[K3PZN-List] Planning PICetSat Mission at Our Hamfest

Mon Sep 13 12:28:07 EDT 2010

Pat

good clarifications.  regardless of launch time, it would be good to recruit a 
handful of spotters 'to the east' that have capable receiving stations on 433 
MHz.  Note most of the metro area is to the east of us !  BRATS certainly have 
UHF gear!  We can also contact BARC, ARROW, Mobileers, Arundel (WB4APR ...) and 
from them I can imagine we get at least 2-3 spotters who can extend our range.  

as our repeater will be used for talk-in, maybe we could arrange to use BRATS or 
another east-ward repeater for 'misson control info' to spotters.  Hint - 
recruit one of our net-expert-geeks for this role - and of course set up a 2m 
rig with enough gain to hit the remote repeater from the hamfest site.  I sense 
this is essential if we use remote spotters so they know when the payload indeed 
is aloft.  

keep it simple and fun, but maybe we can end the mission without wondering 
whether the payload flew out of range or not.  

73 Curt

----- Original Message ----
From: "Kilroy, Patrick L. (GSFC-5680)" <patrick.l.kilroy at nasa.gov>
To: "k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net" <k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Mon, September 13, 2010 11:25:10 AM
Subject: Re: [K3PZN-List] Planning PICetSat Mission at Our Hamfest

. . . . The CarrollSat-2 Mission? . . . . 

Hi Curt and all,

Thank you for your earlier post.  

Here are some comments in return: 

a. We could do either CW or packet.  Might depend on 
what we want to measure and thus the AMOUNT of telemetry 
we want.  That is, the "higher" the PICetSat type (e.g., 
PICetSat Lite, I, II or III) the more data is collected 
and available for downlink).  A PICetSat static display 
has been done before for short periods (but not at any 
thing other than room altitude), and we can do it again 
anytime.  You are welcome to comment if I did not 
understand if you meant a tethered balloon (which is 
hard to control) or another concept.  

b. Yes, good idea.  We can anticipate the flight 
trajectory fairly accurately in advance, but not much 
more than 24 hours in advance.  That makes it easy to 
deploy volunteer mobile stations out under the flight 
path but not home fixed stations, although the general 
flight path (70% of the time?) is generally eastward 
from the release point.  

We normally launch early in the day since that is 
when the winds are more calm.  We can launch later in 
the morning, but we also must account for the time 
after launch needed to copy the telemetry, which could 
be a couple hours.  I'm not sure if I personally can 
be tied up until 3:00 P.M. or after copying telemetry, 
and if other volunteers are in the same boat, I'm sure 
there is a compromised time that we ought to release.  
Maybe sometime between 11 AM and 12 noon?  

c. Oops.  Yes!  The frequency is 433.920 MHz FM varying 
plus or minus 50 kHz or more.  A tuning resolution of 
5 kHz minimum is required, but 1 kHz or less is 
recommended.  In other words, if you can tune in steps 
of only 10, 12.5 or 25 kHz then you may be disappointed 
by missing the signal.  FYI, the flight transmitter 
module we use is very low cost ("you get what you pay 
for") and its freq seems to vary with time, temperature 
and flight battery voltage.  

Please peek at the CarrollSat-1 web page from our 
flight at last year's Mason-Dixon Hamfest from the 
link below my signature here.  Let's make this one 
a little bigger splash.  

Hope to C U all at the meeting tonight!  

Cheers,

Pat Kilroy, N8PK
SimSat guy
http://simsat.net/carrollsat/

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Curt replied on Wed 9/8/2010 2:07 PM . . . 

Pat

a few thoughts come to mind --

a. determining which method is most effective under small signal, and varying 
signal conditions.  one could even experimentally hang a picsat up high in the 
wind and have some in LOS take some data.  my suspicion is that more folk will 
have gear for CW than packet, but I could be wrong.  maybe non-CW participants 
could record the received signal ... 

b. definitely work to recruit a tracking network along the projected flight 
path, as literally we thought that the prior mission flew out of our range.  On 
a Sunday it might be hard to gauge whether trackers would be available for a 
morning launch - which unfortunately is when we have the biggest crowd at the 
hamfest - but that may not matter!  Maybe a 1 pm launch might be ideal for 
prospective trackers?  I suggest a repeater be established somewhere in the 
direction of flight for real-time tracking reports, at add interest also to 
observers.  

c. presuming a 433 MHz downlink frequency, you should mention that in future 
mailings .... 

73 Curt

----- Original Message ----
From: Philip Karras <ke3fl at yahoo.com>
To: k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Wed, September 8, 2010 1:24:19 PM
Subject: Re: [K3PZN-List] Planning PICetSat Mission at Our Hamfest

Pat,

keep us informed here. I may not be able to make the meeting but would sure love 

to help if I can!

73 de ke3fl
Phil

--- On Wed, 9/8/10, k3pzn-list-request at mailman.qth.net

> Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 11:17:13 -0500
> From: "Kilroy, Patrick L. (GSFC-5680)" <patrick.l.kilroy at nasa.gov>
> Subject: [K3PZN-List] Planning PICetSat Mission at Our
> Hamfest
> To: "k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net"
> 
> SMALL HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON LAUNCH AT OUR 
> COMING MASON-DIXON HAMFEST
> 
> Wanna help?  We need you!  
> 
> We need to set up a simple but effective 
> ground station or two.  Got radio?  Great! 
> 
> You are in!  Got laptop?  Great!  You are 
> in!  
> 
> If it is okay with our officers, I'd like 
> to hold a ten-minute planning session at 
> our next club meeting, Monday, September 13, 
> complete with a demo of the three different 
> PICetSat modules.  (Two types have telemetry 
> downlink in Morse Code and the other has a 
> packet radio downlink.)  We will choose to 
> fly one of them.  
> 
> From: http://www.qis.net/~k3pzn/ . . . 
> 
> CCARC Club Meetings
> 
> The Carroll County Amateur Radio Club meets 
> the second Monday of each month at 7:30 P.M. 
> in the Carroll County Fire Training Center 
> (CCFTC), formerly the Carroll County EOC.  
> The CCFTC is located on MD Route 32 about a 
> mile north of MD Route 97 [on] Kate Wagner 
> Road.  
> 
> Hope to C U there!  
> 
> 73 de N8PK
> 
> Pat
> 
> 
> Patrick L. Kilroy
> Integration & Test Manager
> NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
> Building 5, Mail Code 568
> Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
> Phone: +1-301-286-1984
> E-mail: Patrick.L.Kilroy at nasa.gov
> Web: http://simsat.net/ (outreach)
> 
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