I just got this off the PBH Website. Seems it has not made it to TWITTER yet but it is posted:
Current/Next Mission: PBH-10 Launch Time: 01:00 UTC May 4th Mission Objective(s): - Trans-Atlantic flight - Long distance flight Mission Duration: TBD Air Vehicle Distance: TBD
More info when I get it
BTW: With all thats going on there they also found time to update the website and they did a great job…
73bob
Yup that right….. Tornado Alley…. Its a couple days old but I thought I would mention that since the Goverment has completed their investigation its now official that a Tornado passed through west end Ottawa on Saturday… The other damage in the east end has been blamed on a microburst.
There are a couple of Amateur Radio links here….
On Saturday members of the Ottawa Valley QRP Society were operating a portable station at Britannia Park for the QRP to the Field contest. They shut down and got out of there before the storm hit but it passed right through the area they were operating from…
One of the amateurs who participated at Britannia lives withing 1km (approx) of Morrisette Drive and thats where the apartment building lost its roof…
Now this damage has been blamed on the Microburst but it falls into related storm damage… The local amateur community have supported the CASARA (Cival Air Search And Rescue Association) with ground team and communications support. I myself used to assist with Ground COMMS but due to some time issues I no longer am with the group. A few of the Planes that were damaged in the storm at the Rockliffe Airport belonged to Pilots who were associated with CASARA. In addition if needed CASARA would rent aircraft from the Rockliffe Flying Club who are based out of the Rockliffe Airport so this could affect the availabilty of aircraft for exercises and ACTUALS as some of the rental planes were heavily damaged as well.
If you FOLLOW THE LINK to the Ottawa Citizen Website you will will see the map of the storms path and a small follow up article…
We were lucky…. At my QTH all we got was a large gust of wind…. In other locations in the city, they were not as fortunate…
73bob
Just got this in via TWITTER:
PBH-10 launch postponed. Standby for updated launch window. Current wind forecasts indicate Sunday, May 3rd as probable launch date.
More info will be posted and when I get it you will hear about it…
73bob
You can’t regulate common sense….
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU FOLLOW THIS LINK
This is one of the problems we have. The public sees an idiot talking on a cell phone and these IDIOTS are looking after kids. They could of been my grandkids… They wern’t but they could of been…
Ammunition for the negative side….
73bob
PBH-10 to be launched from Owego, NY at 9 PM EDT on Wed 4/29, please listen on 40 m HF at 7.1025 MHz +/-300 Hz.
So at this time its T-12.5 hours and counting…
The batteries for my monitoring rig are on charge right now. The battery that powers my small inverter that could power the laptop if needed will be going on charge shortly. In effect everything has been done that will be done. The rig is ready, the antennas are ready and the batteries are in the process of being charged. The software works…
Not much else I can say on this one….
For up to date info check out the PBH Twitter Site
And they have also brought a new status page on line which you can check out by following THIS LINK.
If you check out the link and then look at the map. Enlarge it to show Ontario and in particular Ottawa and you will see an Icon for “Ham Station #3….Guess who that one is!!!! If you click on the Satellite view and zoom in as far as the map will let you you can almost make out the maple tree in the back yard but don’t look too close cuz “Toby” might be in the back yard and he don’t like strangers….
Now that I have the station working as good as its going to work I am heading back to the Netvista to try and get it to do what I want…. Some how I am having doubts however as I think that it just might have come to the end of its cycle unless I want a wordprocessor or to play solitare. The software I want to run has not really changed but the forced upgrades to the operating system (Windows) and its browser seem to taking up more resources than the poor computer can give it…Its a pity because an old computer is not a waste if you can find a specific task that its good at… Lets see if I can breathe life back into it… Hate to landfill it…. for the sake of the envioronment and also just on principal…
73bob
At the end of day one the score is Netvista 1 Bob 0…
It surfs but its slow… The soundcard is giving me grief…. and needless to say so far I have been doing all the warm up work on the Laptop as I just can’t get AGWPE to talk to UI View on the Netvista….
