Next Project Horus Launch – LaunchBox 2025 (with Fleet Space & Robinson Aerospace) – Sunday 2nd November

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🚀 Introducing LaunchBox: Australia's Launchpad for Future Space Leaders🚀 At Fleet Space, we believe the power of STEM education and hands-on experience with advanced technologies are the launchpad for the next generation

The next Project Horus launch will be on Sunday the 2nd of November, as part of Fleet Space’s LaunchBox ‘Summit to the Stratosphere‘ STEM event, which is the culmination of this year’s LaunchBox program.

LaunchBox is a reimagining of a STEM program that AREG was a part of back in the 2010s, where we flew student-built payloads on high altitude balloon launches. Fleet Space has re-started the program and expanded it Australia-wide, with hundreds of year 7-8 students involved. Two lucky teams will have their payloads flown on a high-altitude balloon launch into the stratosphere!

Adelaide as seen from Horus 66

This launch will be held at the Mt Barker Summit Sport & Recreation Park, with a launch time expected to be 10AM, though this is very much subject to change on the day. Please note that the launch site will be closed to the public until after the launch time – see below for how you can get involved with the launch through receiving our tracking and imagery payloads!

A full-scale launch will include our regular tracking payloads, a Wenet imagery payload, and 2 of the student payloads. If the weather on the day is poor, we have the following backup options:

  • Mid-size launch: Horus Binary tracker + Wenet (similar to Horus 66)
  • Small launch: Horus Binary tracker only.
  • No launch at all (only if flight path predictions are completely unsuitable)

Which option we go with will depend on the launch site weather on the day.

TRACKING LINKS

Details of the frequencies in use on this flight are:

  • Primary Horus Binary telemetry on 434.200 MHz
  • Backup Horus Binary telemetry on 434.210 MHz
  • Wenet v2 Imagery on 443.5 MHz.

On this flight we encourage new listeners to try out our new web-browser-based decoding software for Horus Binary and Wenet – find out more about this further below!

Primary Telemetry – Horus Binary 434.200 MHz – HORUS-V2

Reprogrammed RS41The primary tracking telemetry will be transmitted on 434.200 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. Amateurs in the Adelaide and Central SA region are also encouraged to get involved with the flight through receiving and uploading flight telemetry from our 70cm band tracking beacons. Every piece of telemetry data is valuable to the flight tracking and recovery teams so if you can help join the distributed receiver network to collect that data you will be making an important contribution to the project!

If you try receiving the telemetry from this flight, you’ll need a SSB-capable 70cm receiver (or a SDR), and the Horus-GUI telemetry decoder software. 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 you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.199 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.

Horus Binary telemetry can now also be received using your web browser, using either a SSB receiver or even a RTLSDR!

Click this link to start up a browser-based receiver:

WebHorus – 434.200 MHz

We’ve also got a guide on how to use this here: https://youtu.be/VrgqF7ly-mU

Backup Telemetry – Horus Binary 434.210 MHz – VK5ARG

A backup tracking payload will be transmitting on 434.210 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode, and can be received in the same way as the primary tracking payload, with information above. For this payload you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.209 MHz.

Click this link to start up a browser-based receiver:

WebHorus – 434.210 MHz

Wenet Imagery – 443.500 MHz – USING NEW v2 MODE!

Imagery on this flight will be transmitted via the Wenet downlink system, which uses 96 kbit/s Frequency-Shift-Keying to send HD snapshots. Reception of the Wenet imagery requires a RTLSDR, and a 70cm antenna with some gain (a 5-element Yagi is usually enough).

We will be using the new ‘Wenet v2’ mode, as used successfully on Horus 64B and Horus 66. There is information on updating existing Wenet receive setups available here.

Wenet can now be received on almost any modern computer, and even some newer android devices, using the new WebWenet software! This operates entirely within a web browser. Information on how to get setup to use this is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euo4BGB6wUU

Click this link to start up a browser-based receiver:

Wenet Web Receiver – 443.5 MHz

Wenet imagery from Horus 62

We encourage new listeners to try out the WebWenet software for decoding signals on this flight – however you can also still receive the signal using the Linux-based decoder, with details on this available here:

https://github.com/projecthorus/wenet/wiki/Wenet-RX-Instructions-(Linux-using-Docker)

During the flight, the live imagery will be available at this link: http://ssdv.habhub.org/

Horus 66 Flight Report

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Horus 66 was launched to test out some payloads for the upcoming Fleet Space LaunchBox STEM event (November 2nd), and to help chase teams test out their equipment. Unlike our Horus 65 attempt, the weather was excellent this time around, and no balloons were lost!

