We are GO for launch this Saturday! The launch site will be at the Denton RC Airfield. Setup will begin at 8:00AM, and launch will be at 9:00AM.
The Richardson Area Balloonatics / Richardson Wireless Klub will be launching a high-altitude weather balloon on Saturday November 1st, weather and upper atmosphere conditions permitting. The launch will be 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 (9:00AM to ~11:00AM ascent, and on the ground by noon).
We will have a special event QSL card if you receive images/tracking data from the balloon or make contact through the onboard repeater. This post will have a form on launch day to submit for a QSL card or Worked All Payloads (“WAP”) award.
Flight Goals
- Test improved launch methods — new scale, new balloon neck mechanism
- Finally capture some 360° camera footage from launch to burst — had battery issues on our 8/23 launch, WILL WE GET IT THIS TIME?!
- Measure balloon pressure delta with fancy Honeywell sensor
- Demonstrate 20m FT-8 payload, hopefully with stations local and afar
- Demonstrate Pi Pico W bluetooth interpayload communication
- Collect data from inertial sensors in neck of balloon to determine balloon burst status (for use in future cutdown payload)
| Payload | Callsign | Frequency | Participate |
| SSTV + Wenet / SSDV | KE5GDB | 432.5MHz SSTV Robot 36 (FM) 431.5MHz Wenet 96kbaud I2S | SSTV on the air – Robot 36 Wenet live images at http://ssdv.habhub.org/KE5GDB Wenet RX |
| Crossband Repeater | K5RWK | 446.0MHz Downlink 147.435MHz + PL67.0 Uplink | On the air |
| FT-8 Transponder | K5RWK | 14.074MHz | On the air |
| Tracker – RS41 BMP680 Sensor | K5RWK | 432.700 @ 100 baud USB (-1KHz dial) | On the air / track online How to decode Decode online |
| Tracker – RS41 Tried and true | K5UTD | 432.900 MHz USB (-1KHz dial) | On the air / track online How to decode Decode online |
| 360 Camera | SD card | Video after launch | |
| Balloon Neck Sensors | W5ADC | Bluetooth -> Wenet | Grafana @ balloon.k5nbc.com |
| Radar Reflector | KI1TEN | S-band, C-band | Major bonus points for seeing it on WSR-88D or TDWR |
Ways to participate from afar
- Track the payloads at https://amateur.sondehub.org/ (look for K5RWK, K5UTD, and KE5GDB-Wenet)
- Get in the log by making an FT-8 QSO with the balloon on 20m – callsign K5RWK
- Receive SSTV pictures in real-time – 432.5 MHz / Robot 36
- Make contacts through the crossband repeater – 147.435MHz PL 67.0 uplink, 446.0 (no PL) downlink
- Decode our tracking payloads – “Horus Binary v2” on 432.6, 432.7, and 432.9 MHz (decode using upper sideband and Horus GUI or https://horus.sondehub.org)
- Watch live images stream in via Wenet at https://ssdv.habhub.org/KE5GDB
Participate in person
- Launch site Denton RC Airfield
- Launch prep begins at 8:00AM with a target launch time of 9:00AM
- If chasing, please carpool — we’ve had congestion issues before
- Chase simplex is on 146.54MHz — please bring an HT that can talk on 146.54 if chasing
- Chase crew should bring boots, long pants, plenty of bug spray, and lots of water! Be prepared for a bit of a hike and high temperatures!
We hope to see you at the launch or hear you on the crossband repeater!
