[aprssig] APRS balloon down in WV-back up now!

[Robert Bruninga]

Well, my prediction was off, but guess what!??  It took off again when the
sun came up and warmed the balloon.  That is amazing.

SO it took off from around Martinsburg WV and was over Baltimore at around 3
PM this afternoon above 39,000 feet and headed Southeast at about 60 MPH.

Problem is that it has a terrestrial GPS that shuts down above a certain
altitude to keep legal, and so it wont be transmitting again until it
descends this evening.

But at that speed, my guess it was over the ocean 2 hours later.
Maybe it will survive till Europe?  If it can take off rom water like it did
from land this morning.

See the track on APRS.FI
https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FKC8UCH-11&timerange=3600&tail=3600

call is KC8UCH-11
Bob
WB4APR

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2018 10:33 AM
To: TAPR APRS Mailing List <aprssig at tapr.org>
Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org; bruninga at usna.edu
Subject: APRS balloon down in WV/MD/VA

The KC8UCH-11 Balloon is down in an area equidistant from Cumberland, MD,
Haggerstown, MD and Winchester VA.
And a few miles west of Martinsburg.

It was launched in Canada and flew overnight.

This was a long distance balloon, I doubt the launch crew will come down
here looking for it.

So, a great DF hunt opportunity.  My guess at the landing coordinates are
39N 32.0' and 78W 11.5'
And here is my plot of my prediction:

http://aprs.org/balloon.png

It was coming down going SE and headed right for a ridge line with the land
elevation rising.  So I think the prediction should be pretty good (except
for whatever the wind was doing right on the ground as it was going up and
over that ridge?)

Bob, WB4APR