HamBONE-LD1 just after liftoff
This balloon mission, launched at 10:12Z on June 27, 2001, was a first
try at setting a record for flight duration. Among ham balloonists
there is a semi-formal registry of
mission records
kept by Ralph Wallio. The longest latex flight recorded there (as of the date of LD1) is 5 hours 26
minutes, flown in January 2000. We think we can reach 8 hours with a
carefully flown latex weather balloon, and possibly achieve much longer
flights in the future with more complex lift systems. If we can achieve
repeatable results, this could enable some interesting long-duration
missions... like flying a cross-band amateur radio repeater all day
for a special event,
or sending cameras into the stratosphere for extended periods for
severe weather tracking.
The payload package for HamBONE-LD1 consisted of:
Telemetry format (sent every 2 minutes) :
June 27, 2001 - flight day, clear and calm.
10:12Z (MET 0:00) - a picture-perfect launch!
We did not plan to recover the payload package, since it could land far
away after many hours of flight. However, after landing we could still
copy the 10m beacon from the launch site (using a 3-element Yagi) and got
a bearing of 40 degrees true. A drive in that direction later on Wednesday
got us quite close to the package, close enough to get meter-moving signals
on an 8" receiving loop antenna. The package lies less than a mile west
of Sky Park airport in Red Hook, NY. However, that area is densely
forested and I strongly suspect that
the antenna frame is caught in a treetop. I have a close
enough position estimate that I could probably spot it from the air.
But who would launch an aerial search for a $20 box of electronics?!?
Oh well, it was a first try. Perhaps we will still beat the
record one day. Post-flight analysis should reveal some interesting
things about low-lift latex balloon flights...
UPDATE - Feb. 10, 2002! We finally retrieved the package from this
flight, hanging high in a tree just off Yantz Road south of Red Hook. It
was an easy matter to hook the package from another tree and bring it down.
The electronics were in remarkably good shape, considering that the box had
been out in the weather for 228 days! We plan to re-use parts from this
package for the HamBONE-LD4 flight later this year.
VVV DE KA2QPG/BALLOON LD1 UP #H ##M ALT ### OAT [NEG] ##C BAT #R#V AR
where:
UP = time since launch in hours and minutes
ALT = barometric pressure in random units
OAT = outside air temperature in whole degrees C
BAT = primary battery voltage in volts and tenths
11:12Z (MET 1:00) - estimated altitude 10,000 feet, battery 8.1V
12:12Z (MET 2:00) - estimated altitude 25,000 feet, battery 7.8V
13:12Z (MET 3:00) - estimated altitude 40,000 feet, battery 6.9V
14:12Z (MET 4:00) - altitude indeterminate, battery 6.9V
14:32Z (MET 4:20) - FALLING! altitude ~ 25,000 ft, battery 6.6V
14:50Z (MET 4:38) - DOWN! OAT 26 degrees C, battery 6.9V
Raw 10m telemetry (transcribed with CWGet)
Air temperature (graph)
Pressure (graph)
The horizontally polarized 10m omni antenna
Tony testing the lift with payload attached
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Page updated February 12, 2002
