Next Flight - Sept. 10th Pico Balloon - Falkville AL

APRS on 144.39 and 144.34: WB4ELK-1

Solar-powered Skytracker pico payloads are now available: email me at WB8ELK at gmail dot com for info.

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Live tracking map via Spacenear.us/tracker

Jodie Tinker's 8th Grade Science Fair balloon photo from last year - 95,000 feet high

My June Video using a Flip Ultra camcorder from a balloon at 95,000 feet

Space Camp Balloon with live camera video - 1994

Launch of 4 high altitude balloon experiments to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first BalloonSat flight in the US by Bill Brown WB8ELK

First live camera TV transmissions from a high altitude weather balloon - 1988 from the Mojave Desert and 1989 from Illinois

Project HALO Rockoon - Launch of a 400 pound rocket from our balloon at 73,000 feet above the Gulf of Mexico (www.harcspace.com)

The DARPA Red Balloon Challenge has been won by MIT - our group (Balloonatics) ended up with 4 Balloon positions

We launch balloons into the stratosphere with all kinds of experiments and have high altitude balloon teams looking for the DARPA balloons all over the country

GPS-enabled transmitters and long duration flight updates - GPSL2008 Talk

Click HERE for GPSL2007 Long Duration Flight Techniques Talk - PowerPoint

Click HERE for 20th anniversary of BalloonSats special Webpage

This year's flights will explore long duration flights including trans-Atlantic and cross country efforts. I plan to use both latex and polyethylene zero pressure balloons and will most likely float between 60k and 100k feet.

	HiBall-10 Recap (12/23/06) HiBall-10 was a long duration flight test. >> Click HERE for the story
	HiBall-8 Recap (03/04/06) HiBall-8 was a test flight of a trans-Atlantic zero pressure balloon supplied by Mark Caviezel NG0X of ES-OS. >> Click HERE for the story

Previous Flights:

SpacePort Indiana NearSpace Camp: August 7th around 11:00 am EDT

Also possible Indiana State Fair flight at 9 am EDT on Aug 8th or 9th

Columbus, IN (Bakalar Airport) - www.spaceportindiana.com

Streaming video of the balloon launch will start around 10:30 am

Streaming video: www.batc.tv

Select Members Streams then select WB8ELK

144.39 APRS - WB8ELK-11

144.36 FM - DominoEX22 at top of each minute

433.94 MHz - AM modulated DominoEX22 - 10 milliwatts

GPSL July 18th around 7:00 am CDT - Flight Complete

Topeka, Kansas - www.superlaunch.org

Streaming video of the 10 balloon launch will start around 7:00 am

Streaming video: www.batc.tv

Select Members Streams then select WB8ELK

144.39 APRS - WB8ELK-11

144.36 FM - DominoEX22 at top of each minute

Also 50.070 MHz (SSB mode) DominoEX22 and CW will be flown from

the W5BL balloon

Field Day - RECOVERED - only 1.05 miles from the targeted landing of Eva FD site, EVA AL

Simplex Repeater on 144.36 MHz

APRS on 144.39: WB8ELK-11

Location: NSSTC building - Huntsville, AL

Mission Control: Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Field Day site

Streaming video: www.batc.tv

Select Members Streams then select WB8ELK

- SpacePort Indiana Near Space Camp - www.spaceportindiana.com

144.34 MHz FM (CW, RTTY, DominoEX11 and DominoEX16)

144.34 MHz SSB(RTTY, Hellscreiber, CW)

144.39 MHz APRS: WB8ELK-11

Streaming video via the www.BATC.TV website

Click on Members Streams, then select WB8ELK

and hit View Stream

Flight - June 6th at 1:00 pm CDT

Status: Recovered near TN River

Click here for the flight recap story

Ozonesonde Hitchhiker:

144.34 MHz FM/SSB - CW, RTTY, DominoEX (8 & 11), Hellscreiber

NSSTC building - Huntsville, AL

Predicted landing zone: Near my farmhouse in Falkville, AL

Next upcoming flight will be June 12th around 10 am EDT

- SpacePort Indiana Near Space Camp - www.spaceportindiana.com

UAH BalloonSat - April 11th

Update: Recovered from Berry College in Rome GA (4/16)

Streaming video of launch starts at 9:30 am CDT (1430 UTC)

www.batc.tv click on LIVE EVENTS and select Balloon Flight

Frequencies:

One UAH Balloonsat will fly and will be cutdown at about 40k feet:

KG4WSV-11 on 144.39

WB8ELK multimode 2m (FM/SSB) tracker on 144.34 (RTTY, CW, Hellscreiber).

