Articles and other information related to On The Air Operations, Special Events, Activations, DXxpeditions, Portable and Mobile On The Air Activities, Nets, etc.
I’ve been pretty active on the 6m band the past few years. The addition of the MSK144 mode for Meteor Scatter contacts has been a lot of fun and has added some new grid squares to my total.
6m Grids Worked Using MSK144 Meteor Scatter During the 2017 Orionids
I wanted to share a new post from our Stationproject Blog about our experiences with making 6m contacts using Meteor Scatter propagation and the MSK144 mode. You can read the article and see a video of a Meteor Scatter contact via the link below.
We are planning the second launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-2) this Saturday, October 28th at approximately 11 am ET.
You can view the story of our first launch here on our website and you can view the video from our first High-Altitude Balloon launch above.
High-Altitude Balloon Launch Site and Weather
The weather and Jetstream conditions look good for our HAB-2 launch!
HAB-2 Launch Site in Winchester NH
We will be launching from the school in Winchester, NH at around 11 am ET. Nashua Area Radio Society members and friends are invited to join us for our launch.
HAB-1 Launch!
We have been working with the STEM club at Bishop-Guertin HS here in Nashua, NH. The students will handle HAB-2 launch preparations and the launch. Launch preparations will begin on site at 9:30 am ET.
Winchester NH Weather Forecast for Launch
The weather forecast looks great for our launch on Saturday with clear skies and moderate winds. These conditions should enable us to capture some spectacular video from HAB-2 during its flight!
Tracking HAB-2
I wanted to share some information about tracking our HAB-2 as it flies. Our balloon will carry’s a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS Transmitter.
HAB Flight Platform
The onboard APRS transmitter will operate on the Amateur Radio standard terrestrial APRS frequency of 144.390 MHz and will transmit our HAB’s position, heading, speed, altitude and other telemetry data every minute during HAB-2’s flight. The transmitter is battery-powered and generates a 250 mW signal into a dipole antenna suspended from HAB’-2s flight platform. HAB-2 will use N1FD-11 as its call sign.
Based upon online HAB flight prediction calculators that we have been using, we expect the HAB’s flight to last a little more than 2 1/2 hours. The HAB should reach an altitude of over 105,000 ft before the balloon bursts and the parachute on the flight platform brings HAB-2 back to the ground at a safe speed. The above predictions will likely somewhat different from HAB-2’s actual flight path. Based upon the predictions, HAB-2 will be traveling approximately 100 km between its takeoff point and landing near Maine.
HAB APRS Packet Information
Aprs.fi will store and display a copy of all of the APRS AX.25 packets transmitted by HAB-2 during its flight. Of particular interest to the STEM element of the flight will be the Balloon’s data on atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions at different altitudes.
All you need to track HAB-2 during its flight is Internet access and a web browser. Just click on one of the aprs.fi links here to see HAB-2’s current location and altitude. If you have an APRS ground station, you may also be able to receive HAB-2’s telemetry directly during the flight.
One of the best meteor showers of the fall, the Orionid Meteor Shower, will peak on Friday night with over a dozen meteors streaking across the night sky every hour.
Source: Orionid meteor shower: Friday night to bring excellent viewing conditions in the Eastern US.
It looks like this weekend is going to be a good time to work Meteor Scatter contacts on 6m! The Orionid’s peak tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) night, October 20th and 21st. We’ll be operating using WSJT-X MSK144 mode on 6m. We are planning to use our Remote Operating setup to take advantage of our SDR’s receiver capabilities and the connected 500w amplifier.
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