6JCX – Pico Balloons (3 years on)
Ed Moore M0TEK – How GPS works
John Graham-Cumming – Debugging HABs (Part 2)
Ara Kourchian – US Ballooning
Dave Akerman M6RPI – Pi in the sky + Afternoon workshop

James Coxon M6JCX launching a PICO balloon on 434.301 MHz USB

If you would like to do a talk or organise a workshop please contact James Coxon M6JCX directly. Email jacoxon at gmail.com

The conference will start at 0930 and finish 1700, afterwards there will be the traditional pub trip this time into Greenwich.

Greenwich University is easy to get to, it is on the DLR, lots of bus routes, mainline trains, Thames clipper river boat and not too far from the Jubilee line. There is some on street parking in the area but most will be pay and display.

Tickets will be £30 per person but we will offer a reduced price for students of £15, this enables the hire of the lecture theatre, classroom and also provides lunch. Tickets are on sale from HAB supplies.
http://ava.upuaut.net/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=74

The UKHAS conference is open to anyone, videos of previous conferences can be seen at http://ukhas.org.uk/general:ukhasconference

You can subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address:
ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M6RPI

The 3rd UK High Altitude Society (UKHAS) conference which takes place in London at Greenwich University on Saturday, September 7, 2013 is planned to be streamed live to the Internet.

The conference is open to anyone, you don’t have to have flown a High-Altitude Balloon, you’ll probably get more out of it as a total beginner as there will be a huge wealth of experience in the room you can speak to.

Further information is available at http://amsat-uk.org/2013/06/19/ukhas-conference-sept-7/

Videos of the presentations given at previous conferences are at http://ukhas.org.uk/general:ukhasconference

You can subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address:
ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

The system board containing RF transmitter module, receiver module, level adjustments, duplexer and antenna connector. Image credit LU7AA

AMSAT Argentina is pleased to announce that on Saturday, June 29, 2013 from 1400 GMT, weather permitting, it is planned to launch an amateur radio high altitude balloon FM repeater ‘Betty II’ from Victorica, La Pampa, 665 km. west of Buenos Aires, it is expected to travel east.

The 435.950/145.950 MHz FM repeater will be activated by a 123 Hz CTCSS subtone. The balloon can also transmit Slow Scan Television (SSTV) ROBOT-36 images from the onboard camera on 145.950 MHz. There is an APRS transmitter on 144.930 MHz.

It should be possible to access the balloon using a 2 watt FM handheld rig from 750 km away giving a theoretical maximum distance for two-way contacts of 1500 km.

Details and photos of the announcement and prior experiences in http://www.amsat.org.ar/globo29.htm

Approval of ANAC (Argentina FAA)) had been granted by NOTAM (notice to air crew) http://amsat.org.ar/images/faxanac.jpg .

For these experiments members of AMSAT-LU, LUSEX, project development group http://lusex.org.ar , are working together with Pampeano and QRM Belgrano Radio Clubs, APRS Group, etc.

Electronics is comprised of a voice UHF to VHF FM repeater with CW TLM, APRS, DTMF and SSTV. According to estimates balloon could reach 30,000 meters high, traveling for 3 hours, 150 km east of the launch site.

This would allow contacts between stations located in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, Cordoba, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, La Pampa, San Luis, Mendoza, San Juan, Rio Negro, Neuquen, Uruguay and Chile. (It is launched from the center of the country to facilitate greater participation). Coverage at http://www.amsat.org.ar/picocubr.jpg

To receive the payload, if less than 750 km from launch site, only need is a handy or base FM receiver on 145.950 MHz for voice/sstv and 144.930 for APRS.

The repeater which is enabled via 123 Hz CTCSS subtone, receives 435.950 MHz FM voice (-112dBm, 0.56 uV) emitting 2W output simultaneously on 145.950 MHz.

Payload will also carry an emergency long duration APRS transmitter sourced by solar cells and supercapacitors as batteries.

To enable better utilization, it is suggested short QSOs (license, own locality, grid locator, received signal and short comments).

Simultaneous emits APRS 1200 baud at 144.930, and also in 145.950. The DTI symbol on APRS will change from a balloon ( /O ) during ascent to a slider ( /g ) during the parachute descent.

Will operate for 90 seconds voice, then a beep alerting the end of that time will make way for the issuance of APRS at different frequencies. Every five minutes CW TLM via telegraphy audio tones sends callsign LU7AA and height in meters, then repeat the cycle.

On 145.950 MHz SSTV images ROBOT-36 mode (36 seconds) will be emitted on demand showing what the balloon sees (Can be received, with either MIXW or RX-SSTV (recommended)).

