NORTH TEXAS BALLOON PROJECT
MISSION SUCCESS!
CONGRATULATIONS...
"Salute The
Shuttle, Thirty Years in Space"
NTBP 19
Summer 2011, September 17, Hillsboro, Texas
Backup or Second Flight, September 24
"THE SKINNY"
NTBP FLIGHT 19, “Salute the Shuttle, Thirty Years in Space”
Hillsboro Airport, Exit 3 on Interstate Highway 35W
9 am, Sat, Sept 17, 2011
APRS 144.390 MHz, W5SJZ-11
HF Launch Net on 72.600 +/- 5 kHz, LSB and 14.320 +/- 5 (Change)
Crossband Uplink is 445.800 MHz and downlink is 147.560 MHz
2 mtr Beacon, 146.560MHz
10 mtr Beacon, 28.274 mhz
Launch Net will be Friday September 16th at 8pm on 147.28 and carried on
Echolink at K5AMM-R (Area 5 US). Live broadcast will be attempted on
(www.batc.tv
, member streams, K5PHD).
Tommy Davis, W5TCD Launch Director
FLIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT
NTBP is a group of amateur
(HAM) radio operators from Fort Worth and has launched balloons from Cleburne,
Clifton, and Hillsboro Airports since 1991. This is the first launch during this
last year and is funded by the amateur radio operators associated with the NTBP.
Follow us on Twitter@NTEXBP for in time information
on launch day.
Saturday's Launch 9.17.11 will show on APRS as
W5SJZ-11
Please send an email to
webmaster@ntexbp.org
for further information or to make reports during or after the actual launch.
The back up date will be September 24, 2011.
Predictions: Corsicana, Texas
PRESS
RELEASE
NTBP 9-01-2011
NORTH TEXAS AMATEUR RADIO
GROUP TO FLY BALLOON FLIGHT FROM HILLSBORO
TEXAS
AIRPORT
HIGH FLIGHT
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of
Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
LAUNCH
PREPARATION
Payloads: See
below
Payload
Integrator: Mark Culross, KD5RXT
Name, Logo:
"Salute The Shuttle, Thirty Years in Space"
Launch Site:
Hillsboro Airport
Public
Relations: Larry Westmoreland, K5PHD
RDF
Coordinator: David Forbes , KC5UYR
Balltrack: Kevin Vickers,
AC5UV; David Forbes, KC5UYR
Launch Coordinator: Tommy Davis, W5TCD
HF Operations: Kevin Vickers,
AC5UV
APRS Operations: Randy
Thompson, K5MW
Misc:
Gas: David Forbes, KC5UYR
Batteries: Mark Culross, KD5RXT
Balloons: Tommy Davis, W5TCD
TECHNICAL DETAIL
PAYLOAD 1&2
Payload:
Basic Package – APRS (part 1 of 2)
Purpose:
Position reporting, recovery support
Summary:
Utilize Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) capabilities to allow reception by chase & recovery
teams with at least one Amateur Radio licensed operator & the required technical
equipment to track & recover the balloon launch packages
Technical Equipment
Details:
- Motorola OnCore 12-channel GPS receiver (common with voice beacon)
o
Provides location & date/time information as a serial data stream to TT4
-
TinyTrakker4 (TT4)
o Converts location &
date/time information from GPS into tones that can be transmitted through a standard
voice radio
o
Also converts analog telemetry, such as battery supply voltage & module
temperature into tones that can be transmitted through a standard voice radio
- Yaesu VX-2R
dual-band amateur transceiver that takes tones from TT4 & transmits on
144.390MHz (standard APRS frequency in US) at ˝ watt of output power
-
Diamond RH77CA dual-band antenna
-
Component power supplied by single-use lithium sulfate (LiSO4) batteries
o 3-cell pack
supplies 9VDC to all electronics (individually regulated down to 5VDC in each component) (common with voice beacon)
o With an additional
2-cell tap which supplies 6VDC to APRS
VX-2R radio
Payload:
Basic Package – Voice Beacon (part 2 of 2)
Purpose:
Position reporting, recovery support, public monitoring
Summary:
Utilize a BS2e single chip microprocessor to read internal/external temperature
sensors, to gather location & date/time information from the GPS, & to control a
text‑to‑speech module to “speak” all of this information such that it can be
received by anyone, with or without an Amateur Radio license, without the need
for any additional or specialized technical equipment other than a simple
receiver (scanner, radio, etc.)