The launch was performed from the Mt Barker Summit Sport & Recreation Park, which is where the LaunchBox STEM event will be hosted. This gave us a chance to test out the site and see how well we could receive telemetry and imagery.

Also on this launch was a RASCube-LB payload from Robinson Aerospace, with the aim to validate the radio link (on the 915 MHz LIPD band) on a real launch. These payloads have been used in the LaunchBox program, and 2 of these will be launched at the event.

Setup & Launch

We had a good number of attendees at the launch site, including Laura from Fleet Space, and Simon from Robinson Aerospace. Peter VK5KX had his automatic tracking ground-station, on which we added a 915 MHz Yagi to support reception of the RASCube-LB payload. Matt VK5ZM brought his portable ground station, and we also had a few chase cars along to test out their systems.

Launch preparations went smoothly, with only light winds at the site. The launch was performed right on time at 10:30AM, with the balloon visible for about 10 minutes, before it ascended through clouds.

Filling the balloon, photo by VK5ZM
Just after launch, photo by VK5ZM
Just after launch, photo by VK5ZM

Flight & Recovery

The flight progressed as expected from our predictions, heading swiftly to the north-east, before slowing and turning to the west as it rose up to a maximum altitude of 35100m before balloon burst.

Horus 66 Flight Path

The landing was in mallee scrub approximately 10km north-east of Overland Corner, in the Riverland. Peter VK5PE, Bruce VK5MRB and Ivan VK5HS were able to access the landing area and recover the payloads for us – thanks guys!!

Bruce VK5MRB (left) and Peter VK5PE (right) at the landing site.

Wenet Imagery

For this launch we flew a PiCamera v2, to ensure we didn’t hit the focus problems encountered with the PiCam v3 on the last few imagery attempts. We ended up with excellent imagery throughout the flight, though we did hit some haze and colour balance issues at times.

The full set of images from the flight can be viewed (though in reverse time order!) here: https://ssdv.habhub.org/VK5ARG/2025-10-18

The small number of Wenet receivers for this flight did an amazing job, with almost 100% image reception from launch through to landing.  The following stations contributed imagery data:

VK5ZM: 85705 packets (20.92 MB)
VK5HS/p: 115982 packets (28.32 MB) (Running WebWenet)
VK5APR: 17450 packets (4.26 MB) (Using WebWenet on their mobile phone at the launch site!)
VK5QI-9: 137530 packets (33.58 MB)
VK5KX-9: 301637 packets (73.64 MB)
VK5IS: 214118 packets (52.27 MB)
VK5HS: 176737 packets (43.15 MB)

A dashboard showing telemetry from the Wenet payload is available here.

Horus Binary Tracking

As usual, we had a good roundup of receivers from all around South Australia tracking the Horus Binary payload. The following callsigns were seen to submit telemetry:

BARC-RRR, VK5AH,V K5ALG, VK5ALG-9, VK5APR, VK5BRL, VK5CBM, VK5COL, VK5DEN, VK5GA, VK5HS, VK5HW, VK5IS, VK5KX-9, VK5KX-i5, VK5LN, VK5NEX, VK5PE, VK5QI-9, VK5ST-4, VK5WE, VK5ZAP, VK5ZAR, VK5ZM, VK5TRM, VK5ZMD

A dashboard showing telemetry from this flight, including per-receiver reception statistics is available here.

The longest distance reception was by Michael VK5LN, at a range of 426km. At the launch site, Peter VK5KX’s tracking system was able to continue receiving the payload as it descended behind hills, likely through some combination of knife-edge refraction and tropospheric ducting. The last packet received from the launch site was at 178km range, 2300m altitude, and a reported elevation from the launch site of -0.1 degrees (with 4 degree elevation hills in the way!).

Peter’s IC-705 receiving Horus Binary telemetry just before landing.
The last Horus Binary packet received by Peters station. -0.1 degrees elevation!
Peter’s ground station looking directly at hills.

Up Next – LaunchBox – Sunday 2nd November

Our next launch will be as part of Fleet Space’s LaunchBox program, occurring on Sunday the 2nd of November. This launch is primarily an event for the student participating in the LaunchBox program, so at this stage we don’t expect the site will be open to the general public around the launch time, though it should be open later in the day.

