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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Kameron KG7VSN asked a question about using a RC aircraft to act as a final digi for a balloon once it has landed. But I’d take it one step further.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Put the APRS digipeater on a drone and also listen for the LAT/LON of the balloon. Then launch the drone once the balloon begins to descend. Program the drone to always go to the balloon position and maintain 1000 feet altitude until told otherwise. (or whatever is the legal height for drones…)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Neat!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Bob, WB4APR</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><div><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #e1e1e1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> Robert Bruninga <<a href="mailto:bruninga@usna.edu">bruninga@usna.edu</a>> <br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, June 11, 2020 2:23 PM<br><b>To:</b> Kameron Markham <<a href="mailto:kameron.markham@gmail.com">kameron.markham@gmail.com</a>>; <a href="mailto:wb4apr@amsat.org">wb4apr@amsat.org</a><br><b>Cc:</b> Robert Bruninga <<a href="mailto:bruninga@usna.edu">bruninga@usna.edu</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> RE: APRS Question</span></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Great idea I think. Yes, avoid using WIDE1-1. But using SKY1-1 is perfect if you name the digipeating alias in the RC plane to be SKY1-1. You could just nake it SKY and then digipeat via SKY, but I like keeping the SKY1-1 convention…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Let everyone know how well it works. In fact, a DRONE couild be pretty good atr this too.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">In fact, Program the drone to GO to the LAT/LONG of the balloon. And hover there!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Bob</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> Kameron Markham <<a href="mailto:kameron.markham@gmail.com">kameron.markham@gmail.com</a>> <br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, June 10, 2020 4:23 PM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:wb4apr@amsat.org">wb4apr@amsat.org</a><br><b>Subject:</b> APRS Question</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div><p class="MsoNormal">Hi,</p><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">I have scoured the internet on this question and haven't found any guidance. I'm part of a high altitude balloon club operating out of the auburn school district in the seattle area. When recovering balloons, the challenge we run into is recovering the balloons once they land. They frequently land in little dips in the earth, or far from roads, such that they cannot be heard by any of our tracking vehicles. </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">The idea that I had was to take a picoAPRS radio in digipeater mode and fly it on an RC plane over the last known area until it relays a position to the terrestrial radios. The problem is, we would then have to program the balloon to use some kind of digi path. I know that we shouldn't fly with any widen-n paths over a certain altitude, but the tinytrak3 radios we use on the balloons cannot switch between no digi paths and using digi paths based on the altitude.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">I was wondering if the protocol supports using a "custom" digi path like sky1-1 or some other string that would allow for our flying digipeater to behave like a wide1-1 fill in digipeater without having the balloons key up every fill-in repeater in the state. The idea is to use something that will be ignored by all the ground stations that hear it, but have a digipeater programmed to respond to it and rebroadcast it. That said, I also don't want to cause interference or confusion on the network.<br clear="all"></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Thanks,</p></div><p class="MsoNormal">-- </p><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Kameron Markham [KG7VSN]</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Washington State University (Tri-Cities)</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">(253)347-3004</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>