New APRS tracking web site

Very interesting new APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) tracking site that is hosted right here in CNY by Steve White N2RWE.

The new URL is https://aprs.to 

Learn more about APRS here: http://www.aprs.org/

Balloon Launch: SSTV & APRS from "near-space"

A hobby group in Binghamton, New York, Triple Cities Makerspace is planning to launch a balloon with amateur radio payloads on Saturday June 29th, 2019.

The group is launching a high altitude balloon to near space (100,000 feet) and transmitting photos of the atmosphere during the flight.

The Triple Cities Makerspace launch will take place on June 29th around 10:30 AM, tentatively depending on weather. The balloon will be tracked by amateur radio and also live photos during the flight will be transmitted back to the ground via amateur radio.

The group hopes that many radio operators will participate by listening in and uploading photos they receive to the project’s website: https://reachfornearspace.com/

The flight is expected to last around 2.5 hours and the coverage area of reception within 500 miles.
Gary Dewey, an amateur radio operator (callsign KD2PYB) and member of the Triple Cities Makerspace, is leading the project. “I’ve always dreamt of going to space, but this could be the next best thing – building something that goes to (near) space. I hope this project inspires others to experiment and reach for their dreams.”

They are using the MicroTrak-2001 from Byonics for APRS and will be transmitting on 144.390 MHz with the call sign KD2PYB-11. For SSTV, they are using a raspberry pi zero with the pi camera, a pHAT dac for a sound card interface and inexpensive Baofeng brand radio for the transmitter. They will be transmitting on 145.600 MHz.

Read more at: https://hvdnnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/06/upcoming-balloon-launch-sstv-aprs-from.html

Black Fly Challenge in the Adirondacks - looking for volunteers

The Black Fly Challenge is a 40-mile destination (one-way) gravel grinder bicycle race that attracts both serious racers and recreational riders on cyclocross and mountain bikes. It also attracts some serious adventurists, riding unicyles and 3-seat bikes. Over half the BFC race course includes gravel roads through the wild & scenic Moose River Recreation Area between Inlet and Indian Lake with some pavement and/or singletrack at either end. It is a difficult area for communications, as much of the route has no Cellphone coverage, no public safety and no services.

So we are looking for Amateur radio operators willing to participate on Saturday, June 11th. The race starts from Inlet NY this year. We have lots of locations with as much or as little challenge as you desire. We will primarily be operating high power mobiles to repeaters on Blue, Gore and McCauley Mountains, though some HF NVIS and simplex 2M communications may be utilized.

Balloon over northern NY this morning on APRS

It was a cold morning for a balloon launch from Watertown NY! I stumbled across this team this morning on APRS.fi. I was then able to reach and briefly talk with Chris, KD2ICC on the 145.33 repeater in Remsen, NY as he headed south and east to recover the balloon that looks like it has landed near Schenectady, NY. The APRS equipped balloon and amateur radio equipped chase team were out for a balloon chase. This launch was part of the Maintenance Platoon high altitude weather balloon project (read more below).




APRS map link: http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FKD2IIC&timerange=3600&tail=3600

Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/deltamishapp/?pnref=story

Flight prediction link: https://www.facebook.com/deltamishapp/photos/a.1091704154194374.1073741828.1090301271001329/1094486080582848/?type=3

The predicted path was pretty close. We will try to get some more details from Chris on the project and a full story of their day and the goals of the project. Stay tuned here!

The Delta Company, 3-10 GSAB Maintenance Platoon high altitude weather balloon project.

Description:
To provide esprit de corps and training in downed aircraft recovery, Maintenance Platoon of Delta Company, 3-10 GSAB will launch, track, and recover a high altitude weather balloon. The balloon will carry a payload of 65 custom company patches, 2 cameras, a ham radio APRS tracker, a satellite based tracker, and a 102 db audible siren to an altitude of 100,000 feet also known as Flight Level 1000. Upon return to earth a team of soldiers will set out to recover the payload which is projected to land in the Adirondack Mountains.

This recovery will require land navigation as well as radio communication, skills needed in real life downed aircraft recovery hence this provides a unique training opportunity to the platoon as well as a morale booster to those who receive a patch that has been to the edge of space.

Balloon Chase

Many of you may have heard the repeater activity last Thursday 5/29 as a group of students, educators and Hams from Central & Western NY chased three hot air balloons over the Fingerlakes. This was a project of the Cazenovia High School Technology Class and Pittsford-Mendon High School . The balloons were equipped with Amateur radio APRS transmitters to allow tracking and recovery. One of the balloons traveled to an altitude over 100,000 feet! All three balloons were eventually recovered. Great job guys!

