If you follow this link…
http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FK6RPT-12&timerange=604800
You will see that K6RPT-11 took off from San Jose California last evening and has been heading East-South-East since then… Recently at a pretty good rate of speed (just under 400 kph/hr)
It was launched by the California Near Space Project and if you follow the link to their website you can get some background info on their efforts…
If you have nothing better to do today…. Stay inside and follow the flight…
73bob
Well if this title does not grab your attention then what are you doing reading an Amateur Radio Themed Blog???
As you know the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest is on this weekend and as proven by yesterdays hearing of Thailand on 17m I believe that between now and the start of the contest you will have the chance of hearing numerous Big Gun DX Stations dusting off the gear and making sure everything is working great for the contest as well as making sure any new operators know how to use the equipment as well as reminding some of the old operators how things work…
I have had really fantastic luck in the past working some great DX in the days before a contest… Its a great time to test out your radios and antennas even if you are not in the contest as there should be lots out there to talk to especially if the bands are cooperating…
It can be a “Small World” in a DX Contest…
So knowing that my Yaesu FT 450/S9 43 foot vertical/LDG Autotuner combo is working as good as its going to and outside of putting in a new run of coax there is nothing I can do the next few days will be spent (WX permitting) on some afternoon field trips with the QRP Gear and see how many stations I can get in the log.
Hopefully the City Employees have speeded up with the distribution of the Picnic Tables back into the Parks and I will be able to set up on something other than a park bench. Its not their fault as normally we don’t get the good weather for a month or so and this year has taken everyone by suprise… Personally I love it but it must be wreaking havoc with some peoples timetables…
Yesterday I did manage to get the “Electric Vespa” de winterised and took it for a short trip around the block and the wheels stayed on… Following up on yesterdays success I plan to pack the radio bag on the scooter and check out a park that is not within my normal walking distance… I would really like to do some A/B testing of the Par and my Buddistick antennas…. Lets see how things work….
As I’m typing this (March 21st at 1330 utc) I am watching the flight of an Amateur Balloon. Follow this link to watch VE3RMC-11 (Sponsored by the Royal Military College) . Its just taking off now…
As you can tell from this QSL card thanking me for helping with an earlier balloon launch from a different group it really can be a small world… Good Luck and fair winds to the Royal Military College Balloon Team…
73bob
Hi folks,
First of all… Sorry that I have not been as posting as much as I normally do but… Its not really a writers block but more along the lines of not wanting to shoot my mouth off till I had all the info… Or as my momma told me… “If you can’t say anything nice… don’t say anything…
Therefore the last few days I decided to stay quiet…
Saturday
However I was able to take some time and assist the Lanark Space Agency with the flights of LASA-9 and LASA-10. Gordon VE3XGD (check out Gordon’s blog) and myself were the recovery team for LASA-10 and although the payload dropped into the St Lawrence River near Rockport we were able with the kind assistance of a Cottager with a boat recover the payload. The kids at St Johns Elementry School in Perth will have some neat pictures taken by their payload from Near Space to look at in the upcoming Future. If you check the LASA website the pictures should be posted there in a week or so… If you are interested in the path the flights took head over to APRS.Fi. VE3REX-11 was LASA-10 and VE3LCA-11 vas LASA-9.
Depending on when you look at this, you might have to search by date from the aprs.fi site so look for flights under the callsigns above on April 30th and you should find them. Double check the dates though as we use the same callsigns for all of our flights
LASA is now on Twitter so you can follow @LASA_Tweets for the latest news.
Sunday
Sunday morning our local ARES Group (Emergency Measures Radio Group) was tasked with providing safety communications for the CN Cycle for CHEO. For those of you not from Eastern Ontario CHEO stands for the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario and todays public service event was a fund raiser for the hospital. If you have lived in Ottawa as long as I have, normally you become quite used to the halls of CHEO. My children were treated there, my Grandchildren were treated there and my Great Grandchild will be no doubt treated there after the anticipated arrival in mid July. To be honest I can’t think of a better or more deserving recipient of my time and resources…
Back to the event… We had checkpoints along the route, along with bike mobiles covering areas of the route. We had planned to use 3 different repeaters but the primary repeater served us well enough that we stayed with the primary. I manned one checkpoint and as my electric scooter was allowed on the route after my checkpoint closed I swept an area of the course looking for stragglers or any issues that the organisers would need to be aware of. All in all it was a successful morning as I arrived on scene just before 0800 and my checkpoint closed about 1030 and I was having a coffee at the kitchen table at 1130. A great morning…
As far as upcoming events this week I have nothing on the go till Saturday when the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club holds the Larry Wilcox Memorial 2m FM Contest on Saturday. This one won’t make the ARRL Contest callender but… we do it on 2m fm simplex, the lower the power the higher your multiplier, the city wards are also multipliers and its a fun 4 hours…. Follow this link to the club website and the April issue of the clubs newsletter which has all the info about the contest if you would like more info…
Now that the weather is warming up a bit and the parks are drying I will be trying to spend a bit of time with my FT817 making some contacts on the HF bands… 
If you check on the right hand side of the page you will notice a copy of my Twitter Feed so if I’m heading out you might see some advance mention of the excursion there. Also some days when I don’t post anything here on the blog you might see a couple of short comments there on various topics. I find twitter a quick and easy way to get a comment or two out and there is the added benefit that its harder to offend someone with my comments in 140 characters or less…
CU later in the week
73bob
As most of you have figured out by now after listening to the HF Bands or looking at your APRS Screens PBH-15 did not launch on Thursday evening… For a flight like this to be successful the wind predictions have to be exact. Unfortunately this time… They wern’t!!!
