Category Archives: Club Activities

Club Activities or Events

Balloon Launch November 13th: Horus 38 – 10:00am ACDT

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The Amateur Radio ExperimentersIMG_1767-1024 Group is planning another High Altitude Balloon Launch. Designated Horus 38, it will be an internal project team flight carrying payloads specifically for AREG members. Multiple payloads will be included.

UPDATE: Due to the high wind conditions at the launch site, most of the payloads did not make it off the ground (including the video and SSDV payloads). Currently only the LoRa Cutdown payload is in the air. Chase teams are en-route to recover this payload now. 

Live Tracking Links

Flight Track Prediction

The following is the predicted track for the balloon tomorrow. We will be targeting a 5m/s ascent rate, a 30km burst altitude, and 7.5m/s descent rate.

SSDV Experimental Payload – ‘Wenet’

Mark VK5QI and David VK5DGR have been working on a slow scan digital image payload for the balloon system which transmits at 115kbit/s on a new downlink channel. This system makes uses of the UKHAS SSDV server to stitch together images from packets uploaded by multiple receivers. It first flew on Horus 37, and after some refinement will be flown again on this flight. Information on this system is available here.

HD Video Camera Payload

We are also going to fly an upward facing and an outward facing camera, and hope to collect images of the balloon expanding and (hopefully) bursting, as well as some HD video imagery similar to what was achieved back on Horus 12. Thanks to Scott VK5TST and Josh VK5JO for the loan of the GoPro Hero3 cameras for this flight.

RTTY Telemetry

The standard RTTY 70cm telemetry payload will be flying as well. Listen out on 434.650MHz USB, 100 baud  ASCII-7N1. You can get involved through capturing telemetry data and relaying it back to the chase team via the Internet (details on how to setup and operate dl-fldigi are available here: ukhas.org.uk/projects:dl-fldigi

Flight Details

Visitors from the Amateur Radio service are welcome to come along to the launch this time (as it is not for a school or other organisation). Launch details at this stage are below, however keep watching the website closer to the time for confirmation and up to date details:

  • When: 13th November (Sunday), approx. 10AM CDT launch time.
  • Where: Mt Barker High School Oval

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AREG at the AHARS Hamfest 6th November

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AREG will again be present at the AHARS Buy’n’Sell event on the 6th of November! This yearly event, is a regular on every Amateur Radio Operator’s calendar in Adelaide and is not to be missed.

Apart from amateurs there will also be commercial retailers of amateur equipment in attendance. This is an ideal opportunity to pick up that new item without the cost of freight.

AREG will have much on offer!

The AREG has been lucky this year and has obtained a large amount of surplus equipment that it will be able to offer to the Amateur Radio community in Adelaide. This will include lengths of LMR400 coax, repeaters and many other components and gadgets which are useful to anyone who constructs anything electronic at home. So, come on down to the AHARS Buy’n’Sell. Doors open at 9.30am!

areg at ahars buy n sell

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AREG going to the Adelaide Maker Faire!

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The Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group is going to mount a display at the Adelaide Maker Faire this year. This will be a huge opportunity to promote Amateur Radio to School and University age people and their parents as a fun challenging activity to get your collective creative juices flowing in.

Members are currently in the process of constructing our display. If you want to get involved, contact Kim VK5FJ who is coordinating the event for the club

 

Report: AREG Participation in OCDX SSB Contest

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Oceania DX Contest VK5ARG Field Day station Cancelled

Despite the weather, AREG members still made sure that the club call-sign VK5ARG was heard on the bands for the Oceania DX Contest, albeit from the QTH of one of our members and not from the planned portable operation. The unprecedented weather system that rolled through South Australia in the days before the contest, coupled with the storms that arrived Sunday meant that the field day activation simply wasn’t possible this year.

Courtesy Bureau of Meteorology

Courtesy Bureau of Meteorology

Relocation to the Murray Mallee activated as plan C

In order to get VK5ARG on the air, a hasty retreat was made to the Murray Mallee where Chris VK5CP has his remote station. There we had access to two stations covering 20-10m and 40-10m respectively. On the Friday afternoon we also erected a temporary antenna to give us access to 80m and 160m for the contest!

