Recent News and Announcements

TABEL-6 Still Images Added On: Dec 03 2009 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 Here are some still images from TABEL-6.
Create your own Google Earth files. Added On: Oct 08 2008 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 I have been working on a little web app that some of you guys might appreciate. You can upload APRS logs of your balloon flights and it will create a KML file from that data. It is rather limited in features. 1) Currently it only support Location, GPGGA and Mic-E packets. 2) It only has balloon icons. I will be adding more icons and the ability to parse more packets as time allows. I will be releasing the source code to the packet parser soon. It is written in C# One nice thing is you can download track predictions from Balloon Track Online and create KML files. This gives you the ability to view the prediction in 3-D. Here is the URL. http://www.groovin.net/ke4pjw/balloon/kml.php Enjoy! Regards, Terry Trapp KE4PJW
TABEL-6: Google Earth Added On: Sep 06 2008 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 I have created a KML file of the flight of TABEL-6. You may need to adjust your "Touring Speed" in Google Earth to help speed the tour of the flight. Enjoy!
TABEL-6: The Complete Flight Added On: Sep 04 2008 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 An overview of the TABEL-6 flight.
TABEL-6 Recovered Added On: Sep 01 2008 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 TABEL-6 was successfully launched at 10:45 AM CDT from 36 13.990N 086 28.220W. The 7 pound combined payload and 8.5 pounds of nozzle lift gave a fairly slow 600 FPM ascent. Landing was at 2:16 PM CDT in the vicinity of 36 17.48910N 086 18.55955W, just north of Lebanon, TN. All parts of the payload were recovered. The addition of the experimental 26" drogue chute attached to the balloon worked well, with the balloon partially wrapped around the drogue chute risers but not enough to keep it from inflating and keeping the balloon away from the main parachute. Launch Video from the Balloon payload.
TABEL-6 Postponed Added On: Aug 30 2008 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 Landing predictions show that the balloon could land either in Percy Priest Lake and/or inside the BNA Controlled Airspace. Neither of these are desirable. Predictions for Monday, September 1st are much more favorable with a landing east of Lebanon. Thus we will postpone the launch to Monday 9/1/08 at 10:00 AM. Bruce
TABEL-6 Launch Announcement Added On: Aug 28 2008 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 The Tennessee Balloon Group (NT4BG) will be launching our sixth experimental package on Saturday, August 30th at 10:00 AM. The launch location will be at the QTH of: Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV 8749 Lebanon Rd. Mt. Juliet, TN 37122 36 13.990N 086 28.220W EM66sf The main experiment will be an ATV payload with the downlink on 439.25 MHz. The package includes: Videolynx ATV transmitter ~3.5W OT1 for audio ID via packet burst that includes GPS info and other telemetry Intuitive Circuits OSD-GPS board for Video ID and GPS info Rockwell Jupiter GPS board 12V Lithium AA battery pack OAL little Wheel Additional package is an APRS tracker, callsign is NT4BG-11. HTX-200 on 144.39MHz OT1X GPS-18 9v Lithium battery pack We will also use a 50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon. We will use a 1500g Balloon and a sub one pound, 60 inch parachute. Experimenting with an 18" drogue chute attached to the balloon to see if that will keep the balloon from tangling with the main parachute. Hydrogen is the lifting gas. Total payload weight should be about 6 lbs. We hope to reach over 100K feet. There is no cut down mechanism. Please join us for the launch or chase of this balloon. We will use 444.975+, CTCSS 107.2 during the chase. Preparation for launch starts at 8:00AM. Let us know if you are able to monitor any of the payloads and include your location and ay other pertinent data by emailing to: Current predictions show a landing in the vicinity of Lascassas, TN. Bruce -- Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV Tennessee Balloon Group, NT4BG
TABEL-5 Announcement. Added On: Aug 01 2008 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 The Tennessee Balloon Group (NT4BG) will be launching our fifth experimental package on Saturday, August 2nd at 10:00 AM. The launch location will be at the QTH of: Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV 8749 Lebanon Rd. Mt. Juliet, TN 37122 36 13.990N 086 28.220W EM66sf The main experiment will be an ATV payload with the downlink on 439.25 MHz. The package includes: Videolynx ATV transmitter ~3.5W Byonics PocketFox chip in a TinyTrack3 for audio ID Intuitive Circuits OSD-GPS board for Video ID and GPS info Rockwell Jupiter GPS board 12V Lithium AA battery pack Additional package is an APRS tracker, callsign is NT4BG-11. We will also use a 50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon. We will use a 1500g Balloon and a sub one pound, 60 inch parachute. We will use Hydrogen as the lifting gas. Total payload weight should be about 6 lbs. We hope to reach over 100K feet. There is no cut down mechanism. Please join us for the launch or chase of this balloon. We will use 444.975+, CTCSS 107.2 during the chase. Preparation for launch starts at 8:00AM. Let us know if you are able to monitor any of the payloads and include your location and ay other pertinent data by emailing to >. Current predictions show a landing in the vicinity of Lascassas, TN. Bruce -- Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV Tennessee Balloon Group, NT4BG
In-Flight Video Added On: Apr 04 2007 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-3 I have started to upload some of our videos to Google Video. TABEL-3 TABEL-4 Launch TABEL-4 Landing
