[aprssig] A strong argument for a cutdown device

[Robert Bruninga]

KJ4CTD was driving towards it, but stopped.  I zoomed in, but turns
out he was going to church.  Probably not going for balloon.  But he
has D710 mobile so should receive messages on his way home if you can
hit ihim at the right time!.

And there is NOTHING wrong with sending 1 minute beacons via WIDE2-1.
What is wrong is 2 hops.  My universal recommendation is to send via
WIDE2-1 or even WIDE1-1, I have no objections.  That was always my
advice for Balloons... Justification is that it is no worse than just
ONE more mobile in any local area, and that is what APRS is for.
Tracking things of local interest, and nothing is more interesting
than a balloon.

Every digi only digipeats it once.  No big deal.

Bob, WB4aPR
On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 10:50 AM, John Gorkos <jgorkos at gmail.com> wrote:
> That's about where we have it pinned, too.
> I've called the SC Civil Air Patrol and asked them if they could do a
> training flight in the area looking for the remnants of the balloon.
> Because it never burst, the envelope should still be attached and in one
> piece.  Should be easy to spot.
> The part I'm currently disappointed about is the BACKUP tracker, using a
> GSM arduino model, has failed.  I think it ran out of batteries before
> landing.  That's what I get for turning a 2 1/2 hour flight into a 13 hour
> flight.
>
> If anyone is in the general area and wants to look around for it, my phone
> number and an offer for a cash reward is all over the box.
>
> John Gorkos
>
> On 8/11/13 1:30 AM, "Robert Bruninga" <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:
>
>>ARGH, forgot to subtract the local ground altitude of around 900 feet.
>> With that, it should be in a field on the north side of McSwain road
>>around 35 10.71N and 81 57.18W just a half mile south of the NC state
>>line.
>>
>>Bob, WB4APR
>>
>>On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 1:22 AM, Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu>
>>wrote:
>>> Probably Landing in a forest of trees around 35 11.52N and 81 55.53W
>>> is my best guess after dead reckoning for 18 minutes from the last
>>> IGate heard position at 01:00:43
>>>
>>> Bob, WB4aPR
>>>
>>> On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 1:06 AM, Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu>
>>>wrote:
>>>> You lucky guy!!!  Your coming down within 25 miles of the nearest
>>>> anything, and luckily it is a home IGate!  At least you'll be able to
>>>> hear down to a thousand feet or so.  Its 1 Am and it will be on the
>>>> ground at this rate at 0119 EDT.  Good luck!
>>>>
>>>> BOb, WB4APR
>>>>
>>>> Its falling within direct range of an IGate!!!
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Aug 10, 2013 at 11:14 PM, John Gorkos <jgorkos at gmail.com>
>>>>wrote:
>>>>> Our local club did a HAB launch today that went horribly wrong.
>>>>>Check out
>>>>> the track of AB0OO-11 to see what I mean.  After 12 hours aloft, we
>>>>>are
>>>>> still getting good positional data from the balloon, but we have no
>>>>>control
>>>>> over it.
>>>>> We ran out of fill gas and only had about 3.5 pounds of lift on a 3
>>>>>pound
>>>>> payload.  Instead of just aborting, we launched anyway.  The balloon
>>>>> averaged about 100 feet per minute of lift, and after 7 hours it had
>>>>>only
>>>>> made it to 60k feet.  For the last 4 hours, it's been gradually
>>>>>drifting in
>>>>> circles, getting lower and lower.  We're going to lose it somewhere
>>>>>over
>>>>> south western North Carolina, and we'll probably never see it again.
>>>>> This balloon was flying the new Byonics MT-400 tracker, which is
>>>>>still going
>>>>> strong with a Sparkfun >60k GPS (it's been flight tested by us to
>>>>>93k) on 6
>>>>> Energizer Lithium Ultra batteries..  Unfortunately, I didn't include
>>>>>the
>>>>> additional battery pack, relay, and wiring needed for a nichrome
>>>>>cutdown, so
>>>>> instead of being able to abort the flight at the time of our
>>>>>choosing, it
>>>>> continues to drift aimlessly over the Carolina's, along with 2 HD
>>>>>video
>>>>> cameras.
>>>>>
>>>>> If anyone happens across what will probably be a still-inflated
>>>>>balloon, I'd
>>>>> really like the memory cards out of the camerasŠ
>>>>>
>>>>> John Gorkos
>>>>> AB0OO
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
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