K4LRG / Balloon
Flight 2009A

Conducted By The Balloon Committee
of the
Loudoun Amateur Radio Group
of Northern Virginia

Down & Found
John Westerman - WB5ODJ and Dave Putman - KE4S
Were First To Arrive At The LZ

       (Purcellville, VA. December 17, 2009)  The Balloon Committee of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group conducted a very successful launch, tracking and recovery operation of its K4LRG/B Flight 2009A on Sunday, October 25, 2009, in northern Virginia and Maryland. Preparations began in earnest in early August. We flew two payloads 1) the Tom Dawson - WB3AKD K4LRG/B 145.650 MHz CW Beacon and 2) the Mike McBurnett - KJ4KGB APRS Rocket Altimeter. Mike flew his package in preparation for a high altitude rocket flight scheduled for the southwest United States in 2010 or 2011.

       We launch from Harrisonburg, Virginia and recovered the payloads east of Poolesville, Maryland. Launch was at 0932 hours eastern with a 1500 gram balloon. Burst was at 1050 hours at about 95,334 feet. Lost Of Signal (LOS) was at about 1135 hours and recovery teams were on site around 1200 hours. At least twenty-three individuals from several organizations participated in this flight.

The Balloon Committee of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group
       Flight 2009A Planning Meeting on August 5, 2009

The Balloon Committee of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group at VFW Post 1177, Leesburg, Virginia, August 2009

(CCW) John Unger - W4AU, Tom Dawson - WB3AKD, Dave Putman - KE4S, Rick Miller - AI1V, Jay Greeley - KI4UTB,
Frank Gentges - K0BRA, Meg Gentges - AI4UX, Doug Johnson - KJ4BRN, Dodson Brown - AJ4EY, Mike McBurnett - KJ4KGB,
Carol Boehler - KF4TJJ, and Denny Boehler - KF4TJI

Tom Dawson - WB3AKD
Chairman of the Balloon Committee
of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group

       Tom Dawson conducted several sessions with the Near Space and Beyond Alliance - A Working Group for Space Explorers - at Shepherd University in West Virginia including assembly of the altimeter payload and the flight train. Several Shepherd University students participated in the launch and they also traveled to the recovery site. Chris Elmer - KD8MEZ's Shepherd University's People and Websites is here. Chris Elmer describes preparation for and the Flight LARG-SUNSBA-1 here. He has photographs of the launch and recovery. Several have been incorporated into this report.

       News about near space activities in local universities is available here.

       Mike McBurnett - KJ4KGB is associated with the Maryland Delaware Rocketry Association Inc. (MDRA). Mike Tyson - N2GEG is associated with high altitude rocket projects.  Information about Mike Tyson is available here.

Jay Ives - KI4TXP

Doug Johnson - KJ4BRN

Suzanne Grobbel

Tom Dawson - WB3AKD

Jim Stowers - K4FW

Gene May - WB8WKU

Chris Elmer - KD8MEZ

Michael Skaggs - Shepherd University

Nathan Smith - Shepherd University

Gambrill State Park, MD.

      Dave Putman - KE4S

      John Westerman - WB5ODJ

Bull Run Mountain, VA.

      Denny Boehler - KF4TJI

      Tom Garasic - NA4MA

Sky Meadows State Park, VA.

      Dodson Brown - AJ4EY

      Ken Sullivan - KJ4GYL

Sherando Park, VA.

      Luther Guise - K5NOB

      Chris Patton - W3CUM

Bent Mountain, VA.

      Jeff Slusher - KE5APC

Launch Operations at Percell Park, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Launch Site Video 
The following 6-minute Windows Media Video is of the preparation and launch of K4LRG/B Flight 2009A at Harrisonburg, VA. It was filmed by Jim Stowers - K4FW of Sterling, VA. A narrative by Tom Dawson - WB3AKD that he gave to the LARG on the Sunday Night FM Net on the evening of the flight has been integrated during production. You may "Right Click" on the WMV screen and use the "Zoom" Tab to obtain a "Full Screen" display. Afterward, use the Icon in the lower right to return to normal viewing size and continue with the report. You will need a broadband connection and you may have to "Kick Start" it if it pauses during download.

Launch Site Selection
            by WB3AKD - Tom Dawson 

(Round Hill, VA. - October 22, 2009)   For those wondering what sort of tea leaf I read to decide on launch site, here's the process I use, and given last year's sudden 90 degree shift in direction, I'm looking at more data than I used to.

First, the program I use is "Balloon Track for Windows" which can be had at http://www.eoss.org/wbaltrak/. The program uses the flight information I input (burst height, ascent and descent rates) and winds data from the NOAA radiosonde system to estimate the ground track of the flight.

Since last year, in addition to the radiosonde data from Dulles, I've been using data from points west to try to see what future winds at Dulles might look like.

Since the jet stream is responsible for most of the horizontal distance traveled by the balloon, looking at jet stream forecasts can provide some insight into what might be going on at launch time.

San Francisco State has interesting weather data including jet stream forecasts at http://squall.sfsu.edu/.

So looking at the predictions for Sunday, from the SFSU site, it looks like the jet stream around here will be running from south west to northeast at about 80 knots. Then, using winds data from Topeka, KS (where the SFSU fate suggested winds of 80 knots were presently blowing) I ran the prediction using that data and our flight profile and get 50 some odd miles travel distance (Topeka winds show a southeasterly track, but winds on Sunday are expected to run northeasterly, around here).

So the best guess I can make based on the available data, is a northeasterly track of about 50 miles which puts the launch site down on I-81 probably Staunton.

