Project Horus: Test flight towards VK3 – SUCCESS!

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UPDATE: Flight a success! 

Thanks to all that helped track the flight today! The tiny payload travelled over 550km from the launch site in Adelaide, to land near a piggery just outside Bendigo. Hopefully it gets recovered soon!
RS41 PowerSave Test Flight PAth
I recorded the following callsigns decoding telemetry:
AXB2035 (SWL), VK3AGD, VK3BQ, VK3EEK, VK3GP, VK3JED, VK3KZM, VK3NCC, VK3OF, VK3OHM, VK3TPM, VK3TWC, VK3WRE, VK3ZPF, VK5DJ, VK5EI, VK5HS, VK5IS, VK5KX, VK5LJG, VK5MAS, VK5MCA, VK5NTM, VK5PE, VK5QI, VK5RK, VK5ST, VK5TRM
… also a special mention to N0CALL, who received 154 packets.
RS41 PowerSave Test Flight
Thanks to all that setup the decoding software – one of the aims of this flight was to get more people setup to decode telemetry from these payloads, and get feedback from users to help improve it. There are a few groups in Melbourne that are planning on using the same kind of telemetry, so more listeners in VK3 able to decode will make their flights even safer.
73 and cheers,
Mark VK5QI

Tomorrow at ~9AM ACDT VK5QI is going to launch a lightweight (<40g) balloon with a 70cm 4FSK transmitter onboard. This is a test of some software updates to the 4FSK transmitter payload (a reprogrammed RS41) to improve the battery life. There will be ~30 second gaps between telemetry transmissions, with short ‘pips’ every 5 seconds so you know you are on the right frequency!

The transmit frequency is still subject to change but will most likely be 434.200 MHz. (Note that this is different to our usual Horus 4FSK frequency of 434.660 MHz – this is because there are a few 70cm repeaters in Melbourne with inputs near this range).

With a bit of luck this one should make it into VK3, and reach an altitude of ~23km or so. This should make it receivable from western Victoria, and likely from Melbourne too.

If you want to have a go receiving the telemetry from this flight, you’ll need a SSB-capable 70cm receiver (or a SDR), and my horus-GUI telemetry decoder software ( https://github.com/projecthorus/horus-gui ).

A brief guide on setting this up is available here: https://github.com/projecthorus/horusdemodlib/wiki/1.1-Horus-GUI-Reception-Guide-(Windows-Linux-OSX)

Note that this flight is going to head east *very* quickly, and may go out of range of Adelaide receivers during the flight. If you know anyone in VK3 who might be able to receive this please forward on this information!

Tracking of the flight is available via the following link: https://tracker.sondehub.org/?sondehub=1#!mt=osm&mz=8&qm=6_hours&mc=-35.40036,140.03814&f=HORUSBINARY&q=HORUSBINARY