TABEL-4 Mission Report, Video & Picture Links Added On: Jul 27 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-4 On Sunday afternoon (7/23/06) TABEL-4 launched during a brief lull in some 10 knot gusts. Launch was at 1422 and landed at 1644. Participants for this Launch were: Terry Trapp, KE4PJW Jenna Trapp, KG4QQK Tilghman Lesher,KI4KUA Bruce Martin, KQ4TV Susan Martin Thanks! Payloads (Including parachute) Parachute 0lb 14oz Beacon 0lb 4oz Tracker 1 1lb 13oz Experimental Payload 4lb 5oz Total Payload 7 4 Filling Assembly 1lb 10oz Desired Free Lift 2lbs 8oz Scale during inflation should display 8lbs 2oz It was very difficult to measure the lift as the surface gusts where pretty stout. It was all we could do to hang on to the balloon and filler assembly. Looks like we had 2.5 lbs of free lift as desired. Launch was at 1422 20070723, @ Decimal Degrees: 36.23315N 86.47052W Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 13.989N 086 28.231W Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 13 59.3N 086 28 13.9W Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0547580 4009939 Military Grid Reference System: 16S EF 47580 09938 Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM66sf Landing was at 1644 20070723, @ Decimal Degrees: 36.16350N 86.27883W Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 09.810N 086 16.730W Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 09 48.6N 086 16 43.7W Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0564863 4002324 Military Grid Reference System: 16S EF 64863 02323 Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM66ud Landing was in a 60ft tree. Once we had the recovery tools it only took us about 30 minutes to get it out of the tree and we wre on our way home in about an hour. The in-flight video captured the landing in the tree. TABEL-4: Launch Movies from Flight Stills from Flight Recovery For the record: GROUP: Tennessee Balloon Group, NT4BG CONTACT: Bruce Martin, KQ4TV Program WEB PAGE URL: http://www.groovin.net/ke4pjw/balloon/ FLIGHT ID: TABEL-4 DATE and TIME of release: 2007-07-23 1422 ENVELOPE model: Kaymont KCI 1500 PAYLOAD WEIGHT and CAPABILITIES: 14 oz. 48" Parachute 4oz. 50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon 1lb 13oz. Main Tracker: 12v battery pack, OT1x, & Maxon DM-0515 in the bottom with the Garmin 18 LVC wedged into the top of the container with dipole antenna. 4lbs 5oz Main Payload: 2-9v & 2-6v battery packs, HTX-200, OT1v4, Holux GR-213 GPS, Basic Stamp flight computer, Alinco DJ-41 for command reception and confirmation, Sony DSC-P50 2.1 megapixel digital camera pointing down and recording .mpg video, Olympus D-510 2.1 megapixel digital camera pointing out the side recording still pictures every 45seconds. FREE LIFT: estimated at 2.5 lbs ASCENT RATE: 1100ft./min. MAXIMUM ALTITUDE ASL: 95,587ft. GROUND TRACK DISTANCE: 11.7 miles PREDICTED LANDING to ACTUAL LANDING DISTANCE: 7.1 miles As a result of three flights we feel that the Holux GPS units are unsuitable for high altitude ballooning. TABEL-2 & TABEL-3 used a Holux GM-210. While reports to about 77,000 feet were received the there were none higher and the horizontal precision was way off. TABEL-4 used a Holux GR-213. Similar results were obseved as seen in the GM-210 except that above about 70,000 ft the GPS lost track. The Holux GM-210 uses a SiRF II chipset and the Holux GR-213 uses the SiRF III chipset.
TABEL-4 Rescheduled for today Added On: Jul 23 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 The weather looks good and the winds seem not too bad. Lets fly TABEL-4 today. Launch Point: 36.2332 -86.4702 (EM66SF) 8749 Lebanon Rd. Mt. Juliet 37122 Predicted Landing: 36.17016, -86.13217 19 miles ESE of the Launch point. Come join us at the launch point, at my house, about 11:30-12:00 today and we should get this launched by 1:30. Bruce, KQ4TV
TABEL-4 Postponed Added On: Jul 22 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 Having looked at the weather forecasts and the predicted landing area, the TABEL-4 flight today is postponed. I will look again at forecasts and flight predictions and decide if we will try again tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon. Either way I hope to make the announcement by 7-7:30 AM on Sunday morning (7/23). If we do launch tomorrow we will change the launch point to my house: 36.2332 -86.4702 (EM66SF) Bruce, KQ4TV
TABEL-4 Announcement Added On: Jul 18 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 I am announcing the fourth flight of the Tennessee Balloon Group, TABEL-4. (Tennessee Area Balloon Experimental Launch #4) Date/Time: Jul 22, 2006 10AM Central Time Mission Location: South of Lebanon, TN Callsigns/Freq/Modes: 144.39MHz APRS NT4BG-11 10 sec. time slot / 144.34MHz APRS NT4BG-12 TABEL-4 Details
TABEL-3 Video & Picture Links Added On: Jul 04 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 TABEL-3: Prep Launch Movies from Flight
TABEL-3 a near perfect flight. Added On: Jul 02 2006 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 The TABEL-3 flight was near perfect. Though we did not meet many of our goals, problems from previous flights seem to be fixed. Robin, K4IDC, did a great job of attaching a 10 meter microwatt beacon to the model of the Space Shuttle we were going to drop from the balloon, unfortunately the servo in the release mechanism I built, would turn a little every minute or so. This caused us to not fly the Shuttle model. We suspect RF was causing the servo problem. We had to move the launch site to Lebanon, Tn. The reason was to keep TABEL-3 from landing in Percy Priest Lake or at Nashville International Airport. I would like to extend a big thank you to Brian (KE4KVC), Travis (N4TJM), Shane (N4XWC) and everyone (sorry, I'm bad with names) for showing up. It was a real pleasure to have ya'll participate. Also thanks to Greg Williams (K4HSM) for sending his APRS log, Bill Brown (WB8ELK) for his predictions and advice, and George Currey (KG4OZL) for allowing us to launch in his back yard. Several of us were able to watch TABEL-3 fall right out of the sky only 100 yards away. Flight Objectives and Statistics can be found HERE. We will have about half a dozen quicktime movies, taken from a camera on TABEL-3, up on the web RSN.
TABEL-3 Launch date set Added On: Jun 11 2006 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 A launch date of July 1st has been set for TABEL-3. Launch site: Outside Mt. Juliet in Robin Midgett's (K4IDC) back yard. Decimal Degrees: 36.19677N 86.45620W Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 11.806N 086 27.372W Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 11 48.4N 086 27 22.3W Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0548890 4005910 Military Grid Reference System: 16S EF 48890 05909 Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM66se Robin Lives on Beckwith Road near East Division Street. This is about halfway between Mt. Juliet Road and Highway 109.
