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
Search - Yes !!   and   Recovery - Not !!
Reported by Norm Styer - AI2C  - -  Photograph credit at curser over photos.

        In general, the success of the search and recovery operation depends on knowing where you should go and an ability to listen for and locate the beacon signal. Sometimes, we get lucky and we have good GPS coordinates and we just drive up to the touchdown. But most often, as with the LARG Flight 2004A, we needed to rely on our bearing data, the rate of decent, the nature of the signal at 'Loss of Signal,' and the lay of the terrain in the projected touchdown area. Sometimes going to high ground will reveal the beacon signal; sometime driving all roads in a grid fashion will work, and sometimes, just 'dumb luck' will 'smoke out' the beacon. Once detected, we report telemetry data on condition of the battery which tells us how much time we have before it shuts down, and we keep a 'radio watch' on it until others can be contacted, moved into the area and acquire the signal. Then it is just a matter of walking in on the beacon with portable direction finding gear and trusty attenuators.
       Well, that was the general plan for LARG Flight 2004A. We all expected that it would only be a matter of time before someone reported acquisition. The information we had is shown on the map above and it was clear the the flight spent considerable time near or overhead Denny and Carol's Tracking Site near Sky Meadows as their bearing reports indicate.They couldn't resolve a 1105 hour bearing and concluded it was overhead. See the raw data collection sheet at the bottom of this page. The last two bearing readings at 1117 and 1128 hours were key. And Denny had reported that the S-4/5 signal strength abruptly disappeared at LOS; this most likely indicates that it dropped over a ridge close to their location at touchdown. So, south and east of Marshall was a good place to start.
       By 1230 hours even the northern tracking teams of Dave Putman - KG4KZZ assisted by Kurt Reber - KI4FWB who were northwest of Frederick, MD., and Norm Styer - AI2C who was west of Harper's Ferry were in the search area and taking directions from Tom Dawson - WB3AKD on which roads to travel. Carol and Denny Boehler - KF4TJJ and KF4TJI and Tom Dawson - WB3AKD who were both tracking from near Sky Meadows were already riding good routes. With 4 mobile units saturating the area, surely acquisition would be soon. Mark Johnson - W3ZI had been in the area earlier and about 1300 hours joined in the search. Then about 1400 hours, Ian Fadyen - W4/G4JMM drove out from the Washington DC area to help. So now, about 1430 hours, we had six mobile units on the search.
        Around 1400 hours, Tom Dawson - WB3AKD stood down and cranked up his generator and reviewed the recorded video and determined that the last good GPS display occurred at 1117 hours at about 10 minutes before LOS. These coordinates were south and west of Marshall and just south of I-66. Knowing that surface winds were almost directly out of the west, the south and east of Marshall still looked good.

The 1600 Hour Conference - So Where Haven't We Looked?
L-R: Norm Styer - AI2C, Tom Dawson - WB3AKD and Denny Boehler - KF4TJJ

        After another round of passes on the most likely routes, we decided to meet at 1600 hours near Route 55 and I-66 to confer in person on 'what's up.' Ian Fadyen, Dave Putman and Kurt Reber met further east near Marshall for an 'Eye-Ball QSO.' Mark Johnson, Tom, Denny, Carol and Norm picked some more likely areas. Norm went further east toward Route 15 and Haymarket and searched areas between I-66 and Route 29 south toward Warrenton. Tom decided to go up on the Blue Ridge and listen for a weak signal.

Carol Boehler - KF4TJJ  - A Trusty Side-Kick !!!

        Search teams continued in the area until around 1800 hours; each concluded they had done their best. Tom Dawson heard nothing from the Blue Ridge and others began to fade and closed for home. By 1930 hours all had closed.

       Navigating with GPS, APRS and computers proved very useful. AI2C and KG4KZZ were beaconing on 144.390 MHz so their locations were available on the Internet and to each other via their connected radio-GPS unit. The two maps below show what was captured and reported by local Internet connected APRS stations. Norm Styer also used his laptop's Garmin Map Source program to verify locations and look at more road details. A real time mobile IGATE link is something to look at for the next operation.

It's Still Stubby Pencil Time When Raw Data Rolls In !!

        Later Sunday night, Tom Dawson - WB3AKD reported on the LARG Sunday Night 2-Meter Net that analysis of the launch video showed that there was an apparent intermittent in the telemetry package. In the rush of launching with the second balloon it appeared that the Telemetry Package was not working until it was accidentally dropped during launch and it reactivated. Tom believes that something happen on the initial try, overlooked during the second launch and was accidentally and most likely temporally fixed when dropped. He further concluded the the intermittent reoccurred upon touchdown. Thus shutting down the beacon. Thus we most likely searched in vain.

       Tom Dawson also believes that a disturbance like windy conditions may reactivate the beacon package and we should be prepared to revisit the search area if weather conditions change. There should be at least 4 hours of power available for the beacon. Or, more likely, a farmer, horseback rider or hunter will discover the units and return them for the reward posted on each unit.

        It was nice riding with you all. I know those that rode enjoyed it and I hope we all learned something. Best Regards, Norm Styer - AI2C.