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

        The Balloon Committee of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group flew its seventh payload on August 7, 2004 over the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia. This was the third flight with an amateur radio television camera and transmitter.          The launch took place northwest of Winchester off Route 522 with Bill Tincher - WB4ACC as Launch Chief; Bill's long experience with the National Weather Service proved invaluable as the first 1000-gram balloon ruptured on release but a second was flawless. Three tracking teams led by Dave Putman - KG4KZZ, Norm Styer - AI2C and Denny Boehler - KF4TJI followed the flight and reported 15-minute bearings through NCS - K4LRG operated by Ray Houff - K4AJA on the WA4TSC Repeater to our Central Monitoring Station established by Tom Dawson - WB3AKD near Sky Meadows.
        LARG Flight 2004A carried HABCAT-3, a high altitude amateur radio color television camera with integrated ID and GPS data and transmitter operating on 433.25 MHZ that permitted signals to be received on cable channel 59 across northern Virginia. Also flown was the "tried and true 3AKD Hotchips" CW telemetry package that each minute reported a serial number, altitude, inside and outside temperatures and battery voltage; this unit operated on 145.650 MHz and was reported on a 80-Meter HF Coordinating Net run by Charlie Preston - K4LJH as being good copy in Bedford, VA. This CW signal was used for tracking, search and recovery.
       It was almost a perfect flight with the telemetry unit reported reaching 112,000 feet. Flight 2004A's video and telemetry signals were monitored and recorded by Tom Dawson; however, the flight spent a lot of time over Sky Meadows and caused some data loss because of payload antenna nulls. Steve Tedesco - KB2CEV and Steve - K4UEK also recorded data from their homes and provided valuable fills.
        The search and recovery teams spent 6 hours looking for the downed payloads. But later, after analysis of data, it was determined that the last recorded GPS data was 10-minute short of touchdown and at touchdown south of Marshall something failed on the beacon signal; thus, recovery was not possible.
        There's still a possibility that high winds may restart the beacon which has up to four hours of battery life; contingency plans are in place. Or, some farmer, horseback rider or hunter may discover the units and return them. In the meantime, the Balloon Committee will move on to new and exciting payloads and flights. It was nice riding with you all. Best Regards, Norm Styer - AI2C.

When All Else Fails - Look Up !!
Tom Dawson - WB3AKD At Sky Meadows