BACAR takes to the air next Sunday

BACAR 2010 (Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio) will be launched from Worcester Airport in South Africa's Western Cape on Sunday 24 January at 11:00 CAT.

The duration of the flight will depend on the direction of the prevailing upper air wind.

Spectators are welcome to join the launch at the airport. Commentary of the launch will be covered on 7 082 kHz.

BACAR 2010 has an extensive payload:
A 5 W FM parrot repeater 145,550 MHz FM working with a rubber duck antenna. The repeater receiver and transmitter use the same frequency. Transmit simplex and listen to your signal returning. The beacon is activated if the repeater is not used for a period of one minute.

The beacon sends the following in voice: ID, GPS location, altitude and temperature.

The 20 m transmitter operates on 14,285 MHz SSB at 0,5 W peak envelope power (or PEP).

The 40 metre transmitter operates on 7,090 MHz SSB at 0,5 W PEP.

The 2 Meter SSB transmitter operates on 144,350 MHz SSB at 0,5 W PEP.

The 2-, 20- and 40 m transmitters will - for test purposes - send a DSB-suppressed carrier transmission in order to evaluate its use with simple receivers. The transmitters will transmit every three minutes with the following information in voice: ID, location, altitude and temperature.

For more detail about the GPS and camera on board, visit www.amsat.org.za. Monitor the website during the flight for updates and pictures. The website will be updated as new information becomes available.

The South African Radio League