Tag Archives: UKHAS

Aug 25 2019

Talks by radio amateurs at UKHAS Conference London Sept 7

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon - Image credit Dave Akerman M0RPI

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M0RPI

The 2019 UK High Altitude Society Conference is taking place in White City, London on Saturday, September 7. Ticket sales close August 31.

The conference takes place at The Invention Rooms, 68 Wood Lane, White City, London, W12 7TA, and attracts those interested in learning about building and flying High Altitude Balloons or in tracking their 434 MHz signals.

Some of the radio amateurs giving talks on high altitude balloon communications are:

• AutoRX by Mark Jessop VK5QI

• Citizen space exploration & inflatable spacecraft by Michael Johnson M0MJJ

• The Apollo Flight – model-making and tech behind the dashboard by Dave Akerman M0RPI

• Insurance & UKHAS Server Support by Steve Randall G8KHW

• Recovering, Reprogramming and Re-flying Radiosondes by Andrew Mulholland MI0BPB

• Hwoyee NSL-45 Experiences by Dave Akerman M0RPI and Steve Randall G8KHW

There will be helium and foil balloons available for the pico launch at the end of the conference.

UKHAS conference information is at https://ukhas.org.uk/general:ukhasconference2019

Tickets are at https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/shop/club-society-project-products/space-society–products/27226/uk-high-altitude-society-conference-ticket

Mar 8 2019

ICSEDS 434 MHz balloon launch

GPS module with Guitar wire antenna and HC12 module - credit ICSEDS

GPS module with Guitar wire antenna and HC12 module – credit ICSEDS

Medad Rufus reports two balloons with 434 MHz transmitters built by Imperial College Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (ICSEDS) will launch from Wormwood Scrubs, London on Saturday, March 9.

On the UK High Altitude Society reflector Medad posted:

This is a launch announcement for the launch of ICSPACE6 & 7 from Wormwood Scrubs, London, UK. We have had some success with the launches of our previous pico balloons and we hope it works 100% this time.

The hardware is nearly identical to the previous launch; only software changes made. The winds are expected to take it towards the Netherlands/Belgium and further east into Germany.

Here is the information about the balloons to be launched tomorrow:

Callsign: ICSPACE6
RTTY: 434.600 MHz USB
50 baud 745 Hz shift ASCII-8 no parity 2 stop bits
Launch time aim: 10:40 am on March 9
Transmits 10 pips before transmitting message. 30s gap between each transmission

Callsign: ICSPACE7
RTTY: 434.250 MHz USB
50 baud 745 Hz shift ASCII-8 no parity 2 stop bits
Launch time aim: 11:40 am on March 9
Transmits 10 pips before transmitting message. 30s gap between each transmission when below 3000m. Above 3000m, it will transmit with a gap of 60 seconds.

We appreciate all listeners for our flights. I hope this flight goes well.

Here is information about the launch of ICSPACE4 & 5 four weeks ago.
https://www.union.ic.ac.uk/guilds/icseds/2019/02/high-altitude-ballooning-group-launch-a-balloon-that-again-landed-in-the-netherlands/

Source UKHAS Groups IO https://groups.google.com/d/msg/ukhas/2GCKl5uiNJQ/473DfDsiBgAJ

Real-time balloon track can be seen at https://tracker.habhub.org/

Listen to the signals online with the Farnham WebSDR http://farnham-sdr.com/

Useful High-Altitude Balloon links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Jul 8 2018

434 MHz balloon launch from Goonhilly

Goonhilly GHY-1 "Arthur"

Goonhilly GHY-1 “Arthur”

Phil M0DNY is planning to launch a high altitude balloon or two on Tuesday, July 10 from the Goonhilly Earth Station on the Lizard in Cornwall, nearby to the Marconi Wireless Testing Station.

Any help with tracking would be greatly appreciated!

We’re currently undecided between morning or late-afternoon. If we go for morning then we may also launch a second later near-identical balloon later in the day. 5m/s ascent, ~35km burst.