However everything else is working on the laptop so I just will have to make do with only one working computer…. Actually for this flight I don’t think I will need both as the only time we will really need the CW tracking is when the payload gets out of range for 2m APRS…. And seeing that the Payload will most likely be out of direct range (if it takes the same path as last time at least) so as long as I can find aprs.fi and then hope that the propagation ghod gives us the best copy so we can get the data needed to figure out if the payload makes it across the pond.
I am impressed with the software however…. I am testing out two programs and they both are good.
Hamscope can be configured to use a waterfall and also can be used to decode more than one mode. The waterfall makes it easy to lock onto the signals for quick decoding… This impressive (so far at least) piece of software also should be able to be configured so it can work in conjunction with my rigblaster to send some of the digital modes as well…
The second program is called GET CW and it was recommended by the PBH group and it is also easy to use. The version of the software I have uses the spectrograph style compared to the waterfall but is fairly easy to lock down. This software also seems to copy “bad” CW easier than the other. I believe this software is part of a set so you should be able to send CW with the other part of the software package….
I will be testing both titles with the flight and let you know the good and bad sides of both…. So far they are both good be we have not been testing either one in bad conditons….
73bob
Sorry about not giving you the update yesterday afternoon like I planned but this setting up a computer is harder than I remember… For you Computer Geeks who are laffing at me right now….Keep Laffing….
The only thing worse than my computer skills are my CW Skills. I am a computer user and proud of it… How does it work…. I press the red button on the front of the computer and it magicly comes to life…
As a rule I don’t usually add much or change much once I get things running as I want them to. I hate upgrades… and this time was no exception…
I am (have) brought back to life an old IBM Net Vista computer. This oldie but goodie has served me well in the past as the host for my old ECHOLINK NODE VA3QV-L and so I decided to bring it back to life as my shack computer. It will run my digital programs (APRS/PSK31/CW Decoder and also my DSP Program) which will free up my laptop for other duties…
As we had loaned out the Net Vista once we got it back it had the customary systems reset and “Format C” with a reinstall of the original windows software which was Windows 2000 for this particular computer….
Now before you all start going “EEEWWWWWW” remember that this is what the computer came with and normally its easier to stick with what was supposed to work. This computer ran for 6 months non stop with no issues as the echolink node and was pretty much bulletproof even with the large amounts of RF in the shack so I figured if it ain’t broke…..
Well by the time we install the original software…. do the normal upgrades and add the service packs it took most of the evening… Part of this was due to the concept that the system forces you to do an upgrade from 3 to 4 to 5 to 6 to 7 etc rather than just going straight to 7 so its very time consuming… Not really labor intensive but just frustrating and very time time consuming…
Now all these new and improved upgrades are in effect just using so many darn resources that the old beastie is just chugging when brought on line… I was hoping to do some basic surfing as well but that ain’t gonna happen now… So once I remove the internet from the picture things seem to speed up a bit and it will function for what it was intended to… Not much else but it will do the basics….
Now before all you self proclaimed experts who actually do know what you are doing start making comments… Yes… IF I had a faster processor…. IF I had more memory…. and IF…. and IF…. then I would not be having these problems… But then I would have a lot of horsepower and money tied up in a tool for my hobby…. When we get down to basics… My only hobby is Amateur Radio… yes I do read my newspapers on line and do the basic surfing along with EMAIL but in reality as far as radio applications go the computer is only a tool for my hobby…. Most of the amateur applications are written for slow old machines…The logging program I used for the Ontario QSO Party was running in a DOS window…
I won’t be able to multi task but…. I also can use my laptop at the same time and if anyone comes over for a visit….
WOW two computers…. One doing APRS and one doing something else along with 4 radios up and running…. More horsepower than some third word countries….. If that don’t impress someone who does not know what its all about I don’t know what will!!!
Anyway all the software needed has been transferred over to the old beastie and now I have to install it along with get my rigblaster interface working with it and then thats all done…. Hopefully by noon tomorrow all shoud be up and running correctly….
73bob
Good Morning Folks,
Thats if you believe both a Monday and a morning can be concidered to be a good thing. When you get to my age its more of the “I made it” again so mornings are a good thing… Waking up is an even better thing… And seeing that both “Toby” and “Saber” jointly woke me up around 0600 so they could go out I got to view the finish of a beautiful sunrise… I would of preferred to view it around 0930 but …. Can’t have everything….
