I just got this off the “Twitter Site“. May 1 at 0930 local time
Official Launch window updated to: SATURDAY, MAY 2nd at 9:00 pm EDT (SUN MAY 3rd at 0100 UTC)
I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday Night…. Watch the Hockey Game while the computer is copying the CW Beacons…
73bob
This morning I got a few emails concerning the recent KC2TUA-8 flight otherwise know as PBH9 from their group…
Its nice to know they appreciate what we as hams try to do…
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Dear fellow ham,
Thanks again for your effort in tracking our payload and playing a critical role in helping us set a new Amateur Radio Long Duration Record of 49 hours 45 minutes.
We can’t begin to describe how fortunate we are to have had your help, without it we would not have been able to confirm our flight path and subsequent records with such confidence and accuracy. This is yet another example of the strength and size of the ham network and the kindness and dedication of its members.
Please reply to this email with a mailing address so we can send you a token of our appreciation and again, thank you very much.
73 PBH Team
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All – Thanks so much for your interest in Project Blue Horizon (PBH)! Many of you have asked about PBH technical and program information. We are currently analyzing the data collected by the many hams who submitted data points about PBH-9 from this past weekend, as well as determining objectives for our next flight, PBH-10. Once we have finished this analysis, we will send another note to everyone to keep you informed of the latest information. We anticipate contacting you all with this information by this weekend.
Thanks again for your interest and support, and we’ll see you on the air and in the sky!
73,
PBH Team
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I look forward to assisting them with PBH10 in the near future….
73bob
Well it was a fun 48 hours. I spent as much time as commitments would allow following the payload first on APRS.FI along with following the annoucements on TWITTER and also doing my best to monitor the 30m beacon in CW (Which is NOT my best operating mode)
Here is the last few twitters (TWEETS???) from the last time I heard the beacon untill they decided things were over and the payload was getting very wet…
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Stay tuned for PBH-10!!!
They tell me its still up and out there somewhere west of the Azores heading north east. The reason I say they tell me that is because I have not heard anything since the 0040 beacon. That beacon had a very strong signal but I leave the shack for supper and when I got back at 0100 there was nothing but dead air and static and unfortunately no CW beacon. Nothing as I write this as well so that elimates the 0200 beacon. The beacons are scheduled every 10min so the next one will be at 0210 and so on…
However someone is hearing the beacons as WB8ELK and AL0I have been faithfully reporting in everytime they hear a beacon and they are hearing more than I am.
All the other info you can get from their TWITTER ACCOUNT but at least their signals have been heard in Alabama (WB8ELK) and North Carolina (AL0I).
UPDATE AT THE 0210UTC BEACON TIME I DID HEAR THE BEACON JUST AT THE SAME LEVEL AS THE STATIC. THE PDA RUNNING POCKET DIGI DID NOT SEE THE SIGNAL WHATSOEVER AND THERE WAS NOTHING ON THE WATERFALL. BUT THE SIGNAL IS STILL OUT THERE
The group has already set the altitude record a couple of flights ago. They have set the longest duration flight with this one and its still going…
I do think its on its way down though as the last report on TWITTER shows it at 30 thousand which shows it has lost 6,000 feet in 20 minutes.
Time to get ready for the next signal and there will be further updates
73bob
As most of you who are really intersted in Amateur Ballooning are probally following this on Twitter so to you please put up with the update…
As of 2110UTC the 30m beacon was picked up by M6JCX (who was receiving signals earlier) and could confirm the altitude of the balloon at 43,743 feet but there was no indication of the lat/long coordinates for this one…
If you follow this link you will see the last known coordinates as shown on Google Maps… as far as I know at least but then I am a long way away from things and have not had any direct signals from the payload in over 10 hours…
So far they have the world record for endurance when they passed the mark at “17:50 UTC (40 hours 25 min) confirmed by WA2WMJ which sets a NEW AMATEUR LONG DURATION RECORD”
So now I guess the next issue will be if the batteries will last long enough for the payload to continue its unscheduled flight to either Europe or Africa depending on the winds. With the altitude seeming to be holding steady it looks good for a long flight….
THIS JUST IN AT 1730HRS EASTERN OR 2130 UTC I JUST HEARD THE CW BEACON FROM THE BALLOON AT MY QTH HERE IN OTTAWA. IT WAS A VERY POOR COPY WITH QSB BUT I WAS ABLE TO MAKE OUT THE FORMAT OF THE BEACON BUT UNFORTUNATELY NOT THE CONTENT. HOPEFULLY WITH THE NEXT SCHEDULED TRANSMISSION AT 2140UTC I WILL HAVE BETTER LUCK…
Anyway getting back to the flight…. I’ll have more for you later in the evening…
73bob
They launched on Saturday and had some sort of main board failure on the controller hooked up to the 40m band radio….
Other than that the flight seems to be going well and at approx 0130 utc ran out of 2m APRS coverage but there has been beacon receptions on their 30m (10.146.5 CW mode) equipment. I personally was receiving their beacons (the last with QSB) up until 0130 then nothing but thats the propagation thing.
From their Twitter Site:
“Thanks to all the hams who’ve helped us track our balloon thus far; Natrium, WB8ELK, M6JCX, W0RPK, AA1JF, AL0I, K1LYV, VA3RCS and WA5ZNU.
Other stations are still hearing beacons and relaying them to the Tracking control station. You can get their updates on their TWITTER SITE BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK…
I have been monitoring on 30m this morning but no luck whatsoever hearing anything that resembles their signals. As I did hear a few last night I do know what I am supposed to be hearing but today its only static…
Like I said earlier the most up to date news would be on the twitter site and the link to that is above…
73bob
A little bird told me (actually it “Twittered me“) and we now know that the payload has been found and in the process of being returned to Oswego NY which was the liftoff location…
As mentioned earlier you can follow the track of the payload here…
Congrats go out to the amateurs in Newfoundland who assisted with the unscheduled mission. I do hope someone writes this up for an article that should go into the “TCA” Magazine…
73bob
