HORUS 48 Balloon Flight: Sunday 10.00am ACDT

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As per the previous announcements on the AREG website, there will be a (small) balloon launch occurring this weekend. The current predictions for Sunday have the payloads landing to the south-east of Mannum (hopefully not in the river!).

Currently the prediction for Sunday looks the best in terms of recovery/distance/bakery factor, and also leaves Saturday free for some last-minute preparations! As usual, we’ll aim to launch around 10AM CDST, with the launch being conducted from the Mt Barker High School Oval.

This will be a fairly low-key launch, with a tiny balloon and tiny payloads, but visitors are still welcome! We’ll be on-site from around 9-9:30AM, and should have an ear out on VK5RSB 70cm.

The current prediction (noting this will probably change between now and Sunday!!) has us landing near Palmer just after 11AM – a very short flight! We’re using a 100g Totex balloon, so the expected burst altitude is only 11-12km.

UPDATE: We will now be using a 1000g Hwoyee balloon, but with a minimal amount of helium. Depending on what ascent rate we achieve, we may terminate the flight early for a landing near Mannum, or let it ascend to a potential height of 35km. Either way, the landing area is in the Mannum area.

Telemetry Information

The telemetry frequencies for the flight are as follows:

  • RTTY – ‘HORUS’ – 434.650 MHz  (100 baud, 425 Hz Shift, 7N2)
  • THOR16 – ‘THORUS’ – 434.640 MHz

Both payloads are running 10mW transmit power, and have essentially identical antennas.

DL-FLDIgi Setup for THOR16

As usual, use dl-fldigi to decode telemetry, but in the case of the THOR16 payload, you will have to manually select the operating mode from the drop-down list as follows:

The auto-configure capability for the RTTY payload (‘HORUS’) will work as usual, however you will have to manually select ‘HORUS’ from the payload drop-down list. Auto-configure will not work for the THOR16 payload.

If you have the capability of running two 70cm receivers, please consider running two instances of dl-fldigi to decode both payloads. This may require either multiple PCs, or multiple sound cards. If you can only run a single receiver, please try and alternate between the different telemetry payloads.

We would very much appreciate reports as to your experiences decoding the different telemetry payloads – please e-mail these through to vk5qi@rfhead.net

Tracking for the launch will be available on the HabHub online tracker. We hope to see you as part of the tracking nets!

Images and comments from the chase will be sent via Twitter, using the #horus48 hashtag.

73 de Mark VK5QI

Next AREG Meeting: March 23rd – Introducing FT8 Mode

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held  1 week later than usual this month, on Friday March 23rd. The date has been delayed as the SA State Election is being held on the 17th and the hall is being setup as a polling booth the night before (our usual meeting night).

The presentation for the evening will be “Introducing FT8 Mode, what is all the hype about?” by Grant VK5GR.

Grant has closely followed the development of FT8 since it’s inception and was an early user of it in DXpedition environments during his activation of Niue last year.

Areas to be covered will include:

  • a brief description of the FT8 protocol
  • the basic hardware and software requirements to get on air
  • how to get that little bit more out of FT8 – add on packages like JTAlert
  • a look at FT8 operating practices
  • how to chase rare DX using FT8 – a practical tips guide
  • a discussion about the new Expedition mode that has been developed

Currently a live demonstration is also being planned. Grant will be available for questions after the presentation during supper.

The meeting  will be held at the Fulham Community Centre (previously known as the ReedBeds) with parking accessed from Phelps Court, Fulham. The venue will be open from 7.45pm with the meeting starting at 8.00pm. Following the technical presentation there will also be the usual club business meeting.

Visitors are always welcome! So come along and meet the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group!

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REMINDER: Horus 48 Telemetry Test from Mt Lofty TOMORROW

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THOR Receiver Tune & Test Day – Sunday 4th March ~10:30AM CDST

To help stations adapt to the new THOR16 signal, this coming Sunday there will be the opportunity for stations in the Adelaide metropolitan area to set up dl-fldigi as per the linked guide below and have a go receiving a higher-power version of the THOR16 signal. This will be broadcast from Mt Lofty Summit by Mark VK5QI. Mark will be on the VK5RSB 70cm repeater (439.900 -5MHz / 91.5Hz CTCSS) as ‘technical support’, to help assist setting up the software. The signal should be easily receivable from the Adelaide Metro area and some surrounds.

