via Amateur Radio Daily: Richardson Wireless Klub High-Altitude Balloon Launch

The following is an email from the Richardson Wireless Klub mailing list:”

Once again, the Richardson Area Balloonatics / Richardson Wireless Klub will be launching a high-altitude weather balloon on Saturday, October 18th (weather and upper atmospheric conditions permitting). This is our last major launch of the season; as the winds aloft will soon start moving the balloons quicker than we can drive under them. The launch will be just north of the DFW metroplex. Near apogee we expect coverage to include most of Texas and Oklahoma and some of Arkansas and Louisiana. The flight is expected to last around 2.5 hours total. Ascent will be from 9:00AM to 11:00AM. We expect the balloon to be back on the ground before noon. Stations beyond line-of-sight are encouraged to make contact with the onboard 20m FT-8 payload; look for the “K5RWK” callsign on the waterfall.

Launch Site

The launch site is tentatively planned to be at an RC Airfield in Denton near the North Lakes Dog park at 808 W Windsor Dr, Denton, TX 76207 https://maps.app.goo.gl/8giL1CWATM7brzsk6. This may change if winds shift.

Flight path predictions (automatically updated every 6 hours): sondehub.org

Special QSL Card

Earn a special event QSL card by receiving images or tracking data directly from the balloon or by making contacts through the onboard repeater. Visit https://k5rwk.org/balloons to request your QSL card. Aim for the coveted Worked All Payloads (“WAP”) award. If you requested a QSL card for prior launches, they are in the queue and will be sent out shortly.

Flight goals:

• Test improved launch methods — new scale, new balloon neck mechanism
• Finally capture some 360° camera footage from launch to burst — had battery issues on our 8/23 launch, WILL WE GET IT THIS TIME?!
• Measure balloon pressure delta with fancy Honeywell sensor
• Demonstrate 20m FT-8 payload, hopefully with stations local and afar
• Demonstrate Pi Pico W bluetooth interpayload communication
• Collect data from inertial sensors in neck of balloon to determine balloon burst status (for use in future cutdown payload)

Ways to participate from afar:

• Make contacts through the crossband repeater – 147.435MHz PL 67.0 uplink, 446.0 (no PL) downlink
• Watch as images arrive via Wenet at https://ssdv.habhub.org/KE5GDB
• Track the payloads at https://amateur.sondehub.org/ (look for K5RWK, K5UTD, and KE5GDB-Wenet)
• Receive SSTV pictures in real-time – 432.5 MHz / Robot 36
• Decode our tracking payloads – “Horus Binary v2” on 432.7 and 432.9 MHz (decode using upper sideband and Horus GUI or https://horus.sondehub.org)

Participate in person:

• Launch site (tentative) https://maps.app.goo.gl/8giL1CWATM7brzsk6
• Launch prep begins at 8:00AM with a target launch time of 9:00AM
• Launch and chase coordination is on 146.54MHz and the onboard crossband repeater — bring an HT to listen in to the fun!
• If chasing, please carpool – We’ve had congestion issues before.
• Chase crew should bring boots, long pants, plenty of bug spray, and lots of water! Be prepared for a bit of a hike and high temperatures!

I’ll be sending more details regularly to k5rwk@groups.io and parkballoon@k5prk.groups.io. The final update will go out on Friday October 17th to this group.

We love to see your setup pics and hear your stories! Please send them to balloon@k5rwk.org.

73 de KE5GDB

Source: Richardson Wireless Klub

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