TNBG member silent key. Added On: Jun 01 2006 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 Terry Lester Trapp, my father, passed away 2006-05-23 due to complications with cancer. He attended our first launch (TABEL-1) and gave advice on the construction of the air-frame we used. He modified the parachute used on our TABEL-2 flight as well as the one on the upcoming TABEL-3 flight. He retired from Western Electric / AT&T in 1991 where he worked as a repairman for 18 years. Though not a collage graduate, he only needed to complete a single class in English to obtain bachelor's degrees in both Physics and Mathematics from MTSU. He was the person that introduced me to Ohm's law and introduced me to radio with the book "Elements Of Radio" (Copyright 1959, Marcus and Marcus). He taught me about the relationship of space-time when my peers were learning to read clocks. He was my father, my elmer and my friend. I am going to miss him so terribly much. Terry Lester Trapp 1937 - 2006
TABEL-3 Mission Added On: May 10 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 Mission objectives: Achieve max altitude >110,000 feet Test DTMF triggered cutdown mechanism "Fly" a model of Space Shuttle to be released at ~60,000 feet Track shuttle using 10m beacon Start 10m beacon at release of shuttle Capture video of shuttle package release Retrieve all flight packages Mission packages: Kaymont (formerly Kaysam) KCI TX1200 or KCI TX2000 Cold Weather (TX) Balloons A special latex compound w/other chemicals which permits balloon to reach the Tropopause where temperatures are lower than -75 degrees celcius and altitudes exceed 10 hPA. 12 oz, 48" Parachute 50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon Main Tracker: 12v battery pack, OT1x, & Maxon DM-0515 in the bottom with the Garmin 18 LVC wedged into the top of the container with the dipole antenna. Container is a discarded shipping box with styrofoam inner container used for shipping glass bottles of chemicals. Experiment Support: 9v & 6v battery packs, HTX-200, OT1x, Holux GPS, Basic Stamp flight computer, Digital camera, cutdown mechanism. Main Experiment: 18" Styrofoam model of the Space Shuttle, 10m CW beacon I recently found some information on radar reflectors and may include one in the chain near the 50mW beacon. Hope to have a Design review and Prelaunch planning meeting one week prior to launch. Current launch date possibilities: 10, 17, or 24 June 2006 Launch site: Outside Mt. Juliet in Robin Midgett's (K4IDC) back yard. Decimal Degrees: 36.19677N 86.45620W Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 11.806N 086 27.372W Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 11 48.4N 086 27 22.3W Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0548890 4005910 Military Grid Reference System: 16S EF 48890 05909 Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM66se Robin Lives on Beckwith Road near East Division Street. This is about halfway between Mt. Juliet Road and Highway 109.
TABEL-2 Recovered Added On: Apr 26 2006 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 I received a phone call yesterday from Shawn Dodd with the Sparta Fire department. He said that someone had left our payload at the fire hall and wanted to know if he should leave it outside for us to pick up. I asked if he could hold on to it and told him about the reward for returning it. Bruce and I drove out and picked it up from Mrs.. Dodd. We were in for a surprise as both of the payloads were there. However, the parachute and other hardware was missing. It was just the payloads. We wanted to know the exact location of the landing however, the Dodd's did not know who brought it to the firehouse. We have a sneaking suspicion that the person looks a lot like this distinguished gentleman. The payloads did their job and I belive that we have a pretty good understanding of why the backup tracker quit funtioning upon landing. We needed to secure the AA batteries with tape and lock the keypad on the tracker transmitter. There are some great images recovered from the cameras. Here are a handful of my favorites. In this shot, in the top left hand corner, you can see the moon out in the darkness of space. This picture was taken around noon. I believe that this is the storm front that moved in Saturday night/Sunday morning. Center hill lake. Robin Midgett's neighborhood. (The launch site) The images from the horizon camera can be seen here. The images from the bottom camera can be seen here. Thanks for everyone's participation in the TABEL-2 flight. Now is the time to start planning TABEL-3, hopefully we can launch it soon!
TABEL-2 Lost Added On: Apr 24 2006 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 I am sad to announce that the second flight of the Tennessee Balloon Group, TABEL-2. (Tennessee Area Balloon Experimental Launch #2) is lost. The last position reported was: 36 02.810N 085 32.910W 9462ft 18mph 171deg. EM76fb We believe it landed in the vicinity of Burgess Falls Road and Milk Plant Road in White County, Northwest of Sparta, TN. Decimal Degrees: 36.00713N 85.54033W Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 00.428N 085 32.420W Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 00 25.6N 085 32 25.1W Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0631549 3985725 Military Grid Reference System: 16S FE 31549 85724 Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM76fa At about 79,000 feet there was aperantly a malfunction in the AA4VU-12 tracker that caused it to continuously transmit a carrier at 5 Watts. This drowned out the <1 watt AA4VU-11 transmitter. It would seem that something jarred loose on landing as by 1:45 PM CDT everything went quiet. Because of some conflicting predictions we did not have people in the area to view any part of the descent and because of mistaking the last packet as being 94,000 instead of 9400 feet we searched in areas that were way out of range for possible landings. A search of the area on Saturday afternoon until sundown and for 6 hours on Sunday afternoon. We have spoken with a few residents of the area and posted a reward poster in a nearby corner Market. We are hoping someone finds it and contacts us. The use of Hydrogen as a lift gas went well. We had barely enough gas to give us the 3lbs of free lift we were looking for. But Early beacons seemed to confirm we were getting the 1000 fpm ascent rate that we were hoping to achieve.