Getting ready to raise the 80/160m dipoles from the top of the cliff (Photo courtesy VK5MTM)

Getting ready to raise the 80/160m dipoles from the top of the cliff (Photo courtesy VK5MTM)

Most of the crew who planned to activate Para Wirra Park made the journey out to the Mallee and so we were able to man 3 stations when required. Those who participated were:

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The contest itself was also hard going. The sun and the ionosphere did not cooperate well. This was reflected in the score achieved. At one point during the contest the T-Index map looked like this:

T-Index Map during the OCDX Contest 2016 (courtesy BOM Space Weather Division)

T-Index Map during the OCDX Contest 2016 (courtesy BOM Space Weather Division)

It made for some peculiar propagation. 15m was open for a time when no contacts could be had on 20m during the day on Sunday. At night, we also had some great signals on 80m including contacts to the US West coast and the Mariana Islands. 40m however was our standout band, having extended openings to the USA Saturday evening and to Europe Sunday early morning.

Conclusion

Campfire during OCDX 2016 (Photo Courtesy VK5MTM)

Campfire during OCDX 2016 (Photo Courtesy VK5MTM)

Overall, a great time was had despite the difficult propagation. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

The final score achieved was:

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A very special thanks must be expressed to Chris VK5CP who bailed us out when the weather threatened to scuttle our participation completely. Thanks also goes to all of the contest organizing committee, band captains, operators and support crew who did make the trek out to the Murray Mallee to operate and support VK5ARG, including: VK5AKH, VK5ZM, VK5XFG, VK5GR, VK5MTM, VK5KX, VK5QI, VK5IX, VK5FGRY, VK5FSAW and last but not least VK5CP!

Thanks also goes to everyone who worked very hard preparing the station over the preceding 3 months. Don’t fear, your efforts have not been in vain as a suitable activation of the park will be planned in the near future (so that all of the work can be put to the test).

Till next year! 73s de VK5ARG!

Oceania DX Contest: VK5ARG will still be on the air!

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Given the weather and park access situation we are faced with, the AREG has taken up the very kind offer from one of our members to still participate in the Oceania DX Contest from his remote QTH.

You will still find VK5ARG on the bands, although with fewer transmitters than originally planned. Hope to hear you on the air calling CQ DX CONTEST!

VK5ARG/P Para Wirra Park This Weekend Cancelled

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AREG OCDX Contest Field Day Event

CANCELLED!

Due to the unprecedented weather in SA over the last few days, National Parks South Australia have advised that Para Wirra Park will again be closed today. This has lead to AREG making the decision to cancel the planned activities in the park.

Operation in the contest will still go ahead but from a private location. See further reports for updates.

The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group is again entering the Oceania DX SSB Contest over the October long weekend (October 1st and 2nd).

The club is once more mounting a major portable operation from Para Wirra Recreation Park. VK5ARG will be active on all bands from 160-10m during the contest using 5 QRO (high power) stations.

Station Visitors Most Welcome!

As has been the case the last couple of years, the station construction will commence from Friday morning, with the aim of having the major components operational no later than midday Saturday. This provides an ideal opportunity for members, but more importantly general amateurs and members of the community, to come along and “have a try”. AREG will be turning the station over to all takers for the hours before the contest so that people can experience operating the station.

To come and visit, you will need to head to Para Wirra Recreation Park, You will find us here. For those who pre-register, there will be catering available on a “Pay as you Go” basis for modest prices. The station will be active for the full 24hrs from 0800 UTC Saturday to 0800UTC Sunday. Visitors should call the station on 2m (146.550) when you reach the park.

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Para Wirra Park Map

The Station: VK5ARG/P

The station will be substantial with full size rotatable dipoles on 40m, a 3 element beam on 20m, a Spiderbeam for 15m and 10m and full size dipoles on 160m and 80m. All stations will be running 400W. It is certainly impressive to see the arrays of antennas in use during the event…..

