FLIGHT RECAP OF EOSS-45

This flight commemorated the "birth" of EOSS on our tenth anniversary. 

LAUNCH DATE: Delayed 1 day to Sunday Nov 19, 2000
LAUNCH TIME: 15:58 UTC - 08:58 MDT
LAUNCH SITE: Windsor (Here's a Map) Launch Site Tentative 
PRIMARY FLIGHT EXPERIMENT: Colorado University (Boulder) Here are several Adobe Acrobat files (PDF) outlining proposals:

PRIMARY PROJECT INTEGRATOR: Colorado University (Boulder)

FREQUENCIES:

  • Beacon
    • 144.340 MHz CW Id only
  • X-Band Repeater
    • 445.975 MHz Input
    • 147.555 MHz Output
  • APRS:
    • 147.555 MHz on the xband repeater output, there will be an APRS packet burst. See notes below.
  • Foxhunters:
    • 449.450 MHz Rocky Mountain Radio League (tentative)
    • 146.580 MHz Simplex Field Frequency
  • HF Net:
    • 7.235 MHz

 

Map of predicted path and actual flight.

Balloon Track for Windows                                Version 1.6.6
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Flight Recap

Sunday, November 19, 2000          EOSS-45         KDNR_00_11_19_1200Z.dat
12:10:35 PM                        Windsor                    wbaltrak.ini
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Winds DataFile
-----------------------
Station: KDNR
Date: 1200Z 19 NOV 00
DataFile Status: Errors in Source File
Intact Records: 36
Corrupt Records: 1

Grid Placement Data
-----------------------
Reference Site: Last Chance
Latitude: 39.7401� lat.
Longitude: -103.5933� long.
X_Offset: 50.75
Y_Offset: 35.00
Grid Origin
Latitude: 39.2332� lat.
Longitude: -104.5491� long.

Launch Site - Windsor
-----------------------
Launch Point: 40.4744� lat.   -104.9628� long.
Grid: X=-21.7 Y=85.7
Ascent Rate: 1112 feet per minute
Descent Rate: 1230 feet per minute
Altitude: 5280 feet

VOR Station - Falcon(FQF)
-----------------------
Latitude: 39.6867� lat.
Longitude: -104.6233� long.
Magnetic Offset: -10.0� from True Degrees

Maximums Enroute
-----------------------
Distance to LOS: 402.9 Mi.
Maximum Range: 75.8 Mi.
Maximum Winds: 110.5 mph from 325� at 29,114 feet altitude

Burst Data
-----------------------
Burst Point: 39.9956� lat.  -104.1723� long.
Grid: X=19.9 Y=52.6
Burst Time: 80.7 minutes
Burst Altitude: 95,000 feet
Burst Bearing: 128.2�
Burst Range: 53.2 Mi.

Predicted Landing Site
-----------------------
Landing Point: 39.8053� lat.  -103.8247� long.
Grid: X=38.4 Y=39.5
Altitude: 5000 feet
Flight Time: 111 Minutes
Bearing: 127.2� True
Range: 75.8 Mi.

Actual Landing Site
-----------------------
Landing Point: 39.6123� lat.  -103.8685� long.
Bearing: 135.5� True
Range: 83.0 Mi.

Difference from Predicted to Actual Landing Site
--------------------------------------------------
Bearing: 189.9� True
Range: 13.5 Mi.

Recap

A very successful flight as far as EOSS was concerned.

Colorado University was pleased with their experiment packages as they were recovered on the ground. We will probably see their data posted here soon.

Chris Koehler has posted many pictures of the Launch and Recover Sites.

Marty Griffin, Tracking & Recovery operations chief posted some pictures available here.

Liftoff was on the mark (actually one minute 30 seconds early).

The flight remained close to the predicted track all day.

Mark Patton, K�YG was corralled as net control for the 70cm/2m X-Band repeater and did a GREAT job. As you can see from the listing below we covered lots of Colorado and several stations in Wyoming were represented. Looks like we'll have to work on PR to alert folks in neighboring states about our X-Band activities.

Cross Band Repeater Check-ins:

  • K�YG, Mark Patton (our net control and first checkin other than Larry (K0ANI) who was associated with the launch operations.)
  • K0ANI
  • N7JJY - Cheyenne
  • WB4ETT
  • N6LEE
  • N7AOK
  • N0KKZ
  • KB0LP
  • KI0DZ
  • KI0OQ
  • WB7GR - Cheyenne
  • W5VSI
  • KB0LP
  • KB0YRZ
  • K0RAW - Kersey CO
  • KA0BMU
  • K0YO - Oak Creek Colorado (Near Steamboat)
  • KA0ULN
  • KA0GPA
  • K0YG

The GPS package incorporated into the X-band repeater worked well throughout the flight.

The balloon ascended a slightly faster than predicted at a rate of @ 1136 FPM.

Burst occurred at 10:13:40 MST (17:13:40 UTC) at an altitude of 90,573 feet ASL.

Recovery was accomplished with no problems.

QSL Card

For this flight, EOSS will send out QSL cards to the above stations for their contacts. Mark Patton, K�YG, who was net control for the cross band repeater has also designed this card. Check it out here. The current address in the FCC database for each callsign  will be used. Local folks!! Mike brought your cards to the Meeting Tuesday night (December 12, 2000). Shame on you if you didn't attend. :-)

Data Files

Thanks to Bill Beach, K0UT for his log files. Between the two of us the TNC log file is almost complete, just missing the last couple of thousand feet of the descent to the deck. 

Zip of all above files.