You can still get involved by receiving telemetry and imagery from the flight, and tracking the launch online. In particular we are looking for more Wenet imagery receivers, as these live images provide great engagement for the students!

More details on tracking this flight will be posted on the AREG website within the next week.

SA Repeater Network News Update – October 19th

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Substantial progress has been made in reconnecting all of the repeaters in the SA Repeater Network back together. As of October 19th, the Adelaide (Summertown) hub has been reconnected to most of the network. There are a few more sites still to come, however, which should be relinked in the next couple of weeks (VK5RSA Adelaide CBD, VK5RLH Lochiel/Central North) and VK5RVH (Victor Harbor).

One of the key changes is that we have now elected to make 439.900 the Adelaide network access repeater rather than 147.175. This was due to the amount of traffic being carried on 147.175 that was local to Adelaide. As a result, the AREG IRLP node is temporarily off air while we rebuild it to operate on 2m 147.175. 147.175 MHz will now remain a stand alone repeater.

For those missing the WIA broadcast on the old Crafers repeater (147.000), also note that AREG is currently providing a temporary WIA Broadcast service at 9.00am Sunday via the 147.175 MHz repeater. This will revert to 147.000 once AHARS restores that repeater to service.

 

Next Meeting Friday Oct 17th – Digital Amateur Television

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group Inc will be held on Friday October 17th at 7.30pm. Doors will open at 7.00pm. The venue will be the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham.

Introducing Digital Amateur Television

The topic this evening will be an introduction to 445 MHz (70 cm band) Digital Amateur Television, presented by Steve VK5SFA. Steve will present his journey to establishing an ATV transmission capability, including the various challenges encountered along the way.

Steve will also discuss how to get involved in receiving ATV on the 70cm band, and if you bring along your DVB-T set top box he will help you leave with it programmed ready to receive the local Adelaide ATV operators. The usual retailers are still selling the Laser STB-9000 for about $40.00 which will directly receive 70cm ATV if you want to get on board.

Update: a copy of the Youtube presentation is now available here:

Homework

Below is a list of terms used in DVB-t2 television broadcasting.  I will not be going into any great detail about how DVB-t2 actually works.  It is a mature technology and there is plenty of information on the Internet.
Feel free to conduct your own research if interested.
  • DVB-t (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial)
  • Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM)
  • QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) 
  • QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)
  • MER (Modulation Error Ratio)
  • FEC (Forward Error Correction)
  • Guard Interval
  • Carriers (2K & 8K)
  • PID (Packet Identifier)
  • LCN (Logical Channel Numbers)

Next Project Horus Launch – Horus 66 – Saturday 18th October

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UPDATE: Today’s launch was a great success, with all launch objectives achieved, and the payloads recovered by members of the Riverland Radio Club! A (short) writeup will be coming soon. Our next launch will be on Sunday the 2nd of November as part of the LaunchBox “Summit to the Stratosphere” STEM day!

AREG’s High-Altitude Ballooning sub-group, Project Horus, is planning their next launch for Saturday the 18th of October, with a planned launch time of 10:30 AM ACDST. There will be no backup date for this launch – if the weather is extremely poor, then the launch will be scrubbed.

This will be a small launch, testing some payloads related to the upcoming LaunchBox launch, occurring on Sunday the 2nd of November. This will include a standard Horus Binary tracking payload, and possibly a Wenet imagery payload.

The launch site for this flight will be the Mt Barker Summit Sport & Recreation Park oval, located just to the east of Mt Barker, and accessible off Springs Road and Heysen Boulevard. As there will be cricket played on the oval, we will be in the paddock area to the North-West of the grandstand.

TRACKING LINKS

Details of the frequencies in use on this flight are:

  • Primary Horus Binary telemetry on 434.200 MHz
  • Wenet Imagery on 443.5 MHz. (Now receivable using a web browser! See below!)

On this flight we encourage new listeners to try out our new web-browser-based decoding software for Horus Binary and Wenet – find out more about this further below!

During the flight, all the payloads can be tracked lived on the SondeHub-Amateur tracker here!

