PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Thanks Andy. Is there a reason why you don't use a resonant antenna on the balloon flight ... e.g. the transmitter hanging under the balloon on a 7.2m length of wire and another 7.2m trailing as the other half of a 30m band dipole? Weight? or ?
Quite incredible for 25mW ... currently the 30m JT65 signal is decoding at -1 "dB"
FWIW at this distance I am finding Olivia decodes OK when the JT65 signal gets to -5. JT65 is generally reliable to -20 or -22 "dB"
I hope all goes well on Saturday, I am looking forward to it.
73,
Quite incredible for 25mW ... currently the 30m JT65 signal is decoding at -1 "dB"
FWIW at this distance I am finding Olivia decodes OK when the JT65 signal gets to -5. JT65 is generally reliable to -20 or -22 "dB"
I hope all goes well on Saturday, I am looking forward to it.
73,
Bob, ZL1RS in the Bay of Islands at RF64vs
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Hi all..
Not doing as good as Bob here.....JT65 comes in at a best figure of -9dB and Olivia I am still yet to decode this evening...deep fading kills it about mid point of TX...
Just now ( 8:39GMT) decoded an Olivia.....s/n remained a steady -9 to -10dB.
looking back, I think the one I just decoded had no data....and a time of something like 23:59:00 which is way way off..
Not doing as good as Bob here.....JT65 comes in at a best figure of -9dB and Olivia I am still yet to decode this evening...deep fading kills it about mid point of TX...
Just now ( 8:39GMT) decoded an Olivia.....s/n remained a steady -9 to -10dB.
looking back, I think the one I just decoded had no data....and a time of something like 23:59:00 which is way way off..
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
John ... maybe someone put up a decent antenna for 30m this week
Bob, ZL1RS in the Bay of Islands at RF64vs
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Evening QRM about to smash vk3yt balloon in test
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
yes weight is the problem, i need to trim every mg!ZL1RS wrote:Thanks Andy. Is there a reason why you don't use a resonant antenna on the balloon flight ... e.g. the transmitter hanging under the balloon on a 7.2m length of wire and another 7.2m trailing as the other half of a 30m band dipole? Weight? or ?
Quite incredible for 25mW ... currently the 30m JT65 signal is decoding at -1 "dB"
FWIW at this distance I am finding Olivia decodes OK when the JT65 signal gets to -5. JT65 is generally reliable to -20 or -22 "dB"
I hope all goes well on Saturday, I am looking forward to it.
73,
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Hi all....
Is the payload still running or being packaged up.....heard an Olivia earlier but nothing after it..
Yeah yeah Bob.....one day you will have to pull down the pole on the South Is, which Is holding up one end of your dipole.....then you can talk..lol
Is the payload still running or being packaged up.....heard an Olivia earlier but nothing after it..
Yeah yeah Bob.....one day you will have to pull down the pole on the South Is, which Is holding up one end of your dipole.....then you can talk..lol
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Still on John, will pack it up tonight.VK2FAK wrote:Hi all....
Is the payload still running or being packaged up.....heard an Olivia earlier but nothing after it..
Yeah yeah Bob.....one day you will have to pull down the pole on the South Is, which Is holding up one end of your dipole.....then you can talk..lol
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
H all....
Just decoded a partial Ollivia.....this is what I was talking about in an earlier post from yesterday....
$$VK3YT,0,23:59:48,2.0000,0.0000,0,0
is this a hard wired thing at the moment.....looks a similar time as the one I decoded yesterday...
its only 40mins past the hour now...surely not 59 mins.....
Just decoded a partial Ollivia.....this is what I was talking about in an earlier post from yesterday....
$$VK3YT,0,23:59:48,2.0000,0.0000,0,0
is this a hard wired thing at the moment.....looks a similar time as the one I decoded yesterday...
its only 40mins past the hour now...surely not 59 mins.....
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Good pickup John,VK2FAK wrote:H all....
