Tag Archives: UKHAS

Aug 2 2015

434 MHz Balloon Launch at Dorset Rally

Jules G0NZO with the BONZO1 foil balloon

Jules G0NZO with the BONZO1 foil balloons

Jules G0NZO hopes to launch a 434 MHz balloon BONZO8 from the Flight Refuelling ARS Hamfest on Sunday, August 9 at Cobham Sports and Social Club Ground, Merley, near Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 3DA.

The Hamfest lecture stream will start at 11am with a talk on Transverter and RXGEN designs by Kevin Avery G3AAF.

At 11:45am Jules G0NZO will be giving a quick overview of High Altitude Ballooning in the UK and an equipment demonstration. Subject to prevailing weather conditions the launch is planned for 12:30pm and listeners across southern England should be able to tune into the signal on 434.650 MHz USB as well as follow the balloon track online.

The balloon launch will be either a 100gm latex balloon, or a pair of 36″ foil balloons, filled for minimal free lift, to attempt to get the payload to float for the maximum distance. If a latex balloon is used, a simple polythene parachute will be attached, for safety.

Jules G0NZO with the BONZO3 Latex Balloon

Jules G0NZO with the BONZO3 Latex Balloon

The payload is a basic tracking beacon. Radiometrix NTX2 licence exempt transmit module, modulated with RTTY, by a PIC processor and Ublox GPS receiver. Powered by 3xAAA lithium batteries.

BONZO8 Frequency 434.650 MHz USB, ASCII 7 bit RTTY at 50 bps. Approximately 320 Hz shift.

Depending on altitude the 434 MHz transmitter may have a range of around 250 km.

At 1:30pm Essex radio ham Justin G0KSC (InnovAntennas / Force 12) will give a talk on Antennas and at 2:30pm Colin G4KLB will be talking about HamTV from the International Space Station (ISS).

Talk In to the Hamfest will be on 145.550 MHz FM and the gates are open from 10am to 4pm. There is disabled access from 9.30am. Admission is £3.50 and there will be trade stands, a car boot sale, licensed bar as well as lectures. Details from Tony G3PFM on 07743 475018.

Hamfest information http://www.frars.org.uk/cgi-bin/render.pl?pageid=1432

High Altitude Balloon links for online tracking, UKHAS mail list / chat room, WebSDR
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Jun 30 2015

Essex STEM Balloons Launched

Image received from The Boswells School payload on June 29, 2015

Image received from The Boswells School payload at 1416 GMT on June 29, 2015

On Monday, June 29, 2015 three high altitude balloons from Essex schools and colleges transmitted Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) in the 434 MHz band.

The balloons, part of the educational Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiative, were taken to an approved site at Elsworth, Cambridge for the launch.

Transmission coverage area of the balloons at 1352 GMT June 29

Transmission coverage area of the balloons at 1352 GMT June 29

The balloon from The Boswells School, Chelmsford reached an altitude of 36,937 metres. It had the call sign BWELLS and transmitted Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) ASCII RTTY at 600 bps on a nominal frequency of 434.450 MHz USB. Balloon frequencies may vary from nominal by several kHz during a flight due to the cold temperatures at high altitudes.

Stewards Academy, Harlow achieved an altitude of 39,876 metres. Their call sign was SWARDS and had a nominal frequency of 434.050 MHz USB and 300 bps data rate.

The Prospects College of Advanced Technology, Basildon reached an altitude of 38,659 metres with their balloon, call sign PROSP, which transmitted on a nominal frequency of 434.150 MHz USB with a 300 bps data rate.

All three balloons transmitted images using SSDV. Individual packets from an image were received by radio amateurs across the UK and NE Europe and automatically uploaded to a central server with the final image being built up from all the good packets and displayed on the web for all to see.

The SSDV images transmitted by the balloons can be seen at:
http://ssdv.habhub.org/SWARDS
http://ssdv.habhub.org/BWELLS
http://ssdv.habhub.org/PROSP

The balloon tracks were displayed live on the web at http://tracker.habhub.org/ and may still be available to view if you select the option to display the past 3 days.