TABEL-2 Update Added On: Apr 19 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 Launch is still slated for Mt. Juliet: The TABEL-2 launch will be ~10:00AM outside Mt. Juliet in Robin Midgett's (K4IDC) back yard. Decimal Degrees: 36.19677N 86.45620W Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 11.806N 086 27.372W Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 11 48.4N 086 27 22.3W Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0548890 4005910 Military Grid Reference System: 16S EF 48890 05909 Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM66se Current predictions are that AA4VU-11 will land somewhere between Celina, Cookeville and Sparta depending on how early we are able to launch.
TABEL-2 Announcement Added On: Apr 11 2006 \| Posted By: KQ4TV \| Relating to: TABEL-1 Date/Time: Apr 22, 2006 10AM Central Time Mission Location: Spring Hill, TN or Mt. Juliet, TN depending on landing predictions. Callsigns/Freq/Modes: 144.39MHz APRS AA4VU-11 10 sec. time slot / 144.39MHz APRS AA4VU-12 20 sec. time slot Webpages: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tnballoon/ http://www.groovin.net/ke4pjw/balloon. Additional Information: 1500g Balloon. This flight was postponed from last October. We are making some payload changes. We will not fly the ATV payload on this flight as we were looking to do last year. We will be flying two digital cameras. One pointing out the side of the package and one pointing out the bottom. Both cameras will be controlled by a Basic Stamp controller that Terry Trap (KE4PJW) is building. We will also have a Holux GM-210 GPS Receiver, OT1x, and an HTX-200 (200mW) on 144.39 APRS AA4VU-11 10 sec. time slot in this main package. Main objectives of this flight are to get pretty pictures and prove the Holux for flights above 18,000m We are planning to fly the main APRS tracker as a separate payload. This package consists of a Rockwell Jupiter GPS Receiver (proven high altitude model), an OpenTracker (OT1), and a Maxon DM-0515 VHF data radio (~5W) 144.39MHz APRS AA4VU-12 20 sec. time slot. We will be using Lithium AA cells made up in 6V, 9V and 12V packages to power different parts of these packages. We will use a 1500g Balloon and a sub one pound, 60 inch parachute. The current plan is to use Hydrogen as the lifting gas. Total payload weight should be about 7 lbs. Like TABLE-1 we hope to reach over 100K feet. There is no cut down mechanism.
Balloon Project (TABEL-1) Added On: Aug 07 2005 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 We gave it our best shot and learned a lot in the process. We had several problems, but over all I am happy. We would not have been able to get off the ground or recover the payload without the help of Bill Brown, WB8ELK. Our tank was a little slim on Helium so he offered to use one of his parachutes, that bought us an extra two pounds of lift. We were able to make a couple of contacts with the AP on the balloon at about 24,000Ft and 3 Miles down range. I suspect that the payload was swinging like a pendulum. The patch antenna would swing in our direction and then swing away. That would correspond with our on and off association with the AP. We also suspect that the AP was interfering with our GPS. We started receiving erroneous APRS data just after launch. This is where Bill saved the day (again). He flew his APRS payload futher up the "train" on an alternate frequency. We were able to track it with his payload. We have confirmed that the balloon reached an altitude of 100,485 feet. and a speed of 57mph, thanks to Fred Flowers, N4GER. Robin Midgett K4IDC and Jenna Trapp KG4QQK were able to spot the payload on it's decent. It landed in a tree between the duck river and a soybean field. It's final resting spot was 30.6 miles due west of the the launch site, near Centerville, TN. I would like to thank Bill Brown, WB8ELK and David Hoffman, KE4FGW for helping with the launch and recovery of our little balloon project. You guys really made all the difference. Images will be posted soon. The group hopes to fly again soon, though not with 802.11 on the next flight. However, I have a few thoughts on how to counteract the affect of the pendulum action on the antenna radiation pattern and hope to fly another payload like that soon.
Balloon Project (TABEL-1) Announcement Added On: Aug 03 2005 \| Posted By: ke4pjw \| Relating to: TABEL-1 This Saturday, Aug 6th, a group from Nashville, TN is launching a balloon from Springhill, TN. The payload will be a digital camera, an 802.11b access point and an APRS tracker. We hope to launch at 10AM. We would like as many amateurs as possible to attempt to connect to the balloon. It will be operating on Channel 5, No WEP and SSID of KE4PJW. It should provide host configuration VIA DHCP. We will be using netmeeting at the launch site. Simply connect to the host “netmeeting.ham” and if we have a good connection we will be able to video conference. For those that do not have netmeeting capability, we would like you to start up a web browser and visit http://www.ham The site should have a place for you to fill out your callsign and a short message. There may also be an IRC server setup at irc.ham. Ralph Wallio, W0RPK, sent me this prediction of coverage from 50kft (inner ragged edge) and 100kft (outer ragged edge). Details about the Access Point: We are using a stock Linksys BEFW11S4 AP/Router. We have diversity enabled. Antennas are a patch antenna pointed to the ground and one of the stock dipoles in the vertical position. Operating on Channel 5, No WEP and SSID of KE4PJW. Details about the APRS Tracker: The APRS encoder and transmitter is a Byonics Pocket Tracker. It produces about 150mW of power and will be using an inverted groundplane as an antenna. It should beacon with an SSID of AA4VU-11 Details about the Digital Camera: It is a small Polaroid digital camera that has been modified to take timed images. It should snap an images every 3 Minutes. Images will be very small. Details about the group: Just a group of friends including KE4PJW, K4IDC, KG4QQK, KI4AMX, KD4NMD, KQ4TV and KG4OZL. Details about the balloon, payload and etc: The balloon is a Kaymont KCI 1500. (1500gr) The payload is made from pieces of 2" polystyrene. The total weight of the payload will be just under 5lbs. The parachute is a 72" nylon chute. Details about flight and recovery comms: Launch:445.975 PL107.2 Recovery: To be Announced Details about Launch Site: Tennessee Children's Home We may be launching from either the field in front of the School's campus or the field in the rear of the campus. There will be a film crew documenting the launch and recovery. Contact: Terry Trapp - KE4PJW Those of you involved with the film crew, we have a message board located here.