I'll be looking for parks and shopping malls for launch sites.

Now excuse me while I go consult the I Ching.

Best Regards, Tom Dawson - WB3AKD


(Round Hill, VA. - October 22, 2009)   TO ALL: Current jet stream predictions indicate optimum launch sites in either Harrisonburg or Staunton. I'll know better after today's radiosonde data is in.

Objective is to have the balloon land in the Berryville area, although I am inclined to let it drift more north and east of Berryville rather that South and east of Berryville and that "overshoot" area is less densely populated.

If we launch from Staunton, then the site will be Gypsy Hill Park.

If we launch from Harrisonburg, we'll launch from Purcell Park.

Launch team Members please check you directions accordingly.

The following please acknowledge receipt of this message by email:

Chris Elmer, KD9MEZ
Gene May, WB9WKV

any other launch participants.

Best Regards, Tom Dawson - WB3AKD


(Round Hill, VA. - 2302 Hours Eastern, October 22, 2009)   TO ALL: Reminders. Launch is approximately 9AM from Harrisonburg VA (Purcell Park).

Flight will consist of Mike, KJ4KGB 's rocket altimeter and an impaired "Hot Chips" variant sending ID only as telemetry processor had a catastrophic failure today and took out the programming pad as well. That will require more time than we had for repair.

Frequencies:

Rocket Altimeter : 145.700 MHz FM APRS format
Hot Chips Beacon 145.65 ID DE K4LRG/6 and a frame number then AR.
Both payload have plenty of battery.

Good hunting to the trackers.

Best Regards, Tom Dawson - WB3AKD

Tracking & Mission Control Operations

Tracking Sites and Assignments
                            by KF4TJI - Denny Boehler

(Leesburg, VA. 1817 Hours Eastern, October 23, 2009)   To All balloon Trackers,

I imagine some or all of you are wondering why I didn't get tracking assignments out earlier. Let me try to give you an idea. I am using the Balloon Tracker program Tom mentioned in his email for the first time. Below is a chart of my results using wind data for IAD obtained from the web.

Mission Control
  
Jay Ives - KI4TXP and Doug Johnson - KI4BRN operated mission control from the Community Park in western part of Berryville, VA. They did a super job of collecting bearing data. They had to stay in contact with the launch team by cell phone. There are no photographs of mission control. Some wonder if they had it all plotted out and could have directed recovery if the altimeter beacon had failed. But all is well that ends well.

Mission Control & Tracking Operations

      This a recording of the Mission Control and Tracking Operations: This wma file is 33.5 minutes in length. This wma file is here if you desire to save a copy via your own player.

K4LRG/B Mission Control and Tracking Net Operations

Tracking Operations Throughout Virginia and Maryland

          Tracking From Reston, Virginia
                            by AI1V - Rick Miller

        (Reston, VA. October 27, 2009)    Hi Folks. I have made my first attempt at a Keyhole Markup Language file. KML is an international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium. Learn more about KML files here. My file is available here: K4LRG/B Flight 2009A Flight Data For Google Earth By_AI1V  for application on your Google Earth account. [ Editor's Note: The Google Earth Terms of Service prevent reproducing their services.] If you have Google Earth installed, open the file and it will show a three dimension view of the flight path. This is a great program and is well worth the download and disk space. I generated the file using a Python Program that parsed the packets that my system captured on Sunday while I was away. There are a couple of small gaps in the packets, but the path is pretty well represented. I apologies to those of you who actually know KML :) It's fairly primitive.

Best Regards, Rick Miller - AI1V

          Tracking From Bent Mountain, Virginia
                            by KE5APC - Jeff Slusher

        (Bent Mountain, VA. – November 1, 2009)  BENT MOUNTAIN, VA. – Telemetry from the LARG balloon flight of 25 Oct 2009 was copied, at times “loud and clear” from Bent Mountain, Virginia – 111 miles SW of the launch sight until minutes before it landed more than 200 miles away in Poolesville, Maryland. KE5APC recorded audio from frames 92 through 122 when the signal was lost around 1518Z (1118 EDT). His primary station consisted of a Kenwood D710 with dual band antenna mounted in his mobile, parked approximately 3100’ above sea level. His position on the South side of Bent Mountain was unfavorable for copying the balloon but signals as high as 599 were recorded at that location.

This audio file has been edited to delete the majority of white noise between frame reports. It was originally recorded as a wav file, edited using AudaCity software which was also used to create the attached mp3 file. Editor's Note: Converted here to a wma file. It is 10 minutes in length with little signals at the end. This wma file is 2.3 minutes in length. This wma file is here if you desire to save a copy via your own player.

The Bent Mountain Recording of K4LRG/B Flight 2009A

Hearing nothing during the first 20 minutes of the flight, KE5APC walked up the mountain an additional 200 feet where a more favorable Northern exposure was established. He was equipped with a dual band handheld at the higher location and could not record the data. The first frame he copied was frame 35. He also heard a strong packet report on 145.7 Mhz. He descended to his mobile where signals improved, peaking with frame 99 reported as “599.”

APRS data was detected on his D710 but packets could not be decoded.

Best Regards, Jeff Slusher - KE5APC

          Tracking From Canby - Clarkes Gap, Virginia
                            by AI2C - Norm Styer

K4LRG/B On Ground Signal Received on Canby Road - Clarkes Gap at AI2C

Recovery Operations in Montgomery County, Maryland

Many Folks Made It Into The Landing Zone
Some Did It The Old Fashion Way And Tracked The 2-Meter CW Beacon While Others Followed Their APRS Unit

Post Flight 2009A Discussion on the LARG Sunday Night Net

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