[aprssig] Eclipse Path (148 Balloons!) (50?)

[Larry Howell]

Hi Bob,

I can't answer your broader question, but can tell you about my experience
as a volunteer engineer with Knox County (OH) Space Balloon Team #37.
The NASA supplied balloon payloads did not use APRS trackers, or any form
of ham radio at all.  They used an Iridium modem to relay GPS position
data, which was relayed through ground-based servers for the team's NASA
supplied tracking/antenna orientation system.  The NASA payload transmitted
still images on the 900 MHz ISM band, and realtime video on the 5.8 GHz ISM
band.
The Knox Co team designed and assembled their own payloads for their
balloon, which did use APRS tracking.  These payloads were launched on
seven balloons between 06/2014 and 04/2017.  The tracker was from High
Altitude Science.  The tracker call was KD8NZZ.  Their balloon payloads
collected sensor data and video images using 3 RaspberryPi SBCs with
multiple cameras and writes to uSDcards on the SBCs.  Their balloon was
launched about 15 seconds before the NASA balloon from Pennyrile, KY at
1215 CDT on 08/21.  Both balloons were passing through 95k ft at totality.
Both balloons were successfully recovered.

Here is a link to the extended story Andrew Michael and Channel 6 produced
about our launch: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewBuckMichaelABC6FOX28/
videos/2046700258689100/?fref=mentions

Larry  AC8YE

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 9:06 AM, Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:

> I added the PLOT of all the APRS balloons on Eclipse day to my Balloon
> page.
>
> http://aprs.org/balloons.html
>
>
>
> I assume these were trackers on all the 50 NASA balloons launched that day
> by students all across the country to stream live video of the event.  But
> there is not a single mention of APRS on their web page, and not a single
> Ham has mentioned involvement here on the APRSSIG or on AMSAT.  Yet all the
> balloons had Ham calls.  I’d like someone involved to document the HAM
> invovvement in this massive undertaking and describe the APRS portion so I
> can add it to the web page.
>
>
>
> And why does FINDU.COM find about 148 Balloons in the USA, and I can only
> count about 50 along the path and only a few more..?
>
>
>
> Bob
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Robert Bruninga [mailto:bruninga at usna.edu]
> *Sent:* Thursday, August 24, 2017 11:25 PM
> *To:* TAPR APRS Mailing List
> *Cc:* Robert Bruninga
> *Subject:* Fwd: [aprsisce] Re: Eclipse Umbra Path (148 Balloons!)
>
>
>
> My HT on a rubber duck just north of Georgia picked up 12 APRS balloons
> during the eclipse, all under 200 miles away.  Closest one only 4 miles
> away, but wife would not let me chase it.  Had a 14  hour drive to get back
> before classes the next morning.  (Got 3 hours sleep.)
>
>
> When I got home, I counted 244 APRS Balloons on Eclipse day on FINDU.COM.
> Subtracting out the 96 from other parts of the world that day left 148 over
> the USA.  But looking at the map, I only could find about 46 along the
> track?  Where were the others?
>
> I cant get a plot of all the USA ones since the filters on APRSFI wont
> work that big.
>
> Looking for someone who can plot all the APRS balloons that day on one map?
>
> Mark, KE6BB posted a plot of all the "Flight" symbols during the eclipse.
> Most are balloons, but a few aircraft mixed in as well.  But Ill have to
> post it on a web page to share it with the group.
>
> Came back to unrelated total WEB and phone blackout till now (Thurs nite).
>
> Bob, WB4APR
>
> __._,_.___
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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