TABEL-6 Still Images
Added On: Dec 03 2009 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

Here are some still images from TABEL-6.

Create your own Google Earth files.
Added On: Oct 08 2008 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

I have been working on a little web app that some of you guys might appreciate.

You can upload APRS logs of your balloon flights and it will create a KML file from that data.

It is rather limited in features.

1) Currently it only support Location, GPGGA and Mic-E packets.
2) It only has balloon icons.

I will be adding more icons and the ability to parse more packets as time allows.

I will be releasing the source code to the packet parser soon. It is written in C#

One nice thing is you can download track predictions from Balloon Track Online and create KML files.

This gives you the ability to view the prediction in 3-D.

Here is the URL.
http://www.groovin.net/ke4pjw/balloon/kml.php

Enjoy!
Regards,
Terry Trapp
KE4PJW

TABEL-6: Google Earth
Added On: Sep 06 2008 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

I have created a KML file of the flight of TABEL-6. You may need to adjust your "Touring Speed" in Google Earth to help speed the tour of the flight.

Enjoy!

TABEL-6: The Complete Flight
Added On: Sep 04 2008 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

An overview of the TABEL-6 flight.

TABEL-6 Recovered
Added On: Sep 01 2008 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

TABEL-6 was successfully launched at 10:45 AM CDT from 36 13.990N 086 28.220W.
The 7 pound combined payload and 8.5 pounds of nozzle lift gave a fairly slow 600 FPM ascent.
Landing was at 2:16 PM CDT in the vicinity of 36 17.48910N 086 18.55955W, just north of Lebanon, TN.
All parts of the payload were recovered. The addition of the experimental 26" drogue chute attached to the balloon worked well, with the balloon partially wrapped around the drogue chute risers but not enough to keep it from inflating and keeping the balloon away from the main parachute.

Launch Video from the Balloon payload.

TABEL-6 Postponed
Added On: Aug 30 2008 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

Landing predictions show that the balloon could land either in Percy
Priest Lake and/or inside the BNA Controlled Airspace.
Neither of these are desirable. Predictions for Monday, September 1st
are much more favorable with a landing east of Lebanon.
Thus we will postpone the launch to Monday 9/1/08 at 10:00 AM.

Bruce

TABEL-6 Launch Announcement
Added On: Aug 28 2008 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

The Tennessee Balloon Group (NT4BG) will be launching our sixth
experimental package on Saturday, August 30th at 10:00 AM.
The launch location will be at the QTH of:

Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV
8749 Lebanon Rd.
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122
36 13.990N 086 28.220W
EM66sf

The main experiment will be an ATV payload with the downlink on 439.25
MHz.
The package includes:
Videolynx ATV transmitter ~3.5W
OT1 for audio ID via packet burst that includes GPS info and other
telemetry
Intuitive Circuits OSD-GPS board for Video ID and GPS info
Rockwell Jupiter GPS board
12V Lithium AA battery pack
OAL little Wheel

Additional package is an APRS tracker, callsign is NT4BG-11.
HTX-200 on 144.39MHz
OT1X
GPS-18
9v Lithium battery pack

We will also use a 50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon.

We will use a 1500g Balloon and a sub one pound, 60 inch parachute.

Experimenting with an 18" drogue chute attached to the balloon to see
if that will keep the balloon from tangling with the main parachute.

Hydrogen is the lifting gas.

Total payload weight should be about 6 lbs.

We hope to reach over 100K feet. There is no cut down mechanism.

Please join us for the launch or chase of this balloon.
We will use 444.975+, CTCSS 107.2 during the chase.
Preparation for launch starts at 8:00AM.

Let us know if you are able to monitor any of the payloads and include
your location and ay other pertinent data by emailing to:


Current predictions show a landing in the vicinity of Lascassas, TN.

Bruce

--
Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV
Tennessee Balloon Group, NT4BG

TABEL-5 Announcement.
Added On: Aug 01 2008 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

The Tennessee Balloon Group (NT4BG) will be launching our fifth

experimental package on Saturday, August 2nd at 10:00 AM.
The launch location will be at the QTH of:

Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV

8749 Lebanon Rd.

Mt. Juliet, TN 37122

36 13.990N 086 28.220W

EM66sf

The main experiment will be an ATV payload with the downlink on 439.25
MHz.

The package includes:

Videolynx ATV transmitter ~3.5W

Byonics PocketFox chip in a TinyTrack3 for audio ID

Intuitive Circuits OSD-GPS board for Video ID and GPS info

Rockwell Jupiter GPS board

12V Lithium AA battery pack

Additional package is an APRS tracker, callsign is NT4BG-11.

We will also use a 50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon.

We will use a 1500g Balloon and a sub one pound, 60 inch parachute.

We will use Hydrogen as the lifting gas.

Total payload weight should be about 6 lbs.

We hope to reach over 100K feet. There is no cut down mechanism.

Please join us for the launch or chase of this balloon.

We will use 444.975+, CTCSS 107.2 during the chase.

Preparation for launch starts at 8:00AM.

