AMSAT-UK

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UBSEDS19/20 balloons launch from Bristol

Posted: 26 Aug 2016 01:45 PM PDT
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/08/26/ubseds19-20-balloons/


Richard 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.

Were 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.

Theres more information about the tracker itself he
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
doesnt support it just yet. Hence receivers should upload to
http://ssdv.bristol-seds.co.uk/ instead, please read the instructions on
this site. Youll need dl-fldigi release 3.2 and slightly modified LoRa
gateway, as explained on the site. The dl-fldigi release can be found he
https://github.com/jamescoxon/dl-fld...leases/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