Arbonet News

After hours and hours of work on this web site, my ISP notified me that the information that creates the web site (the stuff that goes on behind the scenes) was lost and can not be recovered... This means that if I update a single word on a single page, the whole site will fall apart and be lost forever... So, in the spirit of a persistent engineer, I have down-loaded the contents in hopes to re-create the site in some off-line software. Therefore, I have not posted updates, and when I do, you will likely notice some dramatic changes.

Stay tuned! I found one of those O-2-Its (Round to its) and will be getting the site back in order as soon as possible!

 --Michael K5NOT

The release of ARBONET 2 went off without many problems. With excellent help from the ground crew and a lot of work into the payloads, ARBONET 2 was headed for 89,000 feet.

We contacted the FAA authorities regarding the flight several weeks in advance, and worked with this fine group of professionals throughout the flight of ARBONET 2. Several things were learned here, such as the payload specialist should not be the FAA contact person, and a bigger window should be given to the FAA for possible launch times. A big win on this trip to the edge of space was the radar reflector for ARBONET 2 could be painted on the FAA radars!

A short time after liftoff, it was obvious the voice beacon GPS was locked up. Position and Altitude were not being sent correctly. The voice beacon program was working OK at first, but eventually became stuck in the CW ID loop. This was disappointing. However, some of the humorous code was working, such as "The GPS does not have a 3D fix, so I am not sure how high I am" and the scanner recorder caught "Excuse me, while I stop and ask for directions". The voice recorder will be looked at to find a cause for this GPS lock-up problem.

The 10 meter RWK beacon worked quite well. At first, the beacon was causing quite a bit of disturbance to nearby receivers, so the RWK crew reduced the power and off it flew. It was copied across several states and provided a new frontier for those looking for DX 10M signals!

Several QSOs could be heard through the cross-band repeater. Like working LEO satellites, the input was muted by the stronger input signals, (in satellite work, we call these stronger signals "alligators") making it more difficult for distant users to make contacts. We are just very happy it worked! We will be putting thought into improving this capability.

The APRS system worked flawlessly. A good copy could be made over the span of several states, and the GPS worked beyond the 60,000 foot level without a hitch. We were able to track ARBONET 2 with great success.  From what data we have, the balloon passed 89,000 feet.

Upon return, the telemetry from the APRS system indicated a very high descent rate. It became obvious the parachute was not functioning properly. After a handful of APRS updates, the package was on the ground. The last APRS packet copied from the Clarkesville Airport was from 5800 feet in altitude, so we were able to predict a possible site for the landing.

The recovery was a story that deserved its own web page. We met some great people in Southeast Oklahoma, and they were able to help turn this daunting recovery task into a great adventure with a great appreciation for people working together!

Overall, the ARBONET 2 mission was a great success, and a lot of fun for everyone!

See details of the recovery effort here:

http://arbonet.net/gpage12.html 

--K5NOT 

ARBONET-II High Altitude Balloon Flight Set for an October 20th Launch

Members of the ARBONET (Amateur Radio Balloons Over NorthEast Texas) organization are making final preparations for the October 20th launch of ARBONET-2. Originally scheduled for launch last spring, ARBONET-2 is being dedicated to the memory of Kim R. Miles, N9IS SK, a long time contributor to the central Indiana Windtrax Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloon team who passed away March 27th at the age of 51.

ARBONET-2 will be launched from the JD Trissell Airport in Clarksville, TX which is located in the northeast corner of the Lone Star State. Launch time is scheduled for 9:30 AM CDT on Saturday October 20th. Current winds aloft forecasts indicate the ground track of the flight will carry the amateur payloads towards the Texas - Louisiana state line. If ARBONET-2 reaches its expected altitude of 96,000 ft, radio amateurs in parts of as many as seven states should be able to monitor the beacons and communicate through the cross band repeater onboard the near space vehicle.

The compliment of payloads aboard ARBONET-2 includes:

A plain language homing beacon that will transmit navigation data to the ground on 146.560 MHz in plain English thus allowing anyone with a scanner or 2 meter hand-held in the coverage zone to follow the progress of the flight without the need for additional equipment to process the data.