Look for the test signal on 434.640MHz

DL-FLDIgi Setup for THOR16

As usual, use dl-fldigi to decode telemetry, but in the case of the THOR16 payload, you will have to manually select the operating mode from the drop-down list as follows:

 

AREG IRLP Node 6214 Off Air

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The following news comes from Ben VK5BB, the custodian of the 6214 IRLP node that is connected to the VK5RSB 70cm repeater

Due to a failure of IRLP node 6214’s computer hardware,
it is off line until further notice!

History:

I took on the management of the IRLP node 6214 sometime around 2012. Prior to this it was managed by Adrian VK5ZSN. Under his management it was all OK until the HDD died.

I volunteered to take on the project and rebuilt the computer using an IDE to SATA adapter and a solid state HDD. A bit of jiggling but it worked and to date has been very reliable with minimum of hands on support to keep it on air. 

Current Status:

I am not sure what is going on but it appears that the computer that manages the IRLP node 6214 is having severe problems. It seems that the computer is unstable and keeps shutting itself down and rebooting. The machine running the system is now over 10 years old, which is a contributing factor.

Right now, the ultimate fate of the IRLP node is undecided. The club members have been asked if they wish to see the service continued. That discussion is ongoing. If the service is to continue, it could be some time before it is restored as new hardware will likely need to be obtained.

If you would like to see it rebuilt and placed back on the air, why not consider becoming a member of AREG and showing your support for the project? Details of how to join are available on our membership page .

AREG News now available via EMAIL

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The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group is pleased to announce that we have a new news outlet. All amateurs can now be kept informed via email of AREGs activities including:

  • High Altitude Balloon Launches
  • Meeting Nights and Topics
  • Club events such as field days and contests

and much much more….

For general information about the mailing list or to subscribe, please visit:

http://mail.areg.org.au/mailman/listinfo/announce_areg.org.au

If you ever want to unsubscribe or change your options (eg, switch to or from digest mode, change your password, etc.), visit your Subscription Management page.

This new service is a one way information service and only official announcements from AREG will be available. Traffic is typically only 3-4 messages a month.

We hope you find this new way of keeping non members up to date with the activities of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group helpful. (Members already have an active mailing list that they can can send and receive through. Announce list bulletins are already relayed to the members only list too).

 

ADVANCE NOTICE – Horus 48 – Telemetry Test Flight & Test Transmission

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On the weekend of the 10-12th of March (exact day TBD), Project Horus will be performing a small (not-so-)high-altitude balloon launch from Mt Barker. The flight will be a short one (~1.5 hrs), with a maximum expected altitude of only 13km. All the payloads have been custom-built to be very lightweight – the total payload mass for this launch is < 300 grams!

The aim of this flight is to evaluate the performance of a new telemetry payload, which uses ‘THOR16‘ modulation. While about half the speed of the current RTTY payload, the THOR modes utilise forward error correction and interleaving. This promises to reduce or remove issues with mobile flutter and multi-path fading that we encounter with RTTY. In short, while we may not be getting telemetry sentences quite as often, we will have a much higher chance of the telemetry that is received being useful to us!

THOR Receiver Tune & Test Day – Sunday 4th March ~10:30AM CDST

To help stations adapt to the new THOR16 signal, this coming Sunday (a week prior to the launch) there will be the opportunity for stations in the Adelaide metropolitan area to set up dl-fldigi as per the linked guide below and have a go receiving a higher-power version of the THOR16 signal. This will be broadcast from Mt Lofty Summit by Mark VK5QI. Mark will be on the VK5RSB 70cm repeater (439.900 -5MHz / 91.5Hz CTCSS) as ‘technical support’, to help assist setting up the software. The signal should be easily receivable from the Adelaide Metro area and some surrounds.

Look for the test signal on 434.640MHz

Horus 48 Launch Campaign – Tentative 10-12th March

For the actual launch the following weekend, the telemetry frequencies for the flight are as follows:

  • RTTY – ‘HORUS’ – 434.650 MHz
  • THOR16 – ‘THORUS’ – 434.640 MHz

Both payloads are running 10mW transmit power, and have essentially identical antennas.

