High Altitude Balloon Carrying Amateur Television - 3
HABCAT - 3   On   LARG Flight 2004A   August 7, 2004
Conducted By The Balloon Committee of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group of Northern Virginia
Central Monitoring and Tracking Site
Operating From the G.R. Thompson Wildlife Management Area
Reported and Photographed by Denny and Carol Boehler - KF4TJI and KF4TJJ - Edited By Norm Styer - AI2C

Central Monitoring and Tracking Station
     Tom Dawson - WB3AKD established a monitoring and recording site at the G.R. Thompson Wildlife Management Area near Sky Meadows. Denny - KF4TJI and Carol - KF4TJJ Boehler also established their tracking site there and assisted Tom in assembling his station.
       Besides operating on the Tracking Net on 147.300 MHz WA4TSC Repeater, Tom ran monitoring receivers on both the 433 MHz video payload and on the 145.650 MHz beacon / telemetry payload. See recorded data. He used a elevation and azimuth rotor to point separate multi-element arrays. His VCR, video monitor  and other equipment were powered by a portable gasoline powered AC generator.
       Tom reported experiencing poor reception quality while the flight was near or overhead. He suspects it was because of the payload antenna nulls. Luckily, others were monitoring the telemetry and later provided fill.
      Denny and Carol Boehler's tracking system included a W9VUU nulling antenna.
      After touchdown, both mobile units joined in on the search.

Tom Dawson - WB3AKD Controls Monitoring Antennas During Flight