An APRS beacon operating on 144.390 MHz to report vehicle location data throughout the duration of the flight and to aid in the recovery of the packages following descent.

A 70 cm Up / 2 meter Down Cross band FM repeater (445.800MHz Up 147.560 MHz Down) will support two way communications during the duration of the ARBONET-2 flight.

A 10 meter CW beacon experiment produced by the Richardson Wireless Klub, K5RWK will transmit a 500 milliwatt signal on 28.061 MHZ.

In addition, ARBONET-2 will carry a number of secondary payloads that will perform remote data collection functions for analysis once the payloads are recovered. These payloads include a 4 mega pixel digital camera configured to capture images every 30 seconds through the duration of the flight, a self contained balloon burst video system designed to capture images of the balloon burst event and other environmental data loggers.

Operators are encouraged to submit reception reports from the ARBONET-2 flight to team members via the ARBONET web site: www.arbonet.net. A special commemorative QSL card will be made available to everyone who submits reception reports to the ARBONET team.

An ARBONET Launch Information HF net will be held on 3.910 MHz ( +/- 10 KHz) beginning at 9:00 AM CDT to report the progress of flight preparations and to provide real time coverage of the expected two and a half hour flight.

The ARBONET team encourages radio amateurs throughout the flight's coverage zone to make use of the payloads aboard ARBONET-2.

Additional updates will be posted to the ARBONET web site in the days leading up to the mission. In the event weather conditions cause a postponement of the launch, the next launch attempt is scheduled for the following Saturday, October 27th.

ARBONET 2 is GO for October 20th. The expected flight profile includes an ascent of approximately 1000 fpm climb and winds aloft directing the flight on a heading of 128 degrees SE, down range approximately 45 miles. The flight should continue to climb to the point where the balloon will burst, having expanded from approimately 8ft in diamter at near sea level pressure to a final diameter of approximatley 24 feet at the edge of space. It is hoped the balloon burst is captured on an on-board video system provided by Mark Culross of the Lockheed Radio Club.

This flight will include a payload from the Richardson Wireless Klub. This payload is a 28MHz beacon and it is hoped its' tiny signal will find receivers in lands far away.

This will be the first attempt by ARBONET to fly the Tripmate GPS in the beacon payload, and along with the Tripmate GPS will be a second, very low cost modular GPS connected to a single micro controller logging all aspects of the flight, including temperature inside and outside of the payload.

See the ARBONET.NET web site for more details and timelines on this October 20th flight.

73s!

The ARBONET Team

The ARBONET II Flight was GO on all fronts except the weather front. Overcast skies prevented the launch of ARBONET II from the Clarksville, Texas Space Port. Forecasters predicted the weather would be clear by 9:30AM, but Mother Mature decided to bring in additional clouds instead.

Extremely good conditions are required for launch, so even if we had a good opening in the sky, the area of the predicted recovery also needs to be clear so we can use all of our recovery tools (such as the chase plane) to safely locate and guide ground teams in retrieve the payloads.

All packages were 100% functional and ready for launch. The uncooperative weather was the only problem we could not address.

The only payload with a possible question was the Beacon Payload, which uses a synthesized voice module to turn GPS position strings into meaningful voice announcements. The processor used to decode the GPS strings is a very limited processor, and a few of us capitalized on the available time looking at possibly more efficient and robust coding solutions for the task. Without testing in a GPS test chamber, or flying the package at altitude, it would be impossible to tell if the present code would work with the particular GPS at various high altitudes or not. However, all other aspects of the Beacon work as expected. This delay of ARBONET II will allow us to implement a much more powerful processor and possibly simulate and test the operation at various altitudes.

Other aspects of the ARBONET II launch were perfect. A new flight tracking, recording and information station was set up that could follow the APRS payload on a large-screen projector. Recording systems were set up to record all the communications action on the payloads. A 40 meter di-pole, with a ground level reflector system was set up and QSOs took place during the ARBONET II net event with contacts in several close-in surrounding states. And of course the hot dogs and chips afterwards was a welcome and 100% effective event as well!

