THE CROWNING MOMENT

The high-altitude balloon experiment took place on August 20, 1995 (Sunday). The launch was made into a clear sky by two individuals from Environment Canada, from the parking lot behind the Environment Canada warehouse at 1514 GMT. They have donated the balloon, and covered all the Transport Canada paperwork for us before the launch (a LOT of work).

Since the winds were high (9 to 14 knots), the two launchers had to run with the balloon and the payload from a shelter to an open field to prevent the balloon from bursting.

THE PAYLOAD

The balloon payload included an HF beacon transmitting Morse code on 28.090, and a VHF packet mailbox on 145.790. We intended to transmit the Global Positioning System (GPS) data every minute on this VHF frequency.

Environment Canada also included their own radiosonde into the payload, attached on a tether 100 feet below the UMARS payload. They were testing out an emergency weather data collection system, in parallel with our GPS experiment and temperature and humidity sensors.

EXPERIENCE

Unfortunately for us, the movement was too much for the payload, so the GPS and HF beacon stopped working as the launchers ran across the field. Before we could discover this and fix the problems, the balloon was floating overhead! The last position the GPS gave us was the parking lot behind the Environment Canada warehouse that we launched from! We did, however, have a functioning packet mailbox, with an incredible number of hams trying to log into it. The response was overwhelming!

It was planned that we were to give updates based on our GPS data to Air Traffic Control every 15 minutes so they could divert air traffic. (Those Transport Canada people were also very supportive of our project!). We were forced to give the best estimates we could using visual spotting and our backup radio direction finding methods as we were not receiving GPS data. Environment Canada also called us with a position report just over an hour after launch.

Unfortunately, Environment Canada lost their balloon signal after 62 minutes. The winds from the west were higher than expected, so the balloon was travelling at 60 knots at 30,000 feet when the last precise position using the Environment Canada LORAN system lost the signal, as it was obstructed by nearby buildings.

We stayed in contact with the balloon for another 50 minutes, thanks to the efforts of VE4ABE and VE4ARN at Balloon Central at our University club room (and a 110-watt linear amplifier and high - gain receiver preamp on our 150 foot repeater antenna!).

The balloon continued eastward over Northwestern Ontario, and likely had reached about 75,000 feet before popping (we used an 1100 gram Totex balloon - it was too windy for the 90,000 cu ft. Raven).

We have not yet recovered the payload but have an estimate of where it ended up thanks to Envonment Canada and the data they collected from their radiosonde attached to our payload. We estimate it to have come down within 20 km of the Willard Lake and Vermillion Bay Area (nearer to Dryden) in the heart of cottage country. We are not going to send out search parties to find it at this time but the $100 reward still stands for any who may find it.

Ontario Department of Natural Resources was contacted about the payload, and a bulletin was faxed to all the helicopter pilots currently working in the areas between Kenora and Thunder Bay on the forest fires. Local offices of the OPP, bush pilots in Kenora and Dryden, CKDR radio in Dryden, and amateur radio operators in the area have also been alerted to be on the lookout for the payload in their travels.

The club has decided to get another callsign for experimental projects like the balloon launches so as not to be confusing to people logging into the digital radio mailbox on the payload. This callsign is VE4UMX. (Note: this has now been approved by Industry Canada). Also, if a packet mailbox is sent up in the next payload we will have it on its own frequency so that telemetry information will not be affected and fox hunting will be made easier.

FINALL COMMENTS

Although we have not retrieved our payload yet, we have learned a lot and are already working on new designs for the next balloon launch. I would expect the next one to be in the spring or late fall at the earliest. We are currently working on data received from Environment Canada on the flight in order to produce flight data profiles for the 62 minutes that information is available for. Briefly, some of the major point are that the balloon was ascending at an average rate of only about 520 ft/min, and that the last speed recorded was about 60 knots.

We have gone through the packet logs and have sent out QSL cards to those radio amateurs who actually connected and those who tried to connect with the payload.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to all hams outside the project who helped us try to track the balloon by monitoring the frequencies and offering help in a variety of different ways. Thanks also to Akjuit Aerospace Incorporated who sponsored the aquisition of the necessary hardware and software for our balloon projects, and to Environment Canada for arranging the paperwork and donating the balloon and time to set up and launch. Thanks also to Linnet Geomatics International Inc., for donating electronic maps of Manitoba for use with the tracking software, and to Bristol Aerospace Ltd., who helped us design a payload parachute.

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