[South Florida DX Association] Baloon flight Tomorrow

[Pete Rimmel - Marine Chemist - N8PR]

If anybody is interested, the balloon will be transmitting on RTTY on 30
Meters at  10.123 +/- 1 KHz on USB (even though it is RTTY data being sent)
, and would like reports from everywhere...  Since they expect it to fly
right by here, we have a good chance of hearing it...

The Home Page for the project is at:
http://www.utarc.org/wiki/index.php/Icarus_X_Status

and the DTRC page for getting the software is at:
http://www.utarc.org/wiki/index.php/DTRC

THe DTRC software, when loaded on your computer, uses the MMTTY software to
link the audio data from your receiver to their web site, and directly
download everything you hear right back into their computer for analysis.
It is pretty slick...  If you want to participate, load the software, and
test it ahead of time.

They eventually want to try to cross the Atlantic with one of their balloons
!

73,  PeteR  N8PR

Hello,
Thank you for your interest in the University of Tennessee Amateur Radio
Club's High Altitude Balloon projects. The Spirit of Knoxville I mission
will launch in less than 48 hours. This is not intended to cross the
Atlantic ocean, but to test all systems to ensure that they are ready to
cross. It should travel a fair distance, and show us if there are any
problems left for us to solve. You can follow the progress of the flight
live at:


http://www.spiritofknoxville.com (Check back on Saturday morning for the
live mission info, it will not display the information until the flight)


Launch Date: Saturday 1 December 2007
Launch Time: 730 EST, 1230 UTC
Location: Knoxville Tennessee Downtown Island Airport
Duration: 1 - 5 days in the air
Purpose: Test endurance of ballast and balloon system; test volunteer DTRC
radio network system
Projected Path: From Tennessee it should travel southeast to the US Atlantic
coast, then gradually curve around Florida into the Caribbean Sea.


DTRC Volunteers: HF will not begin transmitting until well clear of the US
coast, approximately 6 hours after launch. Details of when this transition
will occur will be on the DTRC status page.


Thanks,
Dan Bowen
K2VOL


Mike Coffey
KJ4Z