Let us know if you are able to monitor any of the payloads and include
your location and ay other pertinent data by emailing to >.

Current predictions show a landing in the vicinity of Lascassas, TN.

Bruce

--

Bruce W. Martin, KQ4TV

Tennessee Balloon Group, NT4BG

In-Flight Video
Added On: Apr 04 2007 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-3

I have started to upload some of our videos to Google Video.

TABEL-3

TABEL-4 Launch

TABEL-4 Landing

TABEL-4 Mission Report, Video & Picture Links
Added On: Jul 27 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-4

On Sunday afternoon (7/23/06) TABEL-4 launched during a brief lull in some 10 knot gusts. Launch was at 1422 and landed at 1644.

Participants for this Launch were:

Terry Trapp, KE4PJW

Jenna Trapp, KG4QQK

Tilghman Lesher,KI4KUA

Bruce Martin, KQ4TV

Susan Martin

Thanks!



Payloads (Including parachute)
Parachute	0lb	14oz
Beacon	0lb	4oz
Tracker 1	1lb	13oz
Experimental Payload	4lb	5oz
Total Payload	7	4
  	 	
Filling Assembly	1lb	10oz
Desired Free Lift	2lbs	8oz
  	 	
Scale during inflation should display	8lbs	2oz

It was very difficult to measure the lift as the surface gusts where pretty stout.
It was all we could do to hang on to the balloon and filler assembly.
Looks like we had 2.5 lbs of free lift as desired.



Launch was at 1422 20070723, @
               Decimal Degrees:  36.23315N    86.47052W
       Degrees/Decimal Minutes:  36 13.989N  086 28.231W
  Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds:  36 13 59.3N 086 28 13.9W
Universal Transverse Mercator:  16S  0547580  4009939
Military Grid Reference System:  16S EF 47580    09938
       Maidenhead Grid Locator:  EM66sf


Landing was at 1644 20070723, @
                Decimal Degrees:  36.16350N    86.27883W
        Degrees/Decimal Minutes:  36 09.810N  086 16.730W
   Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds:  36 09 48.6N 086 16 43.7W
Universal Transverse Mercator:  16S  0564863  4002324
Military Grid Reference System:  16S EF 64863    02323
        Maidenhead Grid Locator:  EM66ud

Landing was in a 60ft tree. Once we had the recovery tools it only took us about 30 minutes to get it out of the tree and we wre on our way home in about an hour. The in-flight video captured the landing in the tree.

TABEL-4:

Launch

Movies from Flight

Stills from Flight

Recovery



For the record:
GROUP: Tennessee Balloon Group, NT4BG
CONTACT: Bruce Martin, KQ4TV
Program WEB PAGE URL: http://www.groovin.net/ke4pjw/balloon/
FLIGHT ID: TABEL-4
DATE and TIME of release: 2007-07-23 1422
ENVELOPE model: Kaymont KCI 1500 
PAYLOAD WEIGHT and CAPABILITIES:

14 oz. 
48" Parachute

4oz.
50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon

1lb 13oz. 
Main Tracker: 12v battery pack, OT1x, & Maxon DM-0515 in the  
bottom with the Garmin 18 LVC wedged into the top of the container  
with dipole antenna. 

4lbs 5oz
 Main Payload: 2-9v & 2-6v battery packs, HTX-200, OT1v4,  
Holux GR-213 GPS, Basic Stamp flight computer,

Alinco DJ-41 for command reception and confirmation,

Sony DSC-P50 2.1 megapixel digital camera pointing down and recording .mpg video,

Olympus D-510 2.1 megapixel digital camera pointing out the side recording still pictures every 45seconds.



FREE LIFT: estimated at 2.5 lbs
ASCENT RATE:  1100ft./min.
MAXIMUM ALTITUDE ASL: 95,587ft.
GROUND TRACK DISTANCE: 11.7 miles
PREDICTED LANDING to ACTUAL LANDING DISTANCE: 7.1 miles

As a result of three flights we feel that the Holux GPS units are unsuitable for high altitude ballooning.
TABEL-2 & TABEL-3 used a Holux GM-210. While reports to about 77,000 feet were received the there were none higher and the horizontal precision was way off.
TABEL-4 used a Holux GR-213. Similar results were obseved as seen in the GM-210 except that above about 70,000 ft the GPS lost track.
The Holux GM-210 uses a SiRF II chipset and the Holux GR-213 uses the SiRF III chipset.

TABEL-4 Rescheduled for today
Added On: Jul 23 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

The weather looks good and the winds seem not too bad. Lets fly TABEL-4 today.

Launch Point: 36.2332 -86.4702 (EM66SF)

8749 Lebanon Rd.

Mt. Juliet 37122

Predicted Landing: 36.17016, -86.13217

19 miles ESE of the Launch point.

Come join us at the launch point, at my house, about 11:30-12:00 today and we should get this launched by 1:30.

Bruce, KQ4TV

TABEL-4 Postponed
Added On: Jul 22 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

Having looked at the weather forecasts and the predicted landing area, the TABEL-4 flight today is postponed.

I will look again at forecasts and flight predictions and decide if we will try again tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.

Either way I hope to make the announcement by 7-7:30 AM on Sunday morning (7/23).

If we do launch tomorrow we will change the launch point to my house:
36.2332 -86.4702 (EM66SF)

Bruce, KQ4TV

TABEL-4 Announcement
Added On: Jul 18 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

I am announcing the fourth flight of the Tennessee Balloon Group, TABEL-4.
(Tennessee Area Balloon Experimental Launch #4)

Date/Time: Jul 22, 2006 10AM Central Time

Mission Location: South of Lebanon, TN

Callsigns/Freq/Modes: 144.39MHz APRS NT4BG-11 10 sec. time slot / 144.34MHz APRS NT4BG-12

TABEL-4 Details

TABEL-3 Video & Picture Links
Added On: Jul 04 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

TABEL-3:

Prep

Launch

Movies from Flight

TABEL-3 a near perfect flight.
Added On: Jul 02 2006 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

The TABEL-3 flight was near perfect. Though we did not meet many of our goals, problems from previous flights seem to be fixed.

