VK Logger Ham Radio Forum Archive

Barry, Yes it was us. Here is a cross post of an item I released to Facebook a couple of days ago explaining things: Hi everyone. If you have ever followed any of the activities of Project Horus, the high altitude balloon project based in SA, you may remember the dual launch the group conducted back...

Technically the requirement is simple. The station is the callsign not the operator - So VK4TS is the station in Mooloolaba - not me - a suitably qualified operator can use that station and callsign. Actually this isn't technically correct. The station does not hold the callsign, the operator does....

Richard, Yes I know it would cause the you know what to fly in some cases. I still believe that at the very least, the WIA should adopt a use it or loose it policy, even if it is used in the future to justify what some would perceive as "alleged sub optimal interference management practices&quo...

Adrian, As Andrew has pointed out, the first is your local U2100 carrier and yes it looks like U900 is there as well but both are very marginal indeed. (-107 is about the lowest you can make a reliable call in a built up area in my experience. You can access the network lower but have a high probabi...

Richard, Perhaps the WIA should pursue a policy with ACMA that amateur repeaters can be de-listed if they are dormant/off air for more than 1 year? After all, if someone wants a service they can surely get it back to air it if fails within that time frame? I know in the past when I was involved with...

More Optus towers have u900 (low band 3G) than u2100 high band 3G these days. Every tower in regional Australia now has u900. No tower will have gsm and not have 3G. As for iPhone. Only iPhone 3/3s had no u900 low band 3G (Telstra u850 only). But I suspect many don't have a 4+ year old smart phone ...

Hello, It's been over 18 years since I was active on ATV here in SA (considering I started my amateur radio career in 1987 on ATV). Back then we had 3 analogue repeaters (426AM->576VSB VK5RTV, 444VSB->1286 VSB VK5RWH, and 1250FM->2415FM VK5RLZ at three sites in Adelaide plus a 426->444 AM/VSB repeat...

Thanks Adam and Roger for your replies in particular as well as to others who replied constructively. So my conclusions from reading all the references people gave are: 1) Defense will most likely want (and get) a portion. 2) Digital Audio Broadcasting in one of it's incantations appears to be a con...

Trent, OK - but you said there are people interested. If that is the case, who might they be? Considering for example across all of Victoria according to ACMA there are only 189 assignments total in the 70-85MHz segment which totals (if each assignment is a unique channel) barely 15% of spectrum use...

Question 1: Do you have a "protective" cover on your iPhone? Some have been found to be made of materials that do their best to actually attenuate the signal very effectively (one I was told about cost a phone about 10dB of it's performance). Question 2: Can you tell us more about the sign...

Has anyone heard anything about what ACMA plans to do with the old Band I analogue TV spectrum? It doesnt strike me as being overly useful for land mobile due to Sporadic E and large reuse distances (I dont think the remaining 70MHz band is all that well populated anyway). Cellular/trunking systems ...

Firstly, Project Horus wishes to say a big thank you to the Sunraysia Radio Club and Wireless Institute of Australia for inviting us to attend the WIA AGM and Technical Symposium, and for supporting our group launching from the Mildura area. The group is overwhelmed with the response we received to ...

We have now updated the group's web blog with details about this weekend's flights. Take a look here: http://projecthorus.org/?page_id=1470

Regards,
Grant VK5GR

Will the RTTY telemetry frequencies be different between the two baloons or should we expect some QRM when both are in the air? The beacons will be on different channels. HORUS with the voice repeater will be 434.075. DARKSIDE which will be the video/camera payload will be I expect on 434.650 (not ...

Folks, The Project Horus group has some breaking news on the High Altitude Balloon Flights currently planned for this weekend! As already announced, the balloon carrying the amateur radio repeaters, designated HORUS-26 - will be lifting off Sunday morning. The lift off time for this balloon has been...

For those going to the AGM and planning on chasing the balloon, make sure you are well equipped for remote areas. It could be a long flight

It is quite possible there will be NO CELLULAR where you will be going and no VHF coverage from Mildura. HF Mobile would be worth considering.

We can now confirm the flight number. After a successful test flight of one of our telemetry systems today, the next launch in the series will be Horus 26! Looking forward to seeing people at the AGM and talking to you all on the flying cross-band repeater. For the Twitter followers, keep watching h...

VK5ZD wrote:Maybe you should also have a boat on standby in case it lands in the river

We will terminate the flight before it looks like landing in the river

I am planning on tracking the balloon in Mildura for the 'recovery', I have set up dl-digi and the interface for RX of the telemetry in the 4WD. I also have a 3G modem that I can access the internet for uploading the data & also looking at the online map. The question I have is that if there is...

Ashley, We are playing with a separate send/receive telemetry payload with nichrome wire heated on command to melt the nylon string. If we master that and are happy we can fly floaters, extended flights become easier to manage rather than going for assent rates that guarantee burst. It also helps us...