1. High Altitude Ballooning
John Dinneen KCØL
Photo from 100,000 feet over Oregon by Justin Hamel & Chris Thompson

2. High Altitude Ballooning
What is it?
Why do we do it?
What do we send up into the sky?
How high and far do we fly?
How do we track our payloads?
Do others track our payloads?
How do we recover our payloads?
Who does this?
EOSS-190 (2013)

3. What is High Altitude Ballooning
Send balloon & payloads to the Stratosphere (60K to 120K ft.)
Balloon is made of latex
Many sizes available
Helium or Hydrogen gas fill
Attach balloon to payloads with string
Track & recover payloads
Safety is paramount
EOSS-174 (2012)

4. Why do we do it? A rather serious hobby for fun & education
To promote STEM for students
To study the earth’s atmosphere
To take incredible pictures/videos
Amateur Radio plays an important role
EOSS-175 (2012)

5. What do we send up into the sky?
Balloon
Cut-down device
Parachute
APRS Radio & Beacon
Payload(s)
Experiments
Cameras
APRS Radio

6. Who builds the payloads?
Ham Radio operators
Beacons – both VHF & HF
APRS/GPS/digipeaters
ATV & HD video cameras
Educational organizations
College, Secondary, Elementary
Students & Teachers
Boy Scouts – JOTA
Science Day at Coors Field
Experiments for pressure, temperature, solar wind, radiation, near-zero gravity, and many more!
Great Plains Superlaunch 2011
(GPSL)
Colorado Springs

7. How high and far do we fly?
Anywhere from 60,000 to 120,000 feet high
Usually about 100,000 ft.
Altitude affects flight distance
Travel miles
Determined by winds aloft
Some are floaters
Intercontinental flight is possible
Cut-down device important
Stratocasters XI (2013) – 80 miles, 105,518 feet

8. EOSS-181 – Colorado to Nebraska
EOSS-181 (2012) – 160 miles, 99,433 feet

9. K6RPT-12 California to Morocco
Recovered by Amin CN8YM & Said CN8WW December 23, 2012

10. How high and far do we fly?
Flight string flies till balloon bursts or is cut away from payload string
JP Aerospace – Away 81 (2013)

14. How did we track our payloads?
Pre-APRS environment (1990’s)
Placed tracking beacon in payload string
Trackers deployed in triangle or box configuration around predicted landing site
Use DF equipment to determine bearing & elevation
Triangulate on paper maps
Required a Field Logistics Coordinator (Alpha)
Time consuming
Labor intensive
Radio intensive
Trackers dispersed
Simplex limitations
Place repeater on string
Sometimes needed HF
problematic
EOSS-8 (1992)

15. How do we track our payloads now?
APRS enabled tracking
Place APRS enabled radio(s) in payload string & digipeat
Trackers need a way to view positions on a map
Use aprs.fi on smartphone (need internet access & I-gates)
Use UI-View on computer with map software
TrackPoint & MapPoint on computer
Steve Meer KØSCC
Trackers need:
PC & software
APRS radio & GPS
HF/VHF/UHF voice radios
DF radio(s) & antenna(e)
Solid vehicle – 4wd best
Amateur Radio license!

16. TrackPoint with MapPoint
Studium Caelum I (Stratocaster) (2013)

17. Tracking & recovery vehicles 2003
EOSS-72 (2003)

18. Tracking & recovery vehicles 2005
EOSS-100 (2005)

19. Tracking & recovery vehicles 2013
EOSS-189 (2013)

20. Do others view our payloads?
With APRS and I-gates, flights are on the Net!
Anyone, anywhere can watch
Flight Plan filing (FAR 101)
Some flights exempt (small payloads)
Non-exempt flights MUST be filed with the FAA
FAA ARTCC monitors flight for aircraft separation
ARHAB website has a list of flights worldwide
People show up and ask us what we are doing
Sometimes mistaken for UFO’s
Landowner must be consulted before recovery

21. How do we recover our payloads?
We track launch to landing
Visual
APRS
Beacon
DF antenna & radio
Doppler array
Sometimes we see them down, sometimes we don’t
Touchdown in trees or planted fields can require an on-foot search
Use DF equipment close in (fox hunting)
EOSS-166 (2011)

22. How do we recover our payloads
Sometimes we see them come down
EOSS-121 (2007)

23. How do we recover our payloads?
Sometimes they land by the road
Stratocasters XI (2013)

24. How do we recover our payloads?
Sometimes touchdown gets very tricky!
EOSS-185 (2013)

25. How do we recover our payloads?
Sometimes we need help
EOSS-184 (2013)

26. Great Plains Super Launch
Who does this?
Many groups
International
Colleges
Ham radio clubs
Individuals
Great Plains Super Launch

27. Who does this in North Texas
Plano High Altitude Balloons (PHAB)
Plano Amateur Radio Klub (PARK)
Anthony Campbell W5ADC
Stratocasters
Chuck Goldsmith KG5CA (Plano area)
Amateur Radio Balloons Over NE Texas
ARBONET
Mike Willett K5NOT (Granbury area)
And more…….

28. Whose payloads are they?
EOSS-190 (2013)
Colorado Space Grant Consortium

29. Whose payloads are they?
Women in Aerospace Leadership Development (WIALD)
University of Texas
(ARBONET 2013)

30. Whose payloads are they?
EOSS-181/182 (2012)
Colorado Space Grant Consortium

31. A sample flight…. A flight by a Dad for his son – a hero party

32. Questions?
John Dinneen KCØL
8 September 2013