Robin, K4IDC, did a great job of attaching a 10 meter microwatt beacon to the model of the Space Shuttle we were going to drop from the balloon, unfortunately the servo in the release mechanism I built, would turn a little every minute or so. This caused us to not fly the Shuttle model. We suspect RF was causing the servo problem.

We had to move the launch site to Lebanon, Tn. The reason was to keep TABEL-3 from landing in Percy Priest Lake or at Nashville International Airport.

I would like to extend a big thank you to Brian (KE4KVC), Travis (N4TJM), Shane (N4XWC) and everyone (sorry, I'm bad with names) for showing up. It was a real pleasure to have ya'll participate. Also thanks to Greg Williams (K4HSM) for sending his APRS log, Bill Brown (WB8ELK) for his predictions and advice, and George Currey (KG4OZL) for allowing us to launch in his back yard.

Several of us were able to watch TABEL-3 fall right out of the sky only 100 yards away.

Flight Objectives and Statistics can be found HERE.
We will have about half a dozen quicktime movies, taken from a camera on TABEL-3, up on the web RSN.

TABEL-3 Launch date set
Added On: Jun 11 2006 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

A launch date of July 1st has been set for TABEL-3.


Launch site: Outside Mt. Juliet in Robin Midgett's (K4IDC) back yard.

                 Decimal Degrees: 36.19677N 86.45620W
         Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 11.806N 086 27.372W
    Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 11 48.4N 086 27 22.3W
   Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0548890 4005910
  Military Grid Reference System: 16S EF 48890 05909
         Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM66se

Robin Lives on Beckwith Road near East Division Street. This is about
halfway between Mt. Juliet Road and Highway 109.

TNBG member silent key.
Added On: Jun 01 2006 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

Terry Lester Trapp, my father, passed away 2006-05-23 due to complications with cancer. He attended our first launch (TABEL-1) and gave advice on the construction of the air-frame we used. He modified the parachute used on our TABEL-2 flight as well as the one on the upcoming TABEL-3 flight.

He retired from Western Electric / AT&T in 1991 where he worked as a repairman for 18 years. Though not a collage graduate, he only needed to complete a single class in English to obtain bachelor's degrees in both Physics and Mathematics from MTSU. He was the person that introduced me to Ohm's law and introduced me to radio with the book "Elements Of Radio" (Copyright 1959, Marcus and Marcus). He taught me about the relationship of space-time when my peers were learning to read clocks.

He was my father, my elmer and my friend. I am going to miss him so terribly much.

Terry Lester Trapp

1937 - 2006

TABEL-3 Mission
Added On: May 10 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

Mission objectives:

Achieve max altitude >110,000 feet

Test DTMF triggered cutdown mechanism

"Fly" a model of Space Shuttle to be released at ~60,000 feet

Track shuttle using 10m beacon

Start 10m beacon at release of shuttle

Capture video of shuttle package release

Retrieve all flight packages

Mission packages:

Kaymont (formerly Kaysam) KCI TX1200 or KCI TX2000 Cold Weather (TX) Balloons

A special latex compound w/other chemicals which permits balloon to reach the Tropopause where temperatures are lower than -75 degrees celcius and altitudes exceed 10 hPA.

12 oz, 48" Parachute

50mW 2m (146.565MHz) FM/morse code ID Beacon

Main Tracker: 12v battery pack, OT1x, & Maxon DM-0515 in the bottom with the Garmin 18 LVC wedged into the top of the container with the dipole antenna. Container is a discarded shipping box with styrofoam inner container used for shipping glass bottles of chemicals.

Experiment Support: 9v & 6v battery packs, HTX-200, OT1x, Holux GPS, Basic Stamp flight computer, Digital camera, cutdown mechanism.

Main Experiment: 18" Styrofoam model of the Space Shuttle, 10m CW beacon

I recently found some information on radar reflectors and may include one in the chain near the 50mW beacon.

Hope to have a Design review and Prelaunch planning meeting one week prior to launch.

Current launch date possibilities: 10, 17, or 24 June 2006

Launch site: Outside Mt. Juliet in Robin Midgett's (K4IDC) back yard.


                 Decimal Degrees: 36.19677N 86.45620W
         Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 11.806N 086 27.372W
    Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 11 48.4N 086 27 22.3W
   Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0548890 4005910
  Military Grid Reference System: 16S EF 48890 05909
         Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM66se

Robin Lives on Beckwith Road near East Division Street. This is about

halfway between Mt. Juliet Road and Highway 109.

TABEL-2 Recovered
Added On: Apr 26 2006 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

I received a phone call yesterday from Shawn Dodd with the Sparta Fire department. He said that someone had left our payload at the fire hall and wanted to know if he should leave it outside for us to pick up. I asked if he could hold on to it and told him about the reward for returning it. Bruce and I drove out and picked it up from Mrs.. Dodd. We were in for a surprise as both of the payloads were there. However, the parachute and other hardware was missing. It was just the payloads. We wanted to know the exact location of the landing however, the Dodd's did not know who brought it to the firehouse. We have a sneaking suspicion that the person looks a lot like this distinguished gentleman.

The payloads did their job and I belive that we have a pretty good understanding of why the backup tracker quit funtioning upon landing. We needed to secure the AA batteries with tape and lock the keypad on the tracker transmitter.

There are some great images recovered from the cameras. Here are a handful of my favorites.