DL-FLDIgi Setup for THOR16

As usual, use dl-fldigi to decode telemetry, but in the case of the THOR16 payload, you will have to manually select the operating mode from the drop-down list as follows:

If you have the capability of running two 70cm receivers, please consider running two instances of dl-fldigi to decode both payloads. This may require either multiple PCs, or multiple sound cards. If you can only run a single receiver, please try and alternate between the different telemetry payloads.

We would very much appreciate reports as to your experiences decoding the different telemetry payloads – please e-mail these through to vk5qi@rfhead.net

Tracking for the launch will be available on the HabHub online tracker. We hope to see you as part of the tracking nets!

 

73 de Mark VK5QI

 

 

February Meeting: Chasing Radiosondes for Fun and (no) Profit

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held next Friday, February 16th at the Fulham Community Centre (formerly known as the Reedbeds) off Phelps Court, in Fulham. Doors will open at 7.45pm for an 8.00pm start.

The evenings presentation about weather balloons and RadioSondes will be given by Mark VK5QI.

“Every day, from over a thousand sites around the world, weather balloons are launched to capture atmospheric data. Under each of these is a Radiosonde, a small electronics package containing sensors and a radio transmitter. In this presentation, Mark VK5QI, will explain how these devices help contribute to global weather forecast models (used by the Project Horus team!), and how you can decode, track, and (if you are crazy enough), recover these devices from where they fall over the country.”

Everyone is welcome, visitors in particular. If you have ever wanted to know more about weather balloons this will be a great chance to hear from one of the very active balloon chasers in the state.

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ADVANCED NOTICE for the MARCH meeting

The March meeting of the AREG will be delayed by 1 week this year as our meeting hall has been booked out for the state election. So in March, the date will be March 23rd (the week before Easter). We hope to see you then! (A topic for the March meeting will be finalised shortly).

 

Horus 47: SHSSP 2018 Science Flight Report

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Following unfavourable weather conditions the previous weekend, the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group planned a second attempt to fly the science payloads for the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2018 on Sunday February 4th. Again, the weather was not cooperating, which forced a change of the launch site in order to get off the ground. This meant a very early start as the launch teams left Adelaide at 7.00am to trek 150km east of the city into the Murray Mallee.

This flight was carrying a number of science experiments for the SHSSP students. This year the focus was on space navigation, so one particular focus was using the GPS data coupled with an initertial measurment unit to be able to plot the angle and direction of the camera taking the photos. The other experiment was a spectrometer which was measuring the precise wavelengths of light.

SHSSP18 Downward facing camera (courtesy UniSA and SHSSP)

Launch Preparation

Launch preparations began about 9am after the crew had arrived at the launch site. Thanks must go to Chris VK5CP who arranged access with the farmer who’s paddock we borrowed for the morning. Along the way the obligotory bakery stop had been made in the township of Mannum (I can vouch for their blueberry scrolls). Today we had a couple of new faces on the flight team, with Marcus VK5WTF and Mark VK5QN stepping in to give us a hand. Also on site was Mark VK5QI (Payload), Grant VK5GR (Balloon) and Will VK5AHV (Balloon). The team laid everything out and commenced assembling both the balloon train and the filling apparatus.

At the same time, Grant VK5GR started up his frist time chase vehicle and coaxed all of the linked software systems to life. Thanks to some loaned antennas from Matthew VK5ZM and LoRa receivers from Mark VK5QI, Grant was able to establish a full telemetry and tracking suite in just a matter of days to help assist with the chase.

Marcus filmed the proceedings too and you can see a short timelapse here of inflating the balloon.

Meanwhile, Mark VK5QN and Mark VK5QI (yes that did get confusing) assembled the balloon train. Mark VK5QN with his climbing and scouting background did a professional job of tying the balloon train together. You are most welcome to come again Mark!

Lift-Off

Finally the time came for liftoff. Mark VK5QI checked in with ATC Melbourne and we were given our clearance to fly. The team raised the balloon train and was thankful that we had almost zero ground winds. Mark did a final check that all the payloads were transmitting using a new handheld flight status monitor he had been working on and gave the the green light to commence countdown.