Predicted landing zone:

Calhoun, GA

UAH and AAMU BalloonSats - April 4th

Streaming video of launch starts at 9:30 am CDT (1430 UTC)

www.batc.tv click on LIVE EVENTS and select Balloon Flight

Frequencies:

Two UAH Balloonsats will be cutdown at 40k feet:

KG4WSV-11 and KG4WSV-12 on 144.39

AAMU BalloonSat will go to burst altitude of about 100,000 feet:

KG4WSV-13 (144.39) and possibly WB8ELK multimode on 144.34 (RTTY, CW, Hellscreiber).

Predicted landing zones:

Ider, AL for the UAH Balloonsats & Dalton, GA for the AAMU flight

Spaceport Indiana flight - Friday March 20th at Noon EDT

39.27N 85.90W (Bakalar airport - Columbus IN)

144.39 APRS - WB8ELK-11 & WB8ELK-12

144.34 RTTY/Hellscreiber (alternating FM&SSB)

possible 14.077 MHz (RTTY, Hellscreiber, DominoEX & CW)

Predicted landing zone (just north of Lexington, KY)

UPDATE: RECOVERED by Ron N9QGS and friends

north of Georgetown, KY

Streaming video starting at 10:30 am EDT:

www.batc.tv (click on WB8ELK under Members Streams)

UAH Balloonsat flight Complete and Recovered

March 7th

Streaming video of the launch prep and liftoff went great.

The payload landed north of Chattanooga near Fairmount, TN at:

35.2032 85.3085

Max altitude: 99016 feet

Streaming video of launch starting around 7:30 am

www.batc.tv -- then click on Members Streams

Select WB8ELK and View Stream

Flight Completed: Jan. 31st

DX telemetry reception as far as Phoenix AZ by Jack W7JLC of ANSR

Payload located by N4XWC, KC7RW and KC4GNX but still 50 ft up in a tree 5 miles SE of Chatsworth GA

Actual payload location:

34d 43.808m 84d 42.019m which is in a ravine south of Peeple's Lake Rd.

Map of landing zone: U is N4XWC position - closest driving point

Closeup Map (U is the road) V = actual payload position

Spot Location #50 is the actual payload position up in the tree:

Frequency: 14.077 MHz USB

Modes: RTTY,Feld-Hell, DominoEX (5,11&22) & CW

Note: DominoEX modes will be in sequence one after another separated by 2 seconds of dual tones....5 baud, 11 baud and 22 baud in that order.

Ozonesonde Hitch-hiker: (Jan 17 FLIGHT COMPLETED)

(Test of new beacon board with onboard GPS):

> Click HERE for info on the new transmitter and flight photos <

Peak Altitude of 110,032 ft. New GPS transmitter worked great. Payload landed on Grandpa Mountain in Sumter State Park in SC and was tracked by WD4JEM and K4GMF.

UPDATE: Payload has been recovered by WD4JEM and K4GMF about 40 feet up in a tree right on top of Grandpa Mtn.

34d 47.00m 83d 10.68m alt: 1683 feet

144.340 MHz FM (AFSK 45 baud RTTY)

144.340 MHz SSB (FSK 45 baud RTTY and Hellscreiber) Alternating modes each transmission

NOTE: See PROJECTS link to the left for hardware and software details.

Ozonesonde Hitch-hiker:

Saturday Dec. 13th at 1:00 pm CST - (Flight Completed)

GPSL 2008 - Kansas City, MO (Saturday 8/2 at 7:30 am):

Flight Completed

WB8ELK-11 on 144.39
WB8ELK-12 on 144.99 or 144.34
RTTY, Hellscreiber and DominoEX5 on 28.172 MHz:

Field Day Balloon - Huntsville AL - June 28th at 2:00 pm CDT

Flight Completed

144.36 MHz - Simplex Voice Repeater

28.175 MHz - HF telemetry transmitter (RTTY, Hellscreiber, DominoEX5) at the top of each EVEN minute.

Flight reached 115,000 feet - landed on Redstone Arsenal and has not been recovered as yet.

Oz-13 Flight Completed::

Oz-13: Launched Sat. Feb. 16th at 1:30 pm CST

(02/18/08 update)

WB8ELK AFSK RTTY - 144.345 FM

> Oz-12 and Oz-13 Flight Results and Temperature Graph <

Ozonesonde Hitch-hiker - Ozsonde on 403.2 MHz +/- drift (WFM)

Estimated landing near Henagar, AL

Flight Path Predictions (TBA):

GPSL2008 Talk

Click HERE for GPSL2007 Long Duration Flight Talk - PowerPoint

Click HERE for 20th ARHAB anniversary talk (GPSL 2007) - Webpage

This year's flights will explore long duration flights including trans-Atlantic and cross country efforts. I plan to use both latex and polyethylene zero pressure balloons and will most likely float between 60k and 100k feet.

	HiBall-10 Recap (12/23/06) HiBall-10 was a long duration flight test. >> Click HERE for the story
	HiBall-8 Recap (03/04/06) HiBall-8 was a test flight of a trans-Atlantic zero pressure balloon supplied by Mark Caviezel NG0X of ES-OS. >> Click HERE for the story