[K3PZN-List] NS-7 Balloon Flight This Weekend

[Pat Kilroy]

          Simulated Satellites!
   Student payloads to the stratosphere!

WE ARE GO for a local high-altitude balloon
mission this weekend.  We plan to launch
from the Hagerstown, Maryland area tomorrow
morning, Saturday, May 20, 2006, at about
9 a.m. EDT.

Details are given at the NS-7 announcement
page at http://www.patkilroy.com/bpp/

How can you participate?

Oh, there are many opportunities!  See the
NS-7 announcement page given above or study
the TASK LIST FOR ALL FLIGHTS below.

Projected flight path: Expected to fly
over Westminster, Maryland.

Coverage area: All points within 400 miles
radius, including as far as Montreal, Que,
Canada; Port Elgin, Ont, Canada; Portland,
Me; Frankfort, Ky; Columbia, SC; and East
Lansing, Mi.

Please share your passions and your results
with us!

Sincerely,

Pat Kilroy
BPP Project Manager


TASK LIST FOR ALL FLIGHTS

TO:    All Radio Amateurs
FROM:   Pat Kilroy (Patrick.L.Kilroy at nasa.gov)
SUBJECT: To Do List for Next Launch

GREENBELT, MD

Attention all licensed Amateur Radio operators!

YOU ARE INVITED to participate in the next
balloon mission.

I am looking for a few volunteers, each to
perform a specific task during the flight in
progress.

You may operate your equipment from a mobile,
portable, club, school, work or home station.
Or you may come out and work with one of our
students to show him or her how to operate
the radio.

Experience is NOT required for most of
these tasks.  Enthusiasm and ingenuity
however *is* required.  Help is available
wherever desired.

The key sign-up volunteer positions are:

1. Act as net control station (NCS) on the
High Altitude Balloon Experimenter's Net.

2. Check in and participate on the HF net.

3. Copy and save the packet radio APRS data
over the three-hour mission duration.

4. Copy and save other telemetry on its
downlink frequency.

5. Make a time-stamped audio recording of
the net in progress and some of the
telemetry sounds.  (Using the N5ACR method,
you can record to a standard 120-minute VHS
tape in the "4-hour" mode using a hi-fi VCR
with WWV time recorded continuously on the
right track.  On the left track, you step
through the frequencies of interest and
then repeat the cycle, capturing parts of
the HF net, cross-band net, APRS data, ATV
audio, and record any "personal" notes or
observations if you wish, for example.)

6. Record the beam headings between the
balloon and your location, and share them,
noting the exact time that is associated
with each entry (az, el, and time).

7. Act as NCS for the flight cross-band
repeater, uplink on 440 MHz, downlink on
2m FM (when flown).

8. Capture the Amateur TV video and
audio coming down on Cable Channel 60
to VHS tape (when flown).  You will
need a standard hi-fi VCR, a 440 MHz
beam antenna with preamp.

9. Assist someone with one of the tasks
noted above.

10. Take pictures and share them with
us.

11. Shoot some video and share it with
us.

12. Regardless of your type of par-
ticipation, write a short account of
what you experienced during the flight
(or leading up to the flight) and share
it with us!

If you want more information regarding
any task then please call or write any
time.

Please sign up for a task or suggest
someone whom I can ask directly.

Invite others!  Please pass this in-
vitation on to others at your club
meeting, on a net, forwarded e-mail,
or word of mouth.

The next mission will be exciting and
a lot of learning and fun.  Come join
us!

Sincerely,

Pat Kilroy, N8PK
SimSat Principal Investigator

=================================================================
Patrick L. Kilroy                                             WK
Integration & Test (I&T) Manager    301-286-1984 Voice
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center    301-286-1673 Fax
Building 5, Mail Code 568           Patrick.L.Kilroy at nasa.gov
Greenbelt, Maryland  20771          http://patkilroy.com/bpp/
=================================================================

       "A problem well stated is a problem half solved."
                   -Charles F. Kettering