 ARBONET-2
High Altitude Balloon Flight
Members of the ARBONET (Amateur Radio Balloons
Over NorthEast Texas) organization are making final preparations for the
April 28th launch of ARBONET-2.
The second in an on-going series of high altitude balloon flights carrying
Amateur Radio, ARBONET-2 is being dedicated to the memory of Kim R. Miles,
N9IS SK, a long time contributor to the central Indiana Windtrax Amateur
Radio High Altitude Balloon team who passed away March 27th at the age
of 51.
ARBONET-2 will be launched from the JD Trissell Airport in Clarksville,
TX which is located in the northeast corner of the Lone Star State. Launch
time is scheduled for 9:00 AM CDT on Saturday April 28th.
Current winds aloft forecasts indicate the ground track of the flight
will carry the amateur payloads into the southwest corner of the state
of Arkansas. If ARBONET-2 reaches its expected altitude of 96,000 ft,
radio amateurs in parts of as many as seven states should be able to monitor
the beacons and communicate through the cross band repeater onboard the
near space vehicle.
The compliment of payloads aboard ARBONET-2 include:
A plain language homing beacon that will transmit navigation data to
the ground on 146.560 MHz in plain English thus allowing anyone with a
scanner or 2 meter hand-held in the coverage zone to follow the progress
of the flight without the need for additional equipment to process the
data.
An APRS beacon operating on 144.390 MHz to report vehicle location data
throughout the duration of the flight and to aid in the recovery of the
packages following descent.
A 70 cm Up / 2 meter Down Cross band FM repeater (445.800MHz Up - 147.560
MHz Down) will support two way communications during the duration of the
ARBONET-2 flight.
A 10 meter CW beacon experiment produced by the Richardson Wireless Klub,
K5RWK will transmit a 500 milliwatt signal on 28.061 MHZ.
In addition, ARBONET-2 will carry a number of secondary payloads that
will perform remote data collection functions for analysis once the payloads
are recovered. These payloads include a 4 mega pixel digital camera configured
to capture images every 30 seconds through the duration of the flight,
a self contained balloon burst video system designed to capture images
of the balloon burst event, a three axis accelerometer and other environmental
data loggers.
Operators are encouraged to submit reception reports from the ARBONET-2
flight to team members via the ARBONET web site: www.arbonet.net.
A special commemorative QSL card will be made available to everyone who
submits reception reports to the ARBONET team.
An ARBONET Launch Information HF net will be held on 7.260 MHz ( ±
10 KHz) beginning at 8:30 AM CDT to report the progress of flight preparations
and to provide real time coverage of the expected 2 and a half hour flight.
The ARBONET team encourages radio amateurs throughout the flight's coverage
zone to make use of the payloads aboard ARBONET-2.
Additional updates will be posted to the ARBONET web site in the days
leading up to the mission. In the event weather conditions cause a postponement
of the launch, the next launch attempt is scheduled for the following
Saturday, May 5th.
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