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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Yesterday I received call
from a non-ham hot-air balloon pilot who is somewhat familiar with APRS (he had
seen my presentation about amateur radio high-altitude ballooning and
participated in a couple of chases). He is planning a flight duration record
attempt from either <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Fairbanks</st1:City>
<st1:State w:st="on">Alaska</st1:State></st1:place> or northern
Alberta/Saskatchewan in January. The flight duration would be around 30-36
hours.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>To augment his satellite
phone comm, he would like some sort of automatic APRS or APRS-like device to
transmit his position at regular intervals. I believe that the track will be
too far north for any of the active 1200-baud AFSK digipeaters (PCSAT-2, etc).
Also, he will be flying at 500-1000 ft AGL and much of the flight would be
beyond the terrestrial APRS infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>It would seem that an
automatic xPSK beacon on HF (20 meters or lower, probably) would be ideal - he
could hang a wire below the balloon for an antenna. Without a receiver and a
TX interval of 5 or 10 minutes at ~ 1W, I think a battery-operated system would
be reasonable. The question is whether there is a device more or less
equivalent to the TinyTrak that could be connected to a lightweight
fixed-frequency transmitter. The entire tracker (transmitter, GPS, batteries, antenna)
should be less than 10 lbs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Or, perhaps there is a
polar-orbiting AFSK digipeater roughly equivalent to PCSAT-2’s
capabilities that I'm not aware of. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Fairbanks</st1:City></st1:place>
is at about 65 deg N, which I think is too far north for the ISS. I haven't
been keeping up with the latest on the available satellites. If PCSAT-1 were
expected to live into January that would have been OK. While using satellites
would give less-frequent updates, the advantage of using VHF or UHF instead of
HF might be worth it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>So....any ideas on how this
might be done? I'm looking for technical assistance as the regulatory issues
are being worked separately. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>73 de Mark N9XTN<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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