Announcement of EOSS-126

LAUNCH DATE: February 23, 2008 (wx +1)
LAUNCH TIME: 07:30 MDT (14:30 UTC)
LAUNCH SITE: Windsor, CO (directions)

Pre-Flight Information

On Air Nets

Check into the weekly EOSS net every Tuesday evening, except the 2nd Tuesday of the month when we hold our face to face meetings.

• Tuesdays at 8 PM (20:00) Local time
  • 147.225 MHz 107.2 Hz tone CRA Repeater (Denver)
  • 145.460 MHz 107.2 Hz tone CRA Repeater (Boulder) manual link required (link may be unavailable)
  • 145.160 MHz 107.2 Hz tone CRA Repeater (Colorado Springs) full time link active
  • 146.640 MHz backup DRL Repeater (Denver only)

Pre-Flight Coordination Net

The evening prior to flight we hold a coordination net at 20:00 Local Time to assign the grid information and tactical callsigns. Any last minute information, launch time changes, launch location changes, maybe even a cancellation will be announced on this net.

• Preflight Net:
  • 147.225 MHz 8 pm Local Time the evening preceding the flight
    • 145.160 MHz simulcast in the Springs
  • 146.640 MHz will serve as a backup frequency

Tracking and Recovery Team
Flight Day Breakfast

• Johnson's Corner
  • Meet at 5:45 am
  • Exit 254 from I-25 north of Denver (Google Map)

EOSS Flight Day Frequencies:

Global Frequencies

• Tracking and Recovery Operations
  • North flight track: 449.450 MHz RMRL Repeater (103.5 Hz Tone)
    • ALERT!! As of Wed 20-Feb-08 20:25 UTC - the DECODE tone being transmitted by this RMRL repeater is 127.3 HZ. Set your radios to only encode the 103.5 tone on your transmissions (still needed to work the repeater) and set the receive side of your radio to ignore the tone entirely. Thanks to Mark Patton KC0D for alerting us to this situation.
  • 146.550 MHz simplex (for both field ops and the launch site)
  • Repeater Coverage Pages - Listings of all repeaters available in the expected flight areas.

EOSS-126 Balloon Frequencies

Note: The crossband repeater has a heater inside to keep the lithium ion batteries happy. Mike (payload support/developer) has set the system up to open the squelch of the receiver in the event the heater turns on which will happen if the internal temperature of the payload drops to around zero F (I think). It's an easy way to indicate battery usage. So, if you are listening to the output of the crossband repeater and it seems your radio's squelch just opened up, worry not, it is almost surely the repeater transmitting the received white noise from its receiver. Want to get rid of the white noise? Transmit a signal through the repeater.

• Cross Band Repeater
  • input 445.975 MHz
  • output 147.555 MHz
    • ID: W0WYX
• Beacons
  • 147.555 MHz Xband Repeater
    • ID: W0WYX
  • 145.600 MHz
    • ID:AE0SS-11 (CW)
• APRS
  • 144.340 MHz
    • ID: AE�SS-11
    • DIGI: EOSS
    • Node: BALNOD
    • APRS Time Slotted Every 30 seconds at 0:00 and 0:30
    • Telemetry once a minute
      • power up at 58 seconds past the GPS minute to properly slot telemetry
    • Sample Data

• 147.555 MHz

• ID: W0WYX

• de-spun ATV

• 426.250 MHz
• ID: AE0SS
• AM signal
• GPS position overlay

Radio Coverage:

Green, you should be able to work the payload systems.

Red, is the border of the received signal. Red appears jittery because it is depicted topographically. Thus, the red dots on the eastern half of the map but well within the maximum distance show hilly terrain behind (east) which reception is not possible.

This is a generic 95,000 ft ASL coverage map for flights that depart from the vicinity of our launch site. Flight day coverage may vary depending on upper air winds.

Flight Systems:

EOSS-126

Payload Configuration:

• Payload_Plan_126A.pdf

Tracking and Recovery Info:

Grid

Tactical Callsigns

Internet Gateway Stations:

Future I-Gaters:

EOSS is always in need of I-Gate stations. Check out the EOSS I-Gate page for information on how to participate and why we need you.

Current I-Gate Station:

If you are present at your iGate during the flight try and monitor the tracking and recovery frequency. The ground station likes to check the frequency prior to launch to find out if any stations are out there ready to igate the traffic onto the net for the FAA to monitor.

The prediction program used to determine the track of the balloon prior to flight can now output a prediction for the Rise, Closest Approach, and Set of the balloon for each of your stations. I have posted a prediction page for stations that I have been able to discover geographic coordinates. See the I-Gate prediction page for an example. The page will not be updated daily, however, it will be updated the evening prior to flight for I-gate planning purposes.

I have often been asked by iGaters when they should expect to either start receiving signals (AOS) or expect to see those signals disappear (LOS). This prediction page should answer all those questions for you.

Your Log Files

Our technical committee members would also request you open a log file and record all the packets you hear and forward onto APRS-IS. Whenever there is a technical failure of a package it is always helpful to have the most complete dataset possible to attempt to determine the cause of failure and possible fixes. After a flight send your data files to me (webmaster) and I will distribute them to the appropriate payload builders. They appreciate these logs even if all goes fine during a flight.

Experimental Systems

Colorado University will be flying 3 balloon sats

EOSS Systems Tests and Experiments

New LI chemistry batteries will be tested on some systems to be determined.

note: customers are welcome to submit detailed synopses of their flights or web links to their own web sites.