Balloon will carry two GoPro TV cameras (one to ground and another to the horizon) that will record images and sound during flight and can be retrieved with the payload.

It will be live in APRS on http://aprs.fi/?call=lu7aa-11 every minute, including speed, height, internal and external temperatures and battery voltage.

Local georeferenced maps are available for UI-View in http://www.amsat.org.ar/pico2.jpg , http://www.amsat.org.ar/pico2.txt to be renamed to pico2.inf .

The experiment on 435.950 MHz voice also receives and accepts DTMF user issued commands i.e. B * (DTMF keypad UHF handy) will return S5 … ….. on VHF CW 145.950, your signal strength received at balloon, if P10 that states S9 +10.

There are more commands that enable issuance of TLM in CW or APRS beacon and remote commands to drop payload, mode changes, control of timers, energy, power, enable SSTV, etc..

Additionally a VAISALA RS92SGP radiosonde emitting FM wide on 402.740/403 MHz has been added, which provides GPS location, pressure, winds, height, course, dwt point, temperatures, etc. Same data as daily collected by the National Meteorological Service.

Data can be received using an SDR dongle and sondemonitor program available as test for 21 days from internet.

On launch day/time AMSAT-LU will have one of his members on the Ezeiza Airport Traffic Control, acting as a contact between ANAC and AMSAT-LU, using VOR locations application, adapted from EOSS and available on http://amsat.org.ar/vor.asp .

Local frequencies coordination and announcements before and during flights will be 7095 kHz LSB + / -10 kHz and VHF frequencies of local repeaters in the area.

During flight 430.930 AMSAT-LU APRS will operate wide coverage Igate LU7AA-10, installed at the Investigation Center, besides a portable Igate close to launch site. Any area stations that can receive and provide bridge to the APRS network are welcome.

Being an experiment aimed at a next satellite, contacts made between stations thru this UV repeater will be considered valid and awarded upon request by AMSAT-LU Permanent Satellite Certificate, free and also applicable for license upgrades, see http://www.amsat.org.ar/certsat.html, http://www.lu4ao.org.ar, http://www.amsat.org.ar/lu4aao.

Top 10 participants with the highest two-way contacts/distances sum thru repeater will be awarded with a special certificate. Send email with data filled on form http://www.amsat.org.ar/lu4aao/Globo_29jun2013.xls QSOs with stations via the balloon including QRA Locators, QTR to RC QRM Belgrano before July 23.

All reports welcome. If you want or can organize or be part of launch teams, control, monitoring and recovery, operating as an independent station and capturing data, and / or want to join us in this adventure from the launch site can do it through an email to parapente arroba amsat.org.ar.

We appreciate having read this information and forward if possible.

73, LU7AA, AMSAT-LU. aiming to the future by making present fun.
Email: info at amsat.org.ar

AMSAT Argentina http://www.amsat.org.ar/
Facebook http://facebook.com/AMSAT.LU

Google Project Loon Balloon

Concerns have been raised about interference from the 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz transmitters on the Google Project Loon High Altitude Balloons.

Google has launched 30 balloons from New Zealand which transmit wideband 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz signals and concerns have been raised about the interference they could cause to radio astronomy.

The Register reports that when Google engneer Dr Brad Tucker was contacted about the problem Google to said to have identified locations where Loon balloons might interfere with radio astronomy, and shut the transmitters down until they’re out of range.

Google plans to sending up 300 balloons around the world at the southern fortieth parallel that would provide coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina.

The company hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km.

The Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services also use the frequencies that Project Loon is transmitting on.

Read the Register story at
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/02/project_loon_wont_blind_radio_telescopes/

Google Project Loon http://amsat-uk.org/2013/06/17/google-project-loon-using-2400-and-5800-mhz/

Vulture 2 Spaceplane – Image credit LOHAN

Radio amateurs Dave Akerman M6RPI and Anthony Stirk M0UPU provide an update on a balloon launch planned for this Saturday, July 13 which aims to test the firing mechanism for the LOHAN rocket.

There will be several 434 MHz radio transmitters on-board including one sending Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV). The radio range is expected to cover most of the British Isles and North-West Europe.

The British Amateur Television Club (BATC) will be providing live coverage of the launch and hopefully also from the two chase vehicles.

Dave and Anthony say:

We will launch a second test of The Register’s LOHAN Project  from Brightwalton around 1000 UT (ISH time is most definitely in effect for this one). If you recall last time due to some problematic predictions the trusty Playmonaut was lost at sea and not recovered despite some valiant efforts by Lester and Neil in a bath tub with an engine on it.