We have not scheduled the next attempt of ARBONET II. A busy May, along with Field Day in June, and the 4th of July weekend could postpone the flight of ARBONET II to mid July or after. We will post new schedules to this news area, the ARBONET web page and on the ARBONET Yahoo group. 

 73's!

Good Morning Sports Fans,

I wanted to give everyone a heads-up with where we stand as to making a ‘go- no go” decision for this week’s launch attempt. It appears that the weather scenario this week is almost identical to last week’s in that we will have clouds, showers and potential thunderstorms in the area until some time on Friday evening.

To give me a better look at things, I have contacted the Victorian Inn and asked how late we can cancel if need be and not be charged for the rooms. Mic at the hotel has told me this morning that he will work with us up to 7:00 PM tomorrow (Thursday) evening.

So, I will hold off making a go-no go decision until 6:00 PM tomorrow evening. This will give me roughly 8 hours of additional time to make a decision. We will use the mail reflector and www.arbonet.net as the means for getting the word out.

Just as an aside, looking at winds aloft out of both Ft. Worth and Shreveport, the ground track has shortened significantly down to about 40 miles on a northeasterly heading from Clarksville. 

I will probably still want to pre-deploy a couple of DF teams however as the road system in the landing zone is not real well developed and we will want to have a head start for sure.

Stay tuned! Hopefully ARBONET-2 is just around the corner. 

73, Doug Loughmiller, W5BL

The flight of ARBONET II will take place on May 5th 2007 @ 9AM CST from the Clarksville, Texas Space Port (Airport) if weather conditions are favorable.

All previously scheduled events, including the HF net, payload operation, balloon launch for kids and students will take place if weather conditions allow us to follow through with the launch.

See the home page for ARBONET II for the latest facts and conditions, and please refer to the Fast Facts page for information of frequencies and events.

73's!

The National Weather Service (NWS) predicted unfavorable weather conditions for April 28th, 2007.  A strong line of Thunderstorms were predicted to form from Dallas along a line extending through our launch site of Clarksville, Texas. The skies following the storms were predicted to be greater than 50% coverage and winds aloft were likely to carry the payload over 100 miles distant from the launch site. These predictions, on April 25th through the morning of the 26th were the basis for the postponement.

The storms did arrive as forecast on Friday night, 4/27/07, but the weather cleared faster than previously forecast. Conditions were actually perfect for a launch on April 28th. However, ground crews and chase teams were already cancelled and the flight could not take place. Therefore, the new date for launch will be May 5th, 2007 on Cinco De Mayo!

We will request the NWS to polish their crystal ball a little better for the next flight day! :)

ARBONET-2 Operational Planning Meeting Minutes

Saturday, March 17^th, 2007  

Introductions were made to open the meeting. 17 people were in attendence.

W5BL provided a discussion about the ARBONET-2 payloads, the builders, assembly progress, timeline for completion and testing.

Some short-comings of the ARBONET-1 flight were discussed with a view to improving the launch day activities for ARBONET -2. Topics discussed included: 

Launch Site  

It was discussed that while we had a lot of good resources on hand for ARBONET-1 they weren’t put to the most efficient use. It was suggested that the communications van from Paris be set up closer to the launch area to help facilitate pre-flight preparations. The idea being that it would be helpful to have these resources much closer to where the preparation is taking place. W5BL took the action to discuss this with N5JEP. 

Communications  

During ARBONET-1 we experienced a number of breakdowns in our communications infrastructure that created problems in coordinating recovery operations, communication with the launch site and in keeping operators in the coverage zone informed as to the progress of the flight. W5BL took the action item to produce a comprehensive communications plan for ARBONET-2. Some of the specific recommendations to be included in the plan are:

1.- The use of a simplex frequency at the launch site to link the HF net control, mission control and the launch operations site for smoother information flow during launch preparations.

2.- Improved communications between chase team members and the need for a documented communications frequency plan to be shared with all participants.

3.- Improved communications between recovery operations and HF net control and the launch site.

4.- Improved information flow to the HF net control for dissemination to the user community in the coverage zone. 