The balloons carried a Raspberry Pi computer board and a Pi in The Sky (PITS) high altitude balloon tracker. On May 24 Chelmsford radio amateur Chris Stubbs M6EDF carried out a test of the PITS tracker for Essex Council, read his report at http://chris-stubbs.co.uk/wp/?p=578

Pi in The Sky project
http://pi-in-the-sky.com/
https://twitter.com/pitsproject

High Altitude Balloon links for online tracking, UKHAS mail list / chat room, WebSDR and SSDV
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Jun 23 2015

MADHEN EGGSPLORER-1 Balloon Launch

Eggs in Space on front page of the Sleaford Standard newspaper

Eggs in Space on front page of the Sleaford Standard newspaper

At around 10-11am on Sunday, June 28, 2015 Andrew Garratt M0NRD and the South Kesteven Amateur Radio Society are planning to launch balloons from the 10th World Egg Throwing Championship held at the Swaton Vintage Day at Swaton, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

As well as telemetry data it is also planned to transmit Slow Scan Digital Video images in 434 MHz. Depending on altitude the signals from a balloon may have a range of up to 800 km, potentially covering much of the British Isles. A real-time track with altitude will be displayed online at http://tracker.habhub.org/

Andrew provided this information on the UKHAS Mailing List : First ever flights for me, so in at the deep end. The ‘egg’ payload will be carried aloft by the balloon and will have a parachute decent into the North Sea when the balloon eventually bursts. There will be SSDV and backup tracker, kindly sponsored by MADHEN http://madhen.net/

Callsign – MADHEN
USB RTTY 300 Baud 880 Hz Shift – Ascii 8 bits, no parity, 2 stop bits Telemetry and SSDV – 434.400 MHz

Callsign – EGG1
Backup tracker
USB RTTY 50 Baud 380 Hz Shift – ASCII 7 bit, no parity, 2 stop bits
Telemetry – 434.650 MHz (old non-tcxo NTX fixed frequency)

Second flight planned, a foil floater with VAYU-NTX tracker kindly donated by Steve Smith G0TDJ

Callsign – EGGDX
USB RTTY 50 Baud 450 Hz Shift – ASCII 7 bit, no parity, 2 stop bits
434.450 MHz (fixed frequency)

Launch should be around 10-11am.

All help in tracking greatly appreciated

Andrew Garratt M0NRD
Chairman South Kesteven Amateur Radio Society
http://www.skars.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/eggsplorer1

UPDATE June 30, 2015:
BBC News report on the balloons http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-33277561

Andrew M0NRD’s report on the day
http://nerdsville.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/first-hab-flights-were-success.html

Read the Sleaford Standard newspaper report
http://www.sleafordstandard.co.uk/news/local/eggs-in-space-team-of-radio-hams-scramble-to-be-first-to-achieve-egg-straterrestrial-space-mission-1-6803863

High Altitude Balloon links for online tracking, chat room, free software and SSDV
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

May 21 2015

Mass 434 MHz Balloon Launch Sunday

A typical High Altitude Balloon - Image Credit STRATODEAN

A typical High Altitude Balloon – Image Credit STRATODEAN

There are many 434 MHz balloon launches planned for Sunday, May 24 from Elsworth, Cambridge, wind and weather permitting.

The USB FSK signals from the balloons should be receivable across much of the British Isles.

Provisional frequencies so far are:
434.447 – “ECC1” (PITS) (NTX2B can be reprogrammed)
434.300 – “CHEAPO” (RFM22 can be reprogrammed)
434.395 – “SPARK” (Fixed frequency)
869.500 – “CS4”  (UKHASnet node with GPS)
434.250 – “HL1” (XABEN tracker)
434.350 – “uX0” (XABEN tracker)
434.550 – “uX2” (XABEN tracker)

Some of the launches should be Live Streamed via http://LiveHAB.com/

The LARDY-PICO balloon will also launch from Primrose Hill, London transmitting 434.647 MHz USB RTTY 50bps 270Hz shift.

For the latest frequency updates and launch status check the UKHAS Google Group. Links for the group and real-time balloon tracking are at https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Listen to UK balloon radio signals on 434 MHz USB from anywhere in the world using the online SUWS WebSDR, further details at https://amsat-uk.org/2014/08/15/suws-websdr-moves-to-new-site/

AMSAT-UK
Web https://amsat-uk.org/
Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK
Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK
Flickr https://flickr.com/groups/AmsatUK
YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK
Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube

Mar 16 2015

434 MHz balloon launch at BBC Stargazing event

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

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M0RPI

Radio amateur David Akerman M0RPI will be launching a 434 MHz balloon from the BBC Stargazing Live solar eclipse event in Leicester on March 20.

