RWK Balloon Launch Announcement – Saturday 5/31

The Richardson Area Balloonatics will be planning to launch a high-altitude weather balloon on Saturday May 31, weather and upper atmosphere conditions permitting. The launch will be from Gainesville (details below), just north of the DFW metroplex, but near apogee at ~100,000ft we expect coverage to include most of Texas and Oklahoma, with some Arkansas and Louisiana coverage as well. The flight is expected to last around 2.5 hours (9:30AM to ~11:30AM ascent, and on the ground by noon).

We will have a special event QSL card if you receive data/images from the balloon or make contact through the DMR repeater. We’ll also have a Worked All Payloads award for the certified radio freaks. Scroll to the bottom of this page to submit for a QSL card and/or Worked All Payloads award.

Join us for the launch

Launch details:

• Launch site will be from Edison Park in Gainesville TX (North of Denton on I-35) https://www.gainesville.tx.us/facilities/facility/details/Edison-Park-10
• Launch prep begins at 8:30AM with a target launch time of 9:30AM
• If chasing, please carpool — we’ve had congestion issues before
• Chase simplex is on 146.54MHz — please bring at least an HT if you plan to chase
• Target burst over Farmersville — will adjust ascent rate / lift parameters to achieve this on launch morning

Current Prediction:

Participate from Your Shack

Ways to participate from afar (see payload table below for more details):

• Watch this page for live status updates
• Track the payloads on Sondehub Amateur (look for K5RWK, KE5GDB, and K5UTD)
• Receive and decode SSTV pictures in real-time
• Make contacts through the DMR repeater
• Listen to the KD5OUG Digi-talker on 146.52 MHz
• Decode our tracking payloads
• Watch live images stream in via Wenet
• Track K5RWK-11 on aprs.fi (balloon will not transmit on APRS but receiving stations should gateway the position.

Check out these RWK articles for more details:

• How To Participate In The May 2025 RWK Balloon Launch From Your Shack
• How To Program Your DMR Radio For The Balloon Single Frequency Repeater
• Build a Ground Tracking Station for the May 2025 RWK Balloon Launch

Payloads

Payload	Callsign	Frequency	Participate
SSTV + Wenet / SSDV	KE5GDB	432.5MHz FM SSTV 431.5MHz Wenet 115.2kbaud	SSTV On the air – Robot 36 Wenet live images at https://ssdv.habhub.org/KE5GDB
DMR Repeater	KE5GDB	441.0 MHz / CC1 / TS1 / TG99	On the air – configure radio for simplex
WSPR Beacon / Traquito	K5UTD	20m / 14,097,060	On the air / track online
Digi-Talker	KD5OUG	146.52MHz FM	On the air
Tracker – RS41	K5RWK	432.7MHz USB	On the air / track online How to decode
Tracker – RS41	KE5GDB	432.8MHz USB	On the air / track online How to decode

Apply for QSL Card or “Worked All Payloads” Award

After the launch, tell us all the ways that you interacted with the Balloon and possibly earn the prestigious “Worked All Payloads” award.