B-64 Flight Path July 12 to July 31, 2014

At about 16:30 GMT on Friday, July 31, the solar powered B-64 balloon launched by radio amateur Leo Bodnar M0XER crossed the 1 degree West longitude line completing its circumnavigation of the northern hemisphere in just over 19 days.

Oliver M6ODP receiving B-64 at St Michael’s Mount

The balloon, flying at an altitude of 12 km, completed its transatlantic crossing and came within range of Cornwall in the morning. Oliver De Peyer M6ODP happened to be visiting St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall at the time. He used his Kenwood TH-F7E handheld to receive an APRS packet from the balloon.

As the day progressed B-64 moved from just south of Cornwall up the English Channel and radio amateurs and listeners from Manchester to Nantes in France were able to receive the 10 mW Contestia 64/1000 and APRS signal on 434.500 MHz.

B-64 passed over the Isle of Wight and floated over Bognor Regis and across Kent heading out into the North Sea near Herne Bay. As of mid-day Saturday it was still flying and transmitting over Sweden and being tracked by members of AMSAT-SM.

B-64 APRS packet received by Oliver M6ODP

Leo Bodnar M0XER launched his balloon carrying an 11 gram transmitter payload from Silverstone in the UK at 06:51 GMT on July 12, 2014. While Leo’s earlier balloons had been foil type party balloons B-64 was a  plastic foil envelope that he made himself.

Using the amateur radio APRS network and the UKHAS network the location of B-64 was tracked as it traveled over Europe, Siberia, with a brief sojourn across North Korea, before heading out over Japan and across the Pacific Ocean. It then briefly entered the United States before swinging north into Canada.

It was heard in Greenland by Peter Thulesen OX3XR and on Friday morning finally came within range of the British Isles.

B-64 plastic foil envelope – Image credit Leo Bodnar M0XER

Leo has utilised some clever techniques storing positions when the balloon is out of radio contact then later transmitting a log file of previous locations in the comments field of the APRS packet. This enables a fairly complete path to be built up. B-64 only stores 5 days worth of data, where you get a straight line on the track it has been out of radio contact.

See the track of B-64 at http://spacenear.us/tracker/?filter=B-64 or at http://habitat.habhub.org/mobile-tracker/

Leo Bodnar M0XER balloons http://www.leobodnar.com/balloons/

Members of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society received the signal from B-64. Just 4 weeks earlier, thanks to Chris Stubbs M6EDF, the Society had launched a balloon CARS-1 from their meeting venue. That balloon didn’t have solar power so the signal only lasted for about 10 hours. CARS training organiser Clive G1EUC reported receiving a strong signal from B-64.

B-64 transmitter payload weighs just 11 grams

Clive is currently taking names for the next amateur radio Foundation course which starts on Thursday, September 4. If you’d like to join the course or wish to find out more about the hobby give him a ring on:
Tel: 01245-224577
Mob: 07860-418835
Email: training2014 at g0mwt.org.uk
Web: http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/training/

What is Amateur Radio ?
http://www.essexham.co.uk/what-is-amateur-radio

The UK High Altitude Society (UKHAS) Conference takes place Saturday, August 16, 2014 at the University of Greenwich in London
http://ukhas.org.uk/general:ukhasconference2014

Further 434 MHz balloon links at
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/07/30/434-mhz-balloon-goes-around-the-world/

Typical 434 MHz solar powered payload – Image credit Leo Bodnar M0XER

434 MHz SSDV image from the SUPER balloon launched by Dave Akerman M0RPI on July 12, 2014

Radio amateur Philip Crump M0DNY plans a number of High Altitude Balloon (HAB) flights this weekend transmitting Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV).

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M6RPI/2E0LTX/M0RPI

The launches will take place from Gilwell Park near Epping Forest and the balloons are expected to land around Chelmsford in Essex.

They are planned as part of the Gilwell 24 Scouts Activity event, taking place from 9am Saturday, July 12 through the night to 9am Sunday, July 13 in Gilwell Park. The plan is to monitor predictions/weather, prepare the payload, launch when convenient, then Philip M0DNY will chase, recover and repeat, up to 2 additional times.

The balloons are 100g hwoyees, and so are only expected to reach around 14 km altitude due to the weight, and increasing chances of wet landing for a longer flight. A Raspberry Pi is being used for the SSDV, and will store images as well as short but frequent video clips.

Due to tracker issues Philip may be flying a borrowed SUSF tracker on 434.613 MHz, replacing his one on 424.125 MHz.

The USB frequencies used will be
• 434.200 MHz – G24HAB – 600 baud SSDV
And either:
• 434.125 MHz – GILWELL24 – 50 baud RTTY
Or:
• 434.613 MHz – GILWELL24 – 50 baud RTTY + 300 baud TurboHAB FSK (SSB)

The 434.613 MHz tracker will alternate between 50 baud RTTY and 300 baud binary TurboHAB. To decode the binary error corrected format you need this decoder: http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mfb2g09/decoder/decoder.jar , which has been updated since last time. To decode the binary protocol you first need to change ‘Encoding’ to BIN and ‘Baud’ to 300. Upon changing the callsign and position you need to press ‘Update’ for the new data to be used. It will be interesting to see the relative performance, the error correction should make most difference where there is noise or fading.

First launch is tentatively scheduled for 2pm BST Saturday. Philip will post updates on Twitter and #highaltitude. There will most likely be a live stream of the launches check http://batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3

David Akerman M0RPI with balloon – Image credit M0RPI

Dave Akerman M0RPI is also launching on Saturday between 10-11am from Ross On Wye. His balloon will be transmitting on three frequencies one of which will be Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV).

$$SUPER: 434.450 MHz, 300 baud RTTY, 880 Hz shift, USB, 8, N, 2, SSDV
$$UAD: 434.480 MHz, Domino EX22
$$UAR: 434.475 MHz, 50 baud RTTY, 400 Hz shift, USB, 7, N, 1

There should be live video streaming on BATC.TV The chase car is M0RPI_chase:
http://www.batc.tv/streams/m0rpi
http://www.batc.tv/streams/m0rpi_chase

The balloons should have a radio range of up to 700 km providing coverage over a large part of the British Isles and into Europe.

Listen to the Balloons via the Web

Radio amateurs Noel G8GTZ, Martin G8JNJ and Phil M0DNY from the Southampton University Wireless Society, have established an Internet accessible WebSDR receiver near Basingstoke in the UK. It has special helix antennas optimised for balloon and satellite reception in the 144 and 434 MHz bands and can be listened to from anywhere in the world. Listen using the WebSDR at http://websdr.suws.org.uk/

Online real-time tracking of balloons http://spacenear.us/tracker/

See the received SSDV images on the web at http://ssdv.habhub.org/

Beginners Guide to Tracking using dl-fldigi software http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) Guide http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv

To get up-to-date information on balloon flights subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address:
ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Follow the launch day chat on the #highaltitude IRC channel at
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=highaltitude

The Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society have a new short training course for those wishing to become radio amateurs starting on September 4. To find out more speak to Clive G1EUC on
Tel: 01245-224577
Mob: 07860-418835
E-mail: training2014 at g0mwt.org.uk
Web: http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/training/

What is Amateur Radio ? http://www.essexham.co.uk/what-is-amateur-radio