Two Trackers:

• Callsign: 1900 (year of construction of the Marconi Wireless Station)
– Calling Beacon: 433.650MHz.100 LoRa Mode 5
– Telemetry: 434.300 MHz LoRa 20.8K SF10 4/5 Explicit

• Callsign: 1901 (year of first over-the-horizon transmission received at the Wireless Station, from the Isle of Wight)
– 434.100 MHz USB RTTY 50bd 7n2 480Hz

I’ll post updates in #highaltitude on the day when I can.

For tuning in on the pi-in-the-sky LoRa gateway, the config you need is:

CallingTimeout=60
frequency_<x>=433.650
mode_<x>=5
AFC_<x>=y

Thanks, Phil M0DNY

The 434.100 MHz FSK RTTY balloon signal should be receivable across most of the British Isles using a radio capable of SSB reception in 434 MHz. Online tracking at https://tracker.habhub.org/

No radio? Use the SUWS online radio to receive signals from 434 MHz High Altitude Balloons when they are range of London (select USB mode) http://farnham-sdr.com/

Links to #highaltitude IRC chat, UKHAS mailing list, Online Radio and Tracking information at
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

May 5 2017

UBSEDS24 Balloon with SSDV Successfully Launched

UBSED24 flight path May 8, 2017

UBSED24 flight path May 8, 2017

Richard Meadows M0SBU reports there will be a second attempt to launch the Raspberry Pi Zero equipped 434 MHz balloon UBSEDS24 early Monday morning.

Update: At 1700 GMT May 8 the team reported “Our Raspberry Pi Zero balloon #UBSEDS24 is over France”.

On the UKHAS Google Group Richard writes:

There’s going to be another attempt to launch this flight from Bristol this Monday, May 8 between 0500 and 0530 BST [0400-0430 GMT]. This is weather permitting, but the forecast looks okay at the moment.

This launch is using a 1.9m envelope and longer payload train, and so there’s a NOTAM in place. This tracker has a Raspberry Pi Zero V1.3 attached, which transmits images when solar power is available. It’s a different design to our launch last August; in this case the tracker will continue to operate even if the pi fails. For the curious the ‘pi status’ telemetry values are: 0 = off, 1 = on, 2 = PITS started, 3 = SSDV started).

SSDV picture taken by from UBSEDS24 on May 8, 2017

SSDV picture taken by from UBSEDS24 on May 8, 2017

There will hopefully be a cutdown mounted between the balloon and the tracker. We’ll be testing the 434 MHz uplink to this whilst it’s still in range of Bristol; if it returns over the UK at a convenient time and place we will attempt to trigger the cutdown.

The tracker has several transmissions:

– 434.635 MHz USB Telemetry – Contestia 16/1000 with pips and RSID, transmitting telemetry. Once per minute below 8km altitude and every two minutes otherwise.

– 434.637.5 MHz SSDV – Two modes:
(1) While balloon over UK and English channel GMSK at 12 ksymbol/s. 4×4 interleaved, R=1/2 convolutional K=5, HDLC framing, whitened etc. as per the AX5043 manual. Concatenated with RS(255,223) to mop up some burst errors.
(2) Outside UK 300 baud RTTY, 850 Hz shift, 8N2.

If you are listening to the RTTY, remember to turn off the ‘RxID’ button on the top right of dl-fldigi.

Rather than the usual JPEG SSDV, this is transmitting Better Portable Graphics (BPG) images. This is experimental, and ssdv.habhub.org doesn’t support it just yet. Hence receivers should upload to http://ssdv.bristol-seds.co.uk instead, please read the instructions on this site. You’ll need dl-fldigi release 3.2, as explained on the site. James Coxon M6JCX has made the dl-fldigi release available at: https://github.com/jamescoxon/dl-fldigi/releases/tag/3.2

The flight is expected to head south towards France. Many thanks to everyone who attempts to track this.