Primary Telemetry – Horus Binary 434.200 MHz – HORUS-V2

Reprogrammed RS41The primary tracking telemetry will be transmitted on 434.200 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. Amateurs in the Adelaide and Central SA region are also encouraged to get involved with the flight through receiving and uploading flight telemetry from our 70cm band tracking beacons. Every piece of telemetry data is valuable to the flight tracking and recovery teams so if you can help join the distributed receiver network to collect that data you will be making an important contribution to the project!

If you try receiving the telemetry from this flight, you’ll need a SSB-capable 70cm receiver (or a SDR), and the Horus-GUI telemetry decoder software. 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 you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.199 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.

Horus Binary telemetry can now also be received using your web browser, using either a SSB receiver or even a RTLSDR!

Click this link to start up a browser-based receiver:

WebHorus – 434.200 MHz

We’ve also got a guide on how to use this here: https://youtu.be/VrgqF7ly-mU

Wenet Imagery – 443.500 MHz – USING NEW v2 MODE!

Imagery on this flight will be transmitted via the Wenet downlink system, which uses 96 kbit/s Frequency-Shift-Keying to send HD snapshots. Reception of the Wenet imagery requires a RTLSDR, and a 70cm antenna with some gain (a 5-element Yagi is usually enough).

We will be using the new ‘Wenet v2’ mode, as trialed on Horus 64B. There is information on updating existing Wenet receive setups available here.

Wenet can now be received on almost any modern computer, and even some newer android devices, using the new WebWenet software! This operates entirely within a web browser. Information on how to get setup to use this is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euo4BGB6wUU

Click this link to start up a browser-based receiver:

Wenet Web Receiver – 443.5 MHz

This payload will be giving the PiCam v3 one last go before we give up and revert back to the PiCam v2.

Wenet imagery from Horus 62

We encourage new listeners to try out the WebWenet software for decoding signals on this flight – however you can also still receive the signal using the Linux-based decoder, with details on this available here:

https://github.com/projecthorus/wenet/wiki/Wenet-RX-Instructions-(Linux-using-Docker)

During the flight, the live imagery will be available at this link: http://ssdv.habhub.org/

AREG Amateur Radio & Electronics Car Boot Sale Sunday 26th October!

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ATTENTION

We have a Wet Weather Plan!
The show will go on (indoors) this Sunday!

AREG is proud to announce that the 2025 Car Boot Sale
will be held on Sunday October 26th
at David Roche Park, Cromwell Rd, Kilburn

DOORS OPEN 10.00AM
(9.30AM for sellers)

Seller Registrations are still open! To book a site please email vk5arg@areg.org.au .

Car sites: $10 , Trailer Sites $15

Sites include entry for one person. Any additional people need to register on the day at the ticket counter.

We also are pleased to announce our retail partners for this year! VK Radio, the Australian Yaesu dealer is coming from Melbourne.

We also have a $5 raffle planned for the day – with the draw occuring at 12.30pm

1st Prize – A Codan 9350 HF mobile ATU from HF Radio Solutions
2nd Prize – a $150 GIFT Voucher to use at Comtek

We are also offering Door prizes sponsored by TET-Emtron
and the new SA Repeater Group!

 

Next Meeting Friday 19th September 7.30pm: Foxhunting at the National Championships

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday 19th September 2025. The venue is the Fulham Community Centre, off Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors open at 6.30pm and the meeting starts at 7.30pm.

The presentation this month will be given by Mark, VK5QI and Grant VK5GR who will take everyone through what happens at the National Amateur Radio Foxhunting Championships, held in Mt Gambier over the June long weekend each year.

Tea/Coffee and refreshments will be available. After the presentation a short business meeting will be held.

We hope to see you there (at the ex Reedbeds Community Centre – now Fulham Community Centre).

VK5 Central Repeater Network – News Update 29th August

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VK5RAD gets a temporary lifeline – relocation to be completed by Sept 30th

Work has been progressing on getting the link equipment installed into AREG’s site at Summertown (VK5RSB) to take over the network hub duties from VK5RAD 70cm, however we are currently a little behind schedule. Fortunately, after negotiations with the site owner at Crafers, the 439.925 70cm repeater has been granted a 1 month service extension before it must be removed from site. The same extension has been also granted to the AHARS for the 147.000 2m repeater.

For now, the repeater network connectivity will continue as usual, until we start re-directing links to the new hub mid September. We will let everyone know when each link is going to be relocated and when to start using 147.175 TX / 147.775 RX to access the link network.