Technical Equipment
Details:
- Motorola Oncore
12-channel GPS
receiver (common with APRS)
o Provides location &
date/time information as a serial data stream to Parallax
GPS module,
reports on APRS as W5SJZ-11.
-
Parallax BasicStamp BS2e
o
Acts as central controller for this capability
§
Generates Morse Code identification tones through the EMIC text‑to‑speech module
§ Converts location
& date/time information from Parallax GPS module into commands to the EMIC text‑to‑speech module
§
Converts digital temperature data from internal/external temperature sensors
into commands to the EMIC text‑to‑speech module
§ Reports inside
temperature, outside temperature, date, time, number of GPS satellites being received, latitude, longitude, altitude,
speed, & heading
o
Programmed in PBASIC
-
Parallax GPS Module
o Accepts location &
date/time information from Motorola OnCore GPS & provides command/status interface to BasicStamp BS2e
o
Includes an integral GPS receiver that is not utilized (we only use the
command/status interface it provides)
-
Dallas Semiconductor DS1620 Digital Temperature Sensors (Internal/External)
o
Provides digital temperature data to BasicStamp BS2e
-
Parallax EMIC Text‑to‑Speech module
o
Accepts textual data from BasicStamp BS2e and converts it into spoken audio that
can be transmitted through a standard voice radio
-
Yaesu VX-2R dual-band amateur transceiver that takes Morse Code identification
tones and generated speech from EMIC text‑to‑speech module & transmits on
146.560MHz at ˝ watt of output power
-
Diamond RH77CA dual-band antenna
-
Component power supplied by single-use lithium sulfate (LiSO4) batteries
o 3-cell pack
supplies 9VDC to all electronics (individually regulated down to 5VDC in each component) (common with
APRS)
o Separate 2-cell
pack supplies 6VDC to
voice beacon VX-2R radio
§
If primary 9VDC battery pack fails, rendering all electronics inoperative, then
by design, the voice beacon radio will remain constantly keyed (allowing
direction finding by the chase & recovery teams to continue on this constant
carrier)
Payload:
Cross-band Repeater Package
Purpose:
Short & long-distance amateur-to-amateur radio contacts
Summary:
Utilize a pair of radios coupled to a miniature repeater controller to allow
Amateur Radio licensed operators separated by either short distances (<50 miles)
or long distances (50-250 miles) to make radio contact through the balloon
package
Technical Equipment
Details:
- A
pair of Yaesu VX-2R dual-band amateur transceiver
o Act
together, one as receiver and one as transmitter
o
Radio power supplied by internal NiMH battery pack
o
Uplink radio receives on 445.800MHz
o
Uplink radio modified to provide external Carrier-operated squelch (COS)
o
Downlink radio transmits on 147.560MHz at ˝ watt of output power
- A
pair of Diamond RH77CA dual-band antennas, one per transceiver
-
NRHC-micro repeater controller
o
Provides periodic identification
o Controller power
supplied by 9VDC
alkaline battery
PAYLOAD 3
Ten
Meter Beacon
The third payload of the
flight is a ten meter beacon. This beacon was built by ham operators employed at
a local avionics shop. This home brew transmitter and Byonics controller will be
the basis of the beacon. It is operating on a frequency
28.274 mhz. The antenna
is a home brew loop antenna with an swr of 1.2 to 1. The output of
this transmitter is approximately 1 watt. This coupled with the high gain
antenna, should be heard world wide? Please report contact and we will happily
qsl the event. Email
webmaster@ntexbp.org or
FLIGHT PICTURES
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