Grant VK5GR then released the balloon and we witnessed a near text book launch. As it climbed, the balloon hit it’s ascent target speed of 5m/s and everything looked good for a successful flight. The ground teams then scrambled to pack everything away and get rolling. It was going to be a long chase, with the landing zone predicted to be up in the north eastern Barossa Valley, and a detour around the River Murray required past Bow Hill and up to Blanchtown so that delays on the river car ferrys could be avoided.

Tracking Control

Meanwhile 58km to the north west, the ground tracking crew of Peter VK5KX and Darin VK5IX were awaiting signal aquisition as the balloon cleared the horizon. They had lots of signals to track this flight, including the 100 Baud RTTY, the LoRa Telecommand system and two Wenet Imaging payloads. Peter again setup his automated tracking antenna (seen on the previous week’s flight) and with Darins help was able to collect and upload to the internet the image signals from both payloads.

Peter took the following video of the Wenet systems in action

The Chase

Meanwhile, back in the two chase cars, Marcus VK5WTF, Mark VK5QI and Will VK5AHV headed out first and made the dash up to the valley.

Mark VK5QN and Grant VK5GR had a slightly slower start, as they had to first drop the gas trailer at a staging point in Younghusband before they too could join the chase.

Wenet Images

This was the first time the balloon and been flown this far NE of Adelaide so it was great to see some different angles of the state. The weather was nearly perfect as well with hardly a cloud in the sky. These photos were taken by the AREG Wenet payload with an outward facing camera.

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One of the last photos actually captured a shot of Mark VK5QI’s chase car as the team was fortunate to be in visual range of the landing.

Grant’s team wasnt quite so lucky due to a software issue involving timezones and the prediction tools and he didnt make it to the landing zone until about 5 minutes after it landed.

Once the balloon landed, both teams met up with the local land owner before being given permission to drive in and pick up the payloads. We were very lucky that the balloon landed approximately 100m from the access track in an empty stubble field. Definitely one of the easier recoveries of recent times!

After we bid farewell to the land owner it was off back home – of course via another bakery (this time in the main street of Truro). Mark’s chase team had the luxury of being able to head straight back to Adelaide. Meanwhile Grant had to return to Younghusband to pick up the gas bottles and trailer. For the VK5GR team it was nearly a 600km 10.5hr round trip this time.

Flight Path & Statistics

Horus 47 flew an interesting course this time. This is a rather uncommon flight track for the AREG team.

The flight statistics are below

MetricResult
Flight Designation:Horus 47 - SHSSP18 #2
Launch Date:04/2/2018 23:59:04 UTC
Landing Date:04/2/2018 02:19:52 UTC
Flight Duration:2 Hours 30 Minutes
Launch Site:-34.878614 139.492314
Landing Site:-34.313174 139.107985
Distance Traveled:72.7 km
Maximum Altitude:32,507 m

Again many amateurs from across the state got involved in telemetry collection. We wish to thank everyone who took part as you all help make the chase and recovery more successful.

The following is the chart of who contributed to the telemetry gathering effort:

Thanks goes to the following who contributed: VK5QI, VK5KJP, VK5ST, VK5NEX, VK5EU, VK5APR, VK5KX, VK5GR, VK5FTAZ, VK5ZAI, VK5DJ, VK5FAAP, VK5ZEA, VK5ALX, VK5KIK

A few stations also contributed to receiving the Wenet digital imaging downlinks. These stations were:

SHSSP1 Payload

  • VK5APR: 145509 packets (35.52 MB)
  • VK5WTF: 91884 packets (22.43 MB)
  • VK5EU: 146129 packets (35.68 MB)
  • VK5DSP (UniSA Team): 133871 packets (32.68 MB)
  • VK5KX: 99419 packets (24.27 MB)

VK5ARG Payload

  • VK5QI: 198691 packets (48.51 MB)
  • VK5KX: 185197 packets (45.21 MB)

Conclusion

So that marks the end of the story for the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies balloon launch program for 2018. We hope everyone had a great time and again thank everyone who contributed or participated in making the flights possible!

73 till next time de VK5ARG

Acknowledgements: Thanks to VK5QI, VK5QN, VK5GR, VK5WTF, VK5KX, VK5IX, VK5AHV and SHSSP for all the material in this report.