Did you know you might be able to track ARBONET 3 flights from your home computer? ARBONET flights are equipped with APRS. APRS is a messaging network, based on systems exchanging packets of data. This data can be position information, email, weather, frequencies and much, much more.
Two systems on the ARBONET flights send out APRS position information, including altitude. However, ARBONET data may not show up until we are actively in flight and the payloads are being heard by other radios feeding this data to the Internet via "Digipeaters". The APRS coverage in the area we fly is sparce, but is used by local ground chase teams to intercept the landing of the ARBONET payloads.
This means the links below may not work for you until well into the flight, where we are high enough to be heard a long distance away. There are no active digipeaters near where we fly, so it could be that we are not heard at all during the flight with the exception of ground tracking mobiles using APRS to track the payloads for recovery.
But, you can give it a try! If you do get a map showing the ARBONET payloads, you might need to hit "refresh" on your browser to get the latest position report.
To track the progress of the ARBONET flight, here are a few experimental links to try:
The following two links should provide a historical bread crumb trail of where we have been during the flight:
ARBONET 3, Payload 1:
ARBONET 3, Payloads 2,3,4:
The following two links should provide a glimpse of where we presently are during the flight:
ARBONET 3, Payload 1
ARBONET 3, Payloads 2,3,4