Just decoded a partial Ollivia.....this is what I was talking about in an earlier post from yesterday....
$$VK3YT,0,23:59:48,2.0000,0.0000,0,0
is this a hard wired thing at the moment.....looks a similar time as the one I decoded yesterday...
its only 40mins past the hour now...surely not 59 mins.....
The payload is indoor now so every now and then it takes too long for gps to lock and causes a reset.
What you see is the first packet after reset.
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Seems to be in the air ........
Bob, ZL1RS in the Bay of Islands at RF64vs
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Hi all....
Yes Bob, has been up since 7am.......Andy said you have been getting Olivia already....
if you can get IRC....#picospace..
Yes Bob, has been up since 7am.......Andy said you have been getting Olivia already....
if you can get IRC....#picospace..
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Prediction:
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Nice spot Andy, the little transmitter doing well
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Looks like this one has landed local to me. I'm headed out that way tomorrow so I'll have a look around for it.
I had the computer set up to decode data, but it looks like the front end is needs some fixin'.
I had the computer set up to decode data, but it looks like the front end is needs some fixin'.
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Hi all,
It’s been a fun day, thanks to everyone for assistance with testing.
The balloon was tracked all the way until it landed near Tamworth, by VK1, VK2, VK3, VK5, VK6, VK7, ZL1 stations.
We had WSPR spots for the balloon from as far as the US, 15,000km away.
Payload #2 of PS-23 will be released tomorrow.
Initially planned for a multi balloon tracking test, it will do WSPR, Olivia and JT9.
So if you want to see what JT9 can do with 25mW from a balloon , download the software, connect the radio and see for yourself!
Same frequencies and time-slots, but with JT9 in place of JT65.
Regards
Andy
It’s been a fun day, thanks to everyone for assistance with testing.
The balloon was tracked all the way until it landed near Tamworth, by VK1, VK2, VK3, VK5, VK6, VK7, ZL1 stations.
We had WSPR spots for the balloon from as far as the US, 15,000km away.
Payload #2 of PS-23 will be released tomorrow.
Initially planned for a multi balloon tracking test, it will do WSPR, Olivia and JT9.
So if you want to see what JT9 can do with 25mW from a balloon , download the software, connect the radio and see for yourself!
Same frequencies and time-slots, but with JT9 in place of JT65.
Regards
Andy
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Great fun Andy, very interesting tracking your balloon payload, still getting wspr reports coming thru on 30m. Might be hanging from a tree branch
Will look out for your next one.
73
Will look out for your next one.
73
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Hi Andy, JT9 is good! just a note to others that may be unfamiliar with this mode / software - make sure you select JT9 and not JT9 / JT65 under the mode tab otherwise it will only decode JT9 signals that are above 2Khz on the waterfall.
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
That's exactly where it was.VK5EI wrote:Great fun Andy, very interesting tracking your balloon payload, still getting wspr reports coming thru on 30m. Might be hanging from a tree branch
Will look out for your next one.
73
We rounded up some of the scouts from the local jota and took them out for a bit of a drive in the country side.
Ron VK2HRD was out there first and didn't take long to spot the balloon in the tree on the side of the hill.
We could see the bottom end of the antenna dangling in the breeze and it looked like the payload might has caught on a fence or a tree as it came over the last hill and snapped off.
After some looking around we couldn't find much and has a much closer look at the tree. The payload was very well camouflaged in the tree with most of the leaves being the same size as the solar panels.
It was high up in the tree and we had a few attempts of cutting and breaking branches to get it down but in the end we just had to snare it and carefully pull it down.
So the payload has been recovered and there are lots of excited kiddies.
The two tiny panels broke during the recovery and I've disconnected the battery so it doesn't cause a problem with the currently flying balloon.
Battery voltage was 1.6V, the leaves of the tree had been shading the panels.
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Well done Trash Great to see the kids enjoying the funside of amateur radio.
Re: PS-23 PICO balloon HF payload testing
Good recovery Trash!
If you send it back I can repair and re-launch for the Scouts to track on their day off!
Regards,
Andy
If you send it back I can repair and re-launch for the Scouts to track on their day off!
Regards,
Andy