This week is going to be a bit of a busy one with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mostly being used to get ready for the PBH-10 flight on the early morning of Apr 30th. I have to put up a couple of the temporary antennas I use when I need extra coverage. I will be adding a vertical wire tuned for somewhere in between the 30m and 40m band (between 7mhz to 10mhz) so I can have a backup monitoring antenna for the flight.
That way if I need the 847 and the Inverted “L” I can monitor the balloon with the back up setu and also every now and again something vertical changes the patterns so I might be able to recieve the low powered beacon better…
I also have neglected to re install my APRS antenna which will need to be put up as well. When PBH-8 went on its trip through the Maritimes I was able to copy the APRS Signals (via RF not IGate) once it attained altituude from east of Oswego NY untill it was well over the Atlantic.
Now all of this equipment will be kept up as we have on May 9th WX permitting the next two LASA flights. With LASA 4 (VE3REX-11) and St. Johns 1 (VE3LCA-11) being launced Saturday morning from Perth Ontario. LASA4 will be an attempt at a world altitude record attempt and St Johns 1 will have scientific experiments that have been designed and constructed by students of St Johns Catholic School in Perth Ontario.
So this week it will balloons, and more balloons with first the prep work then the tracking itself. I am figuring on the launch happening on the 30th and the tracking taking approx 4 days if it goes the full distance… This of course depends on the jet stream and of course how interested “Murphy” is in the operation.
Thats about all for now and I’ll update things later today after the coffee kicks in and the cobwebs clear out…
73bob
Just got the notice in my email this evening. PBH-10 is scheduled for launch on Thursday April 30 sometime between 0000hrs and 0300hrs.
This will be following the flight of PBH-9 which splashed down in the mid Atlantic a few days ago. These guys don’t waste any time do they???
From their email to me:
All – Thanks for your continued interest in Project Blue Horizon. We are diligently preparing a formal press release to brief you all about the background and overall goals of our program through flight PBH-9; however, we wanted to let you know that we plan to launch PBH-10 in T-72 hours! Here’s the latest information:
Flight Goals: Trans-Atlantic flight from USA to Europe; land the Air Vehicle in Europe; attempt world record for distance
Flight Name: PBH-10
Launch Location: Owego, NY
Launch Window: 29 April, 2000-2300 EDT (30 April, 0000-0300 UTC)
HF Frequency: 7.102.55 MHz (we’re using 40 meters this time!)For the latest information during pre-flight, launch, and flight activities please see our website http://twitter.com/PBH3.
If you or any hams you know have the capability to monitor on 40 meters, please let us know by replying to this message so we can include you in our communications during flight. Please be sure to include your email and a phone number where we can reach you at your ham shack. Please also send other hams who may be interested in our flight our email and website contact information (pbhdata@gmail.com; http://twitter.com/PBH3)
Thanks to all for your continued interest and support. We’ll see you in the air and on the radio!
73,
-Team PBH
Same as last time you can follow their flight on APRS and Twitter
More in this shortly…
73bob
This afternoon after trying to check into the Trans Canada Net (yes the word used was “try”) I decided to take the long way to the local grocery store (Liz needed some things for supper) and check out the closest two parks where I have been known to hang out some wire and play radio on a warm day.
The local park at Alda Burt Park and the Lighthouse Park across the street both seemed to survive the storm or what little of it we got close to my house.
From all reports I can find it seems the storm went about 3-5km North of my location and basically followed the Ottawa River as most of the damage was in Britannia and Rockliffe. However an area just east of one of the highest points of land (the old Carlington Park Ski Hill) did have several trees damaged (uprooted) and some buildings suffered some damage as well…
There are some reports that there was a Tornado spotted in Alymer QC which is across the river from the Britannia Area of Ottawa so once again the indication is that everything seemed to follow the river…
If you follow the links from my earlier posts on the storm you can get the most up to date information from the local Ottawa Media Outlets…
So far there has been no reports of any antennas or antenna structures being damaged locally as a result of the storm. At my QTH the maple tree did not even lose a branch and the new inverted “L ” survived quite well.
73bob
