Amateur Radio in Northwest Arkansas
 

Northwest Technical Institute, Springdale, is developing a Near Space Program and will be launching a balloon from Helen Tyson Middle School here in Springdale on Tuesday, November 20, 2007.  Launch time is scheduled for 1:15 PM, but setup for the launch will begin at 12:00 PM.  The exact location for the launch will be determined by the weather conditions at the time of launch.  It will be somewhere on the campus.

Finally, the weather will determine whether or not the launch will take place.  Cross your fingers.

LATE POST (1500 CST 20Nov07):    The balloon launched at about 1340 local time.  The prediction from yesterday totally changed!  At this moment (15:12 CST local) the balloon is 15.9 miles NW of Branson, Missouri traveling on a course of 51 degree, 56.5 mph at an altitude of 51, 381 feet!

(1521 CST 20Nov07): course of 80 degrees, 31.1 mph, alt 56,781 feet, north of Branson, east of Highway 176.  This balloon is traveling!

(1547 CST 20Nov07): course 82 degrees, 14.9 mph, alt 73,994, south and east of Springfield, MO.

(1556 CST 20Nov07): course 109 degrees, 33.6 mph, alt 80,611, 2 miles NW of Cross Roads, MO.

(1625 CST 20Nov07): 47.2 mph, alt 96,185 about 5 miles east of Ava, MO.  This appears to be about where the balloon burst.  At the moment the alt is 31,100 with a location just north of Denlow, MO.

(1706 CST) 20Nov07):  I just spoke with Bill N5QEM by phone and gave him the exact coordinates of the last report from the payload.  It landed near Hiway 95 south of Mountain Grove, MO.  The aerial photos of the area indicate that it may have landed in a field not more than a thousand yards from a house.  I wonder if the Sheriff's Office has gotten any UFO reports? 8-)

PHOTOS of the launch and flight.

The balloon payload was designed and built by Billy Graham N5QEM (Electronics Dept. Chairman) and Mark Huffman N5OTD, faithful companion and electronics instructor.  Current plans for contents of the balloon payload are as follows:

  •     Radio beacon broadcasting a CW ID of N5NTI on 147.475 MHz
  •     Radio transmitting GPS coordinates to APRS on 144.390 MHz - 300mW of power
  •     Digital camera, which will take a photo every 50 seconds
  •     Sonic locator beacon:  AKA small amplifier emitting an audible beep (trying to cover all the bases!)
  •     Payload is a cube, bright yellow in color and weighs 5.2 lb.
  •     A video camera has been added that will be looking straight up at the balloon.  Hopefully we'll have a video of the balloon when it bursts!

Vehicles chasing the balloon to recover the payload will monitor the 147.955+ (PL 110.9) repeater in Springdale.  Should it be necessary for chase vehicles to go simplex they will use 147.000.

Here are some photos of the balloon components.

 

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Last modified: 12/02/07