We will try to get some more detailed information to post here from the team, but for now take a look at some amazing video recorded by one of the balloons.

(update 7/30/14) Read the whole story in the July 2014 RARA Rag at: http://rags.rochesterham.org/e-RAGS/RAG_July_2014.pdf

Here is a you tube link to some video from one of the balloons:

http://youtu.be/SQ7S-ey-CX4

Interesting APRS story..........

A local amateur friend, AB2MS, Todd Brown shared an interesting story with me on our Monday morning commute a few weeks ago. I was very impressed by the story and asked Todd if he would write down the story and send me a few pictures to post on our blog. His story follows (with a few edits and only two of 5 pics):
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We all get random emails, usually spam or something that doesn’t get much more than a glance. But sometimes those random, unexpected emails can lead to an adventure. On April 8, I received an email with the subject “Balloon from U-Mich down near you”. I thought it sounded odd, just out of the blue, but the subject drew me in to read it:

Todd,

de Dave KB3EFS up near Alexandria Bay. A High Altitude Balloon from U-Mich Ann Arbor is down near you. See http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FAETHR1-1&timerange=172800&tail=172800 
It looks like the area is a swamp or a forest. I can get you contact info for the group at U-Mich if you or others want to go get it.

73
Dave
KB3EFS

The balloon was tracked on APRS so the whole journey was online for all to see.
Clicking on the link, here is what I found:

Seems the balloon had quite the trip, reaching almost 40,000 feet and over 120 MPH! So where is it?

About 11 miles east of me, just west of Central Square, not a huge trip to go out there. But what about the terrain? Where did this thing decide to end its parachute decent back to earth? I could hope for an easy recovery, but I knew I wasn’t that lucky…… so I bring in the satellite view! Ugh, out in the middle of nowhere, and where does that creek go? Oh, looks like it spreads out into a swamp. Great news during spring thaw…… So where to begin? Looks like a farm to the west of it. Farms are a good place to start looking for land owners and info. 

So Saturday rolls around, nice warm sunny day and I follow the directions my GPS I giving me to get to the farm. I first met two of “the boys” tinkering on a car. I explain the situation and they point to “ma and pa” down sawing firewood. I drive past the house and see the apparent owners. I again explained the story to “pa” and he told “ma” to stop her chainsaw and come over so I could retell the story again. After having heard it they seemed quite cooperative and I was sent off with another one of the boys in a manure covered farm truck. He guessed it was in the swamp, but was determined we get closer so maybe at least a glimpse of the payload could be seen and the actual location could be determined. After stopping to say hi to everyone on the route (farmers know EVERYONE around) we drove up a field as far as he dared and set out to find us a balloon. I had plugged the coordinates into my handheld GPS, so we had a general idea of where it hopefully was. 

Skip ahead a half hour after pushing through brush and stepping in mud, and the GPS points ahead to the left…….. right into the swamp. We trudged further ahead, skirting the muck (for the most part) and suddenly stepped into mud up to our knees. A little further and through the trees we see what looks like a bunch of plastic sheeting. Could it be? The GPS is pointing right at it. We already were wet up to our knee, so it was time to get a closer look to be sure. Sure enough that’s all it could be. Now I’m thinking how far I had trudged, how long I had already spent looking and the fact I was already wet. One thing to do now……… empty my pockets, hang my backpack with camera in a tree and go for it. I brought the cellphone as it was waterproof and luckily my Leatherman. 

Getting close, I can see the payload:

So how do I get that down from up there in the tree? Parachute cord! I mean it looks like it’s tangled around a few branches, why not! Well, after straining the cord as much as I dared and not wanting anything to snap back and knock some teeth out I tied it off and thought. Leatherman! I still had my Leatherman in my pocket. It has a saw. So I wade over (now wet almost up to my chest) and realize the tree is more than twice the diameter of the little saw. Who am I to let that stop me now?

I finally had the prize at ground level and could grab it and make my back to the guy waiting at the edge of the swamp for me. 

All in all it was quite an adventure. It shows the use of APRS tracking the balloon, and my digipeater was the closest station to the landing site. I guess it also shows how crazy and / or determined I was. The guys at U-Mich Ann Arbor were quite happy I retrieved their payload which was a tiny radio / GPS / TNC unit and it now could be re-used for more educational purposes. They sent me a prepaid envelope to send it back to them and included an 8’ balloon to pique my interest in trying my own launch.  

I encourage everyone to visit http://www.projectaether.org/main/ to learn about these balloons and their use in research and education. They have a lot of info and videos to check out, plus they announce launches so we can watch for another to come this way. I just hope it lands in a better spot next time. 

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- Todd, Thanks for sharing this cool story!