Track the balloon online at https://tracker.habhub.org/

Listen to the balloon online with the SUWS WebSDR link at https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

UBSEDS https://twitter.com/bristolseds
http://www.bristol-seds.co.uk/hab/flight/2017/05/08/ubseds24.html

Richard M0SBU who is involved in the UBSEDS project took the amateur radio training courses run by the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society (CARS) at Danbury in Essex. Further information on the courses is available from the CARS Training Coordinator, Christopher G0IPU
Tel: 07908-107951
Email: training2017 at g0mwt.org.uk
Web: http://g0mwt.org.uk/training

What is Amateur Radio? http://www.essexham.co.uk/what-is-amateur-radio

Find an amateur radio training course near you https://thersgb.org/services/coursefinder/

Sep 14 2016

Ledbury 434 MHz School Balloon Launch

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon - Image credit Dave Akerman M6RPI/2E0LTX/M0RPI

SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M6RPI/2E0LTX/M0RPI

Ryan Ing reports he will launch a high altitude balloon with a 434 MHz Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) payload from the John Masefield High School Thursday, September 15.

The balloon’s transmitter should have a range of some 500-600 km for much of its flight permitting reception across the UK.

Ryan says: I’ll be doing my first launch around 10am Sept 15 from my sixth form in Ledbury, Herefordshire.  Predicted to burst at 32km, landing somewhere near Leominster.

RTTY, 434.250 MHz, 300 baud, 770 Hz Shift, 2 stop bits and 8 bit ASCII. With SSDV

Online real-time tracking of balloons http://tracker.habhub.org/

Useful High Altitude Balloon, UKHAS and SSDV links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Aug 26 2016

UBSEDS19/20 balloons launch from Bristol

UBSEDS IMG_2406Richard Meadows M0SBU reports two high altitude balloons carrying 434 MHz payloads will launch from Bristol on Monday, August 29. There will be Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) transmissions.

Online real-time tracking of UBSEDS balloons https://tracker.habhub.org/#!mt=roadmap&mz=8&qm=3_days&q=UBSED*&f=UBSEDS20

We’re planning the first launch of ‘pico-pi’, our Raspberry Pi Zero based tracker, from Bristol this Bank Holiday Monday, August 29 between 0500 and 0530 BST. This launch is using a 1.9m envelope and longer payload train, and so we have a NOTAM in place.

There’s more information about the tracker itself here: https://github.com/bristol-seds/pico-pi-rel

The combined payload mass will be about 70 grams, and the attempted float altitude will be about 13 km. This is our first launch of this setup, so it seems unlikely that everything will go to plan!

First is the UBSEDS19 backup tracker, which is powered from a single AAA Lithium Energiser battery. It transmits Contestia 16/1000 with pips and RSID on 434.615 MHz USB, once per minute below 8km altitude and every two minutes otherwise. The battery is expected to last a few days.

Next is UBSEDS20, which is the experimental Raspberry Pi Zero board. This is powered from solar panels only, and hence is only expected to operate continously after about 0830 BST (before this it may transmit without a GPS lock, as the Raspberry Pi and GPS are powered down).

– 434.610 MHz USB: 300 baud RTTY, 850Hz shift, 8N2 transmitting telemetry and SSDV. There is also Contestia 16/1000 with RSID on this frequency. If you are listening to the RTTY, remember to turn off the ‘RxID’ button on the top right of dl-fldigi.

– 869.85 MHZ LoRa ‘Mode 3’ (250kHz / SF7 / EC4:6, explicit header), transmitting SSDV with the callsign ‘UBSEDL’. This frequency is only active in Europe. Many thanks to Dave Akerman M0RPI for making his work on LoRa available for us to use, including the lora gateway.

Rather than the usual JPEG SSDV, this payload is transmitting Better Portable Graphics (BPG) images. This is experimental, and ssdv.habhub.org doesn’t support it just yet. Hence receivers should upload to http://ssdv.bristol-seds.co.uk/ instead, please read the instructions on this site. You’ll need dl-fldigi release 3.2 and slightly modified LoRa gateway, as explained on the site. The dl-fldigi release can be found here: https://github.com/jamescoxon/dl-fldigi/releases/tag/3.2

Many thanks to everyone who attempts to track these.

Richard Meadows M0SBU
Bristol SEDS http://www.bristol-seds.co.uk/

Useful balloon links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Richard took the amateur radio courses run by the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society (CARS) at Danbury in Essex. Further information on the courses is available from the CARS Training Coordinator, Christopher G0IPU
Tel: 07908-107951
Email: training2016 at g0mwt.org.uk
Web: http://g0mwt.org.uk/training