Flight Announcement for EOSS-163

Flight Coordinator: Doug Gentges, N0IX (n0ix@eoss.org)
 

LAUNCH DATE: April 16th, 2011 (wx delay +1 day)
LAUNCH TIME:6:50 am MDT (12:50 UTC)
LAUNCH SITE: Windsor, Colorado (Click Here for directions)

EOSS Flight Day Frequencies:

Tracking and Recovery Frequencies

• Preflight Net:
  • 147.225 MHz 8 pm MDT preceding night
  • 146.640 MHz will serve as a backup frequency
• Tracking and Recovery Operations
  • 449.450 MHz RMRL (103.5 Hz Tone)
  • Field Simplex Frequencies
    • 446.100 MHz simplex
    • Note: Some radios insist on incorrectly placing a negative 5 MHz offset when selecting frequencies from the simplex portion of the 70 CM band. Check your radio and if this is the case. Consider programming in this simplex frequency to a memory channel as some radios have demonstrated the annoying habit of re-inserting the offset if you momentarily shift to a repeater then return to the simplex freq. Check the operation of your radio on this simplex freq to be ready for however your radio behaves.
• Repeater Coverage Pages - Listings of all repeaters available in the expected flight areas.
  • There may be FRS operations see THIS PAGE for a list of channel numbers and their associated UHF Frequencies.

 

EOSS-163 Balloon Payload Frequencies

Beacons

• 147.555 MHz
  • CW ID: AE0SS
• 445.975 MHz
  • CW ID: N0IX

APRS

• 144.340 MHz
  • ID: AE�SS-11
  • DIGI: EOSS
  • Node: BALNOD
  • APRS Time Slotted Every 30 seconds at 0:00 and 0:30
    • power up at 58 seconds past the GPS minute to properly slot telemetry
  • Telemetry once a minute
  • Sample Data

Video Might Be available, check http://www.eoss.tv

Various Online Live Tracking Pages

Flight Systems: 

EOSS-163

Payload Configuration: 

• Payload_Plan_163_RevB.pdf

Payload Experiment Designer

CU

Experimenters are welcome to submit websites for linking or overviews which I will post on a page on the EOSS website.

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.

Tracking and Recovery

Breakfast

• McDonalds at Airport Rd. and I-70 (Google Map)
  • Meet at 05:00
  • Head into the field at 05:30

Grid

Location	Grid X	Grid Y
Hwy 14 & 71 West	80	65
Grid Test Point -   40�  15' N      103�   30'W	89.3	40.3

Tactical Call Signs

Tactical	Call sign	Name	Notes
Alpha	KB0YRZ, KB0UBZ	Chris and Ben	Tracking and Recovery Coordinator
Bravo	WA0GEH, KC0D	Marty and Mark	Tracker
Charlie	K0SCC	Steve	Tracker
Delta	W9CN, KD0JIT	Mike and Miles	Tracker
Echo	KC0RPS, W0NFW	Jim and George	Tracker
Fox	KC0ZIE, K0JEF, KD0OGQ	Darren, Jeff, David and Tony	Tracker
Golf	KC0UUO, N0NDM	Rob and Larry	Tracker and Launch Operations
Hotel	KB0LP	Dave	Tracker
India	W0CBH	Benjie and Rosie	Tracker
Juliet	N0IX	Doub	Flight Coordinator, Tracker