[LeArc] Amateur radio operator tracks signal to find payload

[Duane Whittingham]

Amateur radio operator tracks signal to find payload

By Chuck Gysi/Editor

BLANDINSVILLE - A high-altitude balloon launched by Kansas college 
students was tracked to have ended its almost 400-mile flight in a 
field near Blandinsville, thanks to amateur radio.

The experiment by the Kansas Wesleyan University Physics Club was 
launched at about 8 a.m. Saturday with some help from the Salina Ham 
Radio Club from the school's football field in Salina, Kan. The radio 
club added a payload to the balloon that transmitted the balloon's 
location via ham radio.

The balloon initially headed in a south to southwest direction 
because of surface winds, but took an easterly and then northeasterly 
turn as it rose in altitude. The balloon had been expected to stay in 
the air for about three hours - two hours for the ascent and one hour 
for the descent - but the balloon actually stayed aloft longer and 
traveled farther than expected.

"We were unable to find the balloon and traveled as far as Missouri 
looking before we lost the GPS (global positioning system) signal," 
Dr. Susan McDonald, chair of the Department of Physics, said in a 
news release issued Saturday. "The balloon ascended slower than 
anticipated so it spent more time in the upper-level winds. It was 
tracked through friends of (amateur radio operator) Pete Sias in Iowa 
and Illinois using the GPS beacon to near Blandinsville, Ill. So our 
little balloon crossed the Mississippi today and we are hoping that a 
kind soul will find it and mail it back to KWU."

With word of the balloon's landing in the Blandinsville area, Macomb 
area ham operators started looking for the balloon by tuning in the 
beacon's signal on their radio equipment.

Mark Garrett, a ham operator who is assistant director of technology 
at Western Illinois University's Tri States Public Radio, was alerted 
to the downed balloon by a fellow ham who coordinates balloon 
launches nationwide and went out looking for the payload's weak radio 
signal on Monday after work. At that time, Garrett was searching in a 
wide 10-mile radius.

Garrett consulted other hams interested in balloon tracking and with 
new information from his readings on Monday, went out looking in a 
narrower area on Tuesday afternoon. The payload's battery was nearing 
the end of its life on Tuesday, so it was critical to look for it 
while it still was sending out a signal on ham radio.

"The balloon was found due east of LaHarpe, 2.5 miles north of 
Blandinsville, in an open farm field bordered by 2100th Road North 
and 200th Road East," Garrett said. "The package was about a 
quarter-mile in the field and I was assisted by Larry Bailey (of 
rural Tennessee)

who saw me stopped on the road and taking readings with a home-brew 
beam antenna. He volunteered to take me into the field with a 
four-wheel drive vehicle and we quickly zeroed in on the package.

"The package was in excellent condition for being out in the field 
since Saturday. Even the little Intel astronaut attached to it made 
it through OK without a scratch."

Garrett reported that the beacon's 9-volt lithium battery still was 
running the radio equipment since its Saturday launch, but had 
dropped to 5.63 volts.

"I'm glad they found it," Leslie Eikleberry, director of public 
relations at KWU, said of the ham radio recovery effort when 
contacted Wednesday.

Back at KWU, McDonald estimated that the balloon cruised to an 
altitude of about 95,000 feet based on the balloon's ascent of about 
350 feet per minute for about 4.5 hours. In addition to the ham radio 
and GPS tracking equipment on board, the balloon also carried a 
payload of a video camera and temperature logger.

Garrett added that the balloon got caught in a jet stream and 
traveled to Illinois at more than 110 mph. The balloon and its 
payload was in flight for more than four hours, plopping down near 
Blandinsville at about 12:35 p.m. on Saturday.

McDonald said KWU's experiment was multifaceted and was a fun way for 
students to learn. The group planned to use data from the flight to 
develop a temperature profile of Earth's atmosphere. Some of the 
pre-engineering students also used the experiment as their final 
design project. Additionally, the experiment allowed the group to 
learn about basic electronics, including GPS, temperature loggers, 
video cameras and antennas. The experiment also allowed the group to 
videotape a balloon ascent and descent.

"This project was made possible by borrowing some equipment from the 
Salina Ham Radio Club and through funds from KWU's Student Government 
Association, the Department of Physics and the Department of Computer 
Science," McDonald said.


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Amateur Radio Operator
Duane Whittingham - N9SSN
Skywarn, ARES/RACES, EMA/ESDA
Red Cross Volunteer & SATERN Member