Mission Interaction at the Launch Site 

It was discussed that once the balloon is released and departs the airport, many of the key people leave the area leaving very little ability for the folks at the launch site to follow what is going on. To facilitate a better “user interface” a Mission Control Center will be set up in the airport office that will have the capability to monitor all payload systems, the HF net operations and chase team operations. The idea being that a central area, easily accessible to everyone should be set up to display the progress of the balloon flight. 

Concessions at the Launch 

It was suggested by Mike and Jody Lindsey that a concession stand be set up at the airport to sell food and beverage with proceeds to go to future balloon flight expenses. Tommy Trissell indicated that this would not be a problem and Mike and Jody agreed to take this task on for the group. 

Kids Activity 

Tommy Trissell suggested that in order to involve youth groups in the area that we plan an activity where we use the excess helium to fill small balloons for kid to attach their name and address to and release as an experiment to see if any are recovered and reported back to the child that released them. It was felt that this would be a good activity and it was decided to procure the need materials to go ahead with this activity following the release of the ARBONET-2 balloon.

Michael Willett, K5NOT has put together an ARBONET specific web site www.arbonet.net that will contain information about the upcoming flight.

Public Relations 

Dave Clark spoke about his willingness to help with publicity in the Clarksville area. It was agreed that we want to get as much involvement with the general public as possible as a display of amateur radio activities to those who might be interested in getting involved.

Public Information Table 

It was suggested that we should have general hand out information available at the launch site to give to members of the general public who might be interested in becoming a ham.

Debrief Location 

It was suggested that rather than relocate the debrief meeting away from the airport that we conduct the post flight activities at the launch site. Tommy Trissell indicated that there would not be a problem holding the Bar-B-Q on the airport.

Meeting Topics Overview Mission Objectives:  

The objective for this flight is to perfect the implementation of the basic payloads that were flown on ARBONET-1. The payloads we will fly on this flight are:

Primary Payloads 

Homing Beacon

APRS

Crossband Repeater

500 milliwatt 10 Meter CW beacon  

Secondary Payloads 

Digital Camera

Balloon Burst Video 

Individual payloads are to be completed and tested for basic functionality (including thermal testing) by the weekend of April 14^th. (Note – this date has slipped one week to April 21^st. The stack test will take place at C&C equipment rental in Paris. They have agreed to let us use one of their sky lift trucks to suspend the payloads for testing.)

This is so that a “stack” test of all of the payloads can take place on that weekend to identify any RFI related issues that exist between the individual packages when placed into flight configuration.  

Launch Location:

Clarksville Airport – Clarksville, TX (33.5932 N 95.0635 W)

Primary Launch Date:

Saturday April 28^th @ 9:00 AM

Weather Date:

Saturday May 5^th @ 9:00 AM         

Mission Call Sign: K5FRC   

Launch Coordinator: Doug Loughmiller, W5BL

Fill Team Coordinator: Phil St. George, KE5DYM

Payload Integrator: Fred Siebenthall, WB5MAJ (Note: Due to personal reasons Fred will not be able to participate in the launch. We are in need of a payload integrator.)

RDF Coordinator: Open

Chase Plane Coordinator: Tommy Trissell, KC5ILO

PR Coordinator: Shirley Smith, K5SJS

Groundstation and Data Collection Coordinator: David Keene, W5DBK

HF Net Control Operator: Open

Post Flight Debrief: Mike and Jody Lindsey

Materials:  

Balloons: Phil St. George

Gas: David Forbes

Mission T-shirts: Doug Loughmiller

Logistics: 

Lodging has been arranged with the Victorian Inn in Paris. Contact information is listed under “ARBONET News” on the ARBONET web site.

Every attempt will be made to keep everyone up-to-date on progress of our preparation for flight via the web site. Should you have any question, please feel free to contact me.

73,

Doug Loughmiller, W5BL

Kim R Miles, N9IS became a silent key this year. He was instrumental to the introduction of Amateur Radio High-Altitude Ballooning (ARHAB) to Dough Loughmiller, W5BL, who in turn was instrumental in the formation of Arbonet. Kim and Doug have been best freinds since their younger years, and his passing on is greatly missed by all that knew him. It is our privilage to launch Arbonet II in respect and honor of all he meant to family, friends and people passionate about ham radio like you and me.

K5NOT