If you follow @PBH5 on Twitter or go to their website you will get the up to date info on their next launch attempt…
There is no doubt in my mind that they will succeed in their endevours. The attained the altitude record with little effort… Their sponsors have deep pockets… They know what they are doing… My predictions are that “Duration and distance records will most likely fall, if not on this flight , on the next one. ”
73bob
As I type this posting the crew at Cornell University are getting the final preps done for the flight of PBH-15. This flight will be attempting a Trans Atlantic Flight and hoping to set two new ARHAB Records (Longest Distance and Longest Duration). Their Previous flight PBH-13 set a new altitude record on March 4th.
For this event they will be using APRS (VHF 144.390) followed by 30m CW and 40m CW. From their Twitter account @PBH5 comes the following:
So if you have nothing else to do on a long weekend why not dial them up and give a listen…. You can even send them in location updates off their hf beacons via the web. This info is on their website…
As with any balloon flights weather could cancel or delay any flight but as of right now the countdown timer on their website is still running so….
73bob
While checking my Twitter account this morning I find a Tweet from Jeff KE9V who also is a reader of this blog giving the LASA-8 Flight from last Saturday a mention….
Jeff in his TWEET refers us to an article in the Sun Journal from Lewiston Maine. The author of the article (who did a great job IMHO) was Scott Taylor of the Sun Journal.
Click on the logo to go to the story
My regular readers will remember that I support the LASA Group and have participated in all of their flights to date…
So on behalf of the group…
Thanks Jeff…
Thanks Scott…
73bob
The Lanark Space Agency or LASA has increased their presence on the WWW…
Check out:
http://lanarkspace.wordpress.com/
The following came into my inbox this am and I am sharing it with you:
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Out of this World Record!
Perth Group breaks world record with Near Space Launch
This past weekend the Perth group known as the Lanark Amateur Space Agency set a new world record altitude for near space flight. LASA’s eighth launch .commenced at the Perth Fair Grounds just before 09am EST. The gusty weather made the launch of the 7ft diameter gas filled balloon a hair raising experience. Chase team Driver Rick Szijarto said “I knew we’d be in for a good long drive when we saw the balloon traveling in the jet stream at 250km/h..The chase teams were following the balloon’s on board GPS. The Position, Height, Speed and direction of the balloon were sent to the team over amateur radio frequencies. When the teams reached Were East pf Montreal it was clear that the group had achieved their mission goal of setting the Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning (ARHAB) world record for altitude. Supporters Bob Sharp VA3QV and Tim Richards in Ottawa, contacted the chase teams to confirm the new record had been achieved. Long time LASA member Marc Baillon currently traveling with his family in Europe followed the flight on the internet and called the Chase team en route to congratulate them on :”smashing the record”:
After the balloon – then nearly 30 feet in diameter- burst at peak altitude the payload parachuted to the Earth still being blown rapidly to the East. The Chase teams would be paralleling the fight of LASA 1 back in November 2007 which landed in Highland Plantation Northern Maine.. Heading towards the Quebec New Hampshire international boarder navigator Peter McCracken led the chase team through the North East Appalachian mountains to Jay Maine.
The balloon was easily recovered from a forested area not far from the Verso Paper-Androscoggin mill . The payload just missed a watery landing, hanging up in a small oak tree only a few yards from the Androscoggin River. When recovered the payload was still broadcasting its position over radio frequencies. Using local amateur “digipeaters” the position of the balloon payload was relayed to the internet.
Late Sunday morning the Recovery team headed back to Canada with both the payload and world record in hand. The group is in contact with ARHAB to officially register the World Record of 39 899m or 130 902 ft
The mission was also a spiritual journey of sorts. LASA communications expert Barry Crampton (VE3BSB) paid tribute to John W. Soderberg, W1AKV of Vermont. John was integrally involved in locating and retrieving LASAs 7th mission- balloon payload one year ago. On November 7 of this year John passed away at the age of 90. In his memory LASA members attached a photo of John and a copy of his obituary to the Record breaking LASA8 payload. The photo will be forwarded to John’s family. Crampton stated “John’s family and friends were deeply touched by the heavenly gesture”
The next mission for LASA will be in partnership with St John Elementary and St John High School in late April. Students will have an opportunity to learn about the atmosphere, geography, telemetry and even launch their own experiments into near space. In 2008 St John Elementary grade 7/8 class launched a near space balloon. Teacher Jen Havaeks remembered that “students were very excited to have a hands on opportunity to explore science and were very motivated to participate.”. LASA has received generous donations from Amateur Radio Clubs, Businesses, and individuals, which it will be putting towards costs of the students’ spring launch
For more information including a 3D google earth view of the flight and photos or to get involved please visit www.lanarkspaceagency.org
Submitted by
Peter McCracken (VA3ZKS)
613 264-1458 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 613 264-1458
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73bob
Just got an email from LASA and they inform me that LASA-8 has been recovered and is on its way back from Jay Maine to Perth Ontario.
Good job guys….
73bob
It took off from Perth Ontario…
Picture courtesy LASA
It landed near Jay Maine…
The world altitude record acording to ARHAB was… 39,130 meters
LASA-8 made it to 39,899 meters.
This makes it a new world record and a new Canadian Record…
These findings have to be confirmed… but we know… we know…
At this time a LASA Recovery Crew is heading to Jay to look for the payload. There are some local amateur operators who are already looking for the payload as well. Hopefully when our guys get there it will be a few pictures, a couple of beers and a handshake…
More info once it becomes available…
73bob