The flight is to primarily to take photographs during the partial solar eclipse. Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV), RTTY and LoRa telemetry beacons will be transmitting from the balloon in 434 MHz, so plenty of stuff to tune in to.

The launch activities will be recorded and some of the footage will be transmitted on the special BBC Stargazing show from 9am to 10am on that day.  There will also be a couple of very brief live segments where, hopefully, Dave will get to show some pretty live images.  Also, assuming the payload is recovered, some of the recorded video should end up on the main Stargazing show in the evening (9pm-10pm, BBC2).

There will be 2 Raspberry Pi trackers each sending telemetry and SSDV using both RTTY and LoRa modulation. RTTY frequencies are Upper Sideband (USB).

Pi #1 (camera with solar film):
MARVIN:  434.300 MHz, RTTY, 910 Hz shift, USB, 300 baud 8 N 2
ZAPHOD:  434.350 MHz, LoRa, Implicit mode, Bandwidth 20.8 kHz, Error coding 4:5, SF6

Pi #2 (bare camera):
KRYTEN:  434.400 MHz, RTTY, 910 Hz shift, USB, 300 baud 8 N 2
RIMMER:  434.450 MHz, LoRa, Implicit mode, Bandwidth 20.8 kHz, Error coding 4:5, SF6

UPDATE March 18 – An additional beacon has been added:
BUZZ: 434.315 MHz, 425 Hz shift, 50 baud, 7 N 2

Launch time 8am Friday, March 20, 2015

As well as the TV stuff, the BBC are running a “spectacular live event” from the racecourse, open to the public from 9am to 3pm and then 6pm to 9pm.  Entry is free to please do come along if you can.  They have a real astronaut, Paolo Nespoli IZ0JPA, and plenty else of interest – see
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/stargazing-live-leicester

Radio hams will be at BBC Solar Eclipse event
https://amsat-uk.org/2015/03/02/radio-hams-will-be-at-bbc-solar-eclipse-event/

The 434 MHz signals transmitted by High Altitude Balloons can have a range of up to 800 km. The path of the balloons can be tracked in real-time at http://spacenear.us/tracker/

Useful links for tracking, receiving and decoding the telemetry from 434 MHz balloons can be found at
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Listen for 434 MHz balloon signals online using the SUWS WebSDR, further details at
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/08/15/suws-websdr-moves-to-new-site/

Oct 16 2014

434 MHz balloons to launch for JOTA

Chris Stubbs M6EDF with 434 MHz trackers

Chris Stubbs M6EDF with 434 MHz trackers

Radio amateurs Chris M6EDF and Steve G0TDJ will each be launching 434 MHz balloons from Essex for Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) this weekend.

The balloons should be launched from Kingston Ridge Campsite in Essex on the Saturday and Sunday, Lat/Lon: 51.559144, 0.435010 http://www.kingstonridgecampsite.co.uk/index2.html

Chris Stubbs M6EDF posted on the UKHAS Google Group:
I will be launching JOTA1 at about 12:30 on Saturday 18/10/2014.
Using either a foil or 100g pawan depending on the conditions.
434.300 MHz SSB,RTTY, 50 baud, 7n2, 450Hz shift.

Steve G0TDJ posted:
Callsign: JOTA2
Date-Time: 19/10/2014 – 12:30pm
Frequency: 434.450 MHz SSB
Mode: RTTY 50n7 with 450Hz shift.
My launch will be at around 12:30pm (+/- ish) Tracking stations will be appreciated. This time, I’m going to try for a float since I will hopefully have plenty of time to prepare. The payload will be running on a Maplin AAA Lithium so expected Tx time will be >24hrs.

The balloon’s FSK (SSB) 434 MHz signals should be receiveable across much of the UK but for those out of range or who lack 70 cm SSB the online SUWS WebSDR can be used instead, see https://amsat-uk.org/2014/08/15/suws-websdr-moves-to-new-site/

Useful links for tracking and receiving 434 MHz balloons https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/