We will be repeating the test of the first launch on Saturday under a 2000g Hwoyee balloon. In order to test the firing mechanism for the LOHAN rocket we will be instead using it to detach a payload at a predetermined altitude where the payloads will part ways and land separately.

Each payload will have a primary and backup tracker on it :
Main payload SPEARS : LOHAN Board and a PAVA backup tracker:

Primary : $$SPEARS 434.075 MHz
Secondary : $$REHAB 434.600 MHz

Secondary payload CHAV : Rasp Pi doing SSDV and a PAVA Backup tracker:
Primary : $$CHAV 434.650 MHz
Secondary : $$SHUTIT 434.495 MHz

Transmission format is RTTY speeds please select auto-configure in DL-FLDigi

If we have dubious prediction data we may be launching another payload early in the day to verify that prediction meets reality and we aren’t going to feed another Playmonaut to the fish. This will be on 434.545 MHz and its call sign will be $$PAVA.

We will, subject to 3G coverage, be transmitting the preparation, launch and possibly chase live thanks to the nice people at batc.tv. The link is :
http://www.batc.tv/streams/ukhas

There may be a secondary stream (the two chase cars may go separate ways) at :
http://www.batc.tv/streams/ukhas2

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M6RPI

You can of course follow the position of the balloons live at http://www.spacenear.us/tracker and the live SSDV images from the Pi will be uploaded here : http://ssdv.habhub.org/.

Although batc.tv has a chat function we welcome you to join the #highaltitude channel on Freenode to take part in the conversation throughout the day.

Finally we welcome listeners to track the balloons in flight, tracking can be done with any radio reciever that can recieved USB on 70 cms (434 MHz), i.e some scanners, full amateur radio equipment, FUNcube Dongles or just a RTL Dongle being used as an SDR. There is a guide here on how to track. We expect reception range to cover most of the UK and northern Europe.

Cheers,

Anthony M0UPU / Dave M6RPI

LOHAN hooks up with radio ham and top-flight rocketeer G7ALW
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/03/17/lohan-hooks-up-with-radio-ham-and-top-flight-rocketeer-g7alw/

For up-to-date information on balloon launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address:
ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Team STRATODEAN – Cassie Phelps and Mark Ireland

The members of Team STRATODEAN, Cassie Phelps and Mark Ireland, will be giving a web streamed presentation on their High Altitude Balloon project to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium on Saturday, July 20.

The event takes place at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK and is open to all.

Image from STRATODEAN Two

The STRATODEAN team have sent high altitude weather balloons complete with payload from the Forest of Dean up to the edge of space (approx. 34 km up into the Stratosphere). Each balloon was equipped with a camera and video recorder as well as GPS and a 434 MHz telemetry transmitter running 50 bps, 350 Hz shift, ASCII. The transmitter enables the balloon to be tracked during its flight and then located once it has burst and returned to earth with the help of a parachute.

Their first balloon STRATODEAN One launched on April 21, 2013 followed by STRATODEAN Two on May 18, 2013 and they managed to capture some stunning pictures and video.

For those unable to get to the Colloquium all the presentations on the Saturday and Sunday should be broadcast live on the web thanks to dedicated BATC volunteers on their Live Events page at http://batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3 The STRATODEAN talk is expected to start at 1:50 PM Saturday.

The times (BST, GMT+1) for all the presentations during the weekend are at http://tinyurl.com/2013ColloquiumSchedule

AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium July 20-21 http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/

STRATODEAN High Altitude Balloon Project http://www.stratodean.co.uk/

A sample issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded here.

Some of the participants at the 2013 small satellite developer workshop

The National Institute of Amateur Radio was involved in the Small Satellite Developer Workshop held July 8-13, 2013 at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, in Kancheepuram.

The event was organized by Dhruva Space, a Bangalore based Small Satellite and High Altitude Ballooning Start-up, in association with the National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad.

Satellite experts with engineering models on display helped participants to grasp the challenges in designing and developing the subsystems of the small satellites.

To understand space based applications an Amateur Radio workshop was conducted to give participants a live example of usage of communications during disaster management.

Read the full report of the event in the Small Satellite Developer Workshop Newsletter

Dhruva Space http://dhruvaspace.com/outreach/amateur-radio/
https://www.facebook.com/DhruvaSpace

National Institute of Amateur Radio http://www.niar.org/ar.html
https://www.facebook.com/NationalInstituteOfAmateurRadio