Qualification of World Wide Flora and Fauna park: VKFF-1739

Back in May 2016, the Para Wirra Recreation Park was redesignated a conservation park, and so it now qualifies for the world wide flora and fauna awards program as well. As the station is operating in the OCDX contest we wont be conducting the usual publicity of a parks activations. However, contacts with VK5ARG/P will still qualify for the VKFF-1739 park! We will ensure the log is uploaded to the Parks and Peaks database at the conclusion of the activation. You may also find us on air testing from as early as Friday night through to Sunday night.

So look out for us calling CQ during the contest, and if you are in the Adelaide area, come on up to Para Wirra Conservation Park and say hello! We would love to see you!

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10/15m Station illuminated at night – Starlapse by VK5GR

 

Horus 37: Flight Success!

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We are pleased to report that the high altitude balloonhorus-logo-black flight of Horus 37 has been a success. The AREG Project Horus launch crew carried out the flight for Launchbox, a group which engages with the STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) in schools across the state.

http://www.launchboxspace.com/

Lift off was from Mt Barker High School at 10.00am, with landing occurring approximately 15km east of Mannum about 3 hours later.

8 payloads went aloft this flight. 5 from Launchbox and 3 from AREG. The new one for AREG was the experimental SSDV transmitter, which delivered live images from the balloon for a portion of the flight.

Launch

Launch was conducted under challenging conditions with squalls and wind gusts arriving about 20 minutes before liftoff. This caused considerable consternation from the launch team who were for a few minutes at risk of loosing or damaging the balloon before we had even gotten off the ground. However, through the skillful handling of the balloon by the AREG team, catastrophe was averted.

Once the balloon payload train was assembled, the countdown got underway. The weather eased and the flight finally got away safely.

Images from the Flight Ground Preparation and Launch

The Flight

The flight itself went well, although it had to be terminated earlier than planned. The team did not want it landing in the River Murray.

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Flight Track from half way through the flight

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Final Balloon Track – www.habhub.org

Lots of stations participated in the telemetry collection (thank you for your contribution).

SSDV Experimental Payload – ‘Wenet’

As indicated above, this flight carried a first time payload for AREG. Mark VK5QI and David VK5DGR have been working on a slow scan digital image payload for the balloon system which alternates between 19.2kbit/s and 115kbit/s on a new downlink channel. This system makes uses of the UKHAS SSDV server to stitch together images from packets uploaded by multiple receivers. To help this along during this flight, Andrew VK5AKH and Scott VK5TST headed to the back of the Mt Lofty ranges after launch and collected as much of the SSDV picture feed they could for relay to the internet.

Andrew VK5AKH and Scott VK5TST’s setup for SSDV

The SSDV capture software currently runs under Linux, with a screenshot of it running in a Virtual Machine on VK5QI’s CarPC below. The software is open source and can be found on GitHub. 

(courtesy Mark VK5QI)

In this case, the modem software is still very much under development, without any FEC capability currently. David VK5DGR and Mark VK5QI are continuing to develop the system and you may see it fly again in the near future with some enhancements.

The following is the Gallery of the shots taken by the camera received on SSDV during the flight:

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The following are some of the pictures downloaded from the camera after the flight:

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Landing and Recovery

The chase crew were lucky this time and were able to see the payloads land from about 400m away. It landed in a patch of scrub on the edge of a wheat field. After about a 1km hike we were able to successfully recover them. They landed in a patch of mallee scrub, so there was some judicious nudging required to bring them safely to the ground.

At the end of the day, here was the crew that undertook the payload recoveries

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Flight Statistics

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Conclusion

AREG would firstly again like to thank Launchbox for the opportunity to be part of the STEM program in schools. We also want to thank all of the team who came out today in somewhat cold and wet conditions to get the launch off the ground. The team included: Matt VK5ZM, Mark VK5QI, Grant VK5GR, Andrew VK5AKH, David VK5DGR, Scott VK5TST, Kim VK5FJ, Gary VK5FGRY, Josh VK5JO and Scott VK5TST.

Thanks also to the amateur ground stations who made the effort to receive telemetry and provide it to the tracking data pool online:

VK5QI, VK5ZM, VK5KJP, VK5KX, VK5ZRL, VK5NEX, VK5APR, VK5ZEA, VK5AKH, VK5FJGM, VK5FLEX, VK5HS

Without you these flights are that much more difficult!

73’s de Project Horus