In this shot, in the top left hand corner, you can see the moon out in the darkness of space. This picture was taken around noon.

I believe that this is the storm front that moved in Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Center hill lake.

Robin Midgett's neighborhood. (The launch site)

The images from the horizon camera can be seen here.

The images from the bottom camera can be seen here.

Thanks for everyone's participation in the TABEL-2 flight.

Now is the time to start planning TABEL-3, hopefully we can launch it soon!

TABEL-2 Lost
Added On: Apr 24 2006 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

I am sad to announce that the second flight of the Tennessee Balloon Group, TABEL-2.
(Tennessee Area Balloon Experimental Launch #2) is lost.

The last position reported was:

36 02.810N 085 32.910W 9462ft 18mph 171deg. EM76fb

We believe it landed in the vicinity of Burgess Falls Road and Milk Plant Road in White County, Northwest of Sparta, TN.

Decimal Degrees: 36.00713N 85.54033W

Degrees/Decimal Minutes: 36 00.428N 085 32.420W
Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds: 36 00 25.6N 085 32 25.1W
Universal Transverse Mercator: 16S 0631549 3985725

Military Grid Reference System: 16S FE 31549 85724

Maidenhead Grid Locator: EM76fa

At about 79,000 feet there was aperantly a malfunction in the
AA4VU-12 tracker that caused it to continuously transmit a carrier at
5 Watts. This drowned out the <1 watt AA4VU-11 transmitter.
It would seem that something jarred loose on landing as by 1:45 PM CDT everything went quiet.

Because of some conflicting predictions we did not have people in the area to view any part of the descent and because of mistaking the last packet as being 94,000 instead of 9400 feet we searched in areas that were way out of range for possible landings. A search of the area on Saturday afternoon until sundown and for 6 hours on Sunday afternoon.

We have spoken with a few residents of the area and posted a reward poster in a nearby corner Market. We are hoping someone finds it and contacts us.

The use of Hydrogen as a lift gas went well. We had barely enough gas to give us the 3lbs of free lift we were looking for. But Early beacons seemed to confirm we were getting the 1000 fpm ascent rate that we were hoping to achieve.

TABEL-2 Update
Added On: Apr 19 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

Launch is still slated for Mt. Juliet:

The TABEL-2 launch will be ~10:00AM outside Mt. Juliet in Robin Midgett's (K4IDC) back yard.


                Decimal Degrees:  36.19677N    86.45620W
        Degrees/Decimal Minutes:  36 11.806N  086 27.372W

   Degrees/Minutes/Dec. Seconds:  36 11 48.4N 086 27 22.3W Universal Transverse   
                       Mercator:  16S  0548890  4005910
 Military Grid Reference System:  16S EF 48890    05909
        Maidenhead Grid Locator:  EM66se

Current predictions are that AA4VU-11 will land somewhere between Celina, Cookeville and Sparta depending on how early we are able to launch.

TABEL-2 Announcement
Added On: Apr 11 2006 | Posted By: KQ4TV | Relating to: TABEL-1

Date/Time: Apr 22, 2006 10AM Central Time Mission Location: Spring Hill, TN or Mt. Juliet, TN depending on landing predictions.

Callsigns/Freq/Modes: 144.39MHz APRS AA4VU-11 10 sec. time slot / 144.39MHz APRS AA4VU-12 20 sec. time slot

Webpages: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tnballoon/

http://www.groovin.net/ke4pjw/balloon.

Additional Information: 1500g Balloon.

This flight was postponed from last October.

We are making some payload changes. We will not fly the ATV payload on this flight as we were looking to do last year.

We will be flying two digital cameras. One pointing out the side of the package and one pointing out the bottom.

Both cameras will be controlled by a Basic Stamp controller that Terry Trap (KE4PJW) is building.
We will also have a Holux GM-210 GPS Receiver, OT1x, and an HTX-200
(200mW) on 144.39 APRS AA4VU-11 10 sec. time slot in this main package.

Main objectives of this flight are to get pretty pictures and prove the Holux for flights above 18,000m

We are planning to fly the main APRS tracker as a separate payload.
This package consists of a Rockwell Jupiter GPS Receiver (proven high altitude model), an OpenTracker (OT1), and a Maxon DM-0515 VHF data radio (~5W) 144.39MHz APRS AA4VU-12 20 sec. time slot.

We will be using Lithium AA cells made up in 6V, 9V and 12V packages to power different parts of these packages.

We will use a 1500g Balloon and a sub one pound, 60 inch parachute.

The current plan is to use Hydrogen as the lifting gas.

Total payload weight should be about 7 lbs.

Like TABLE-1 we hope to reach over 100K feet. There is no cut down mechanism.

Balloon Project (TABEL-1)
Added On: Aug 07 2005 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

We gave it our best shot and
learned a lot in the process. We had several problems, but over all I am
happy. We would not have been able to get off the ground or
recover the payload without the help of Bill Brown, WB8ELK. Our tank was
a little slim on Helium so he offered to use one of his parachutes, that
bought us an extra two pounds of lift. We were able to make a couple of
contacts with the AP on the balloon at about 24,000Ft and 3 Miles down
range. I suspect that the payload was swinging like a pendulum. The
patch antenna would swing in our direction and then swing away. That
would correspond with our on and off association with the AP.

We also suspect that the AP was interfering with our GPS. We started
receiving erroneous APRS data just after launch. This is where Bill
saved the day (again). He flew his APRS payload futher up the "train" on
an alternate frequency. We were able to track it with his payload.

We have confirmed that the balloon reached an altitude of 100,485 feet.
and a speed of 57mph, thanks to Fred Flowers, N4GER.

Robin Midgett K4IDC and Jenna Trapp KG4QQK were able to spot the
payload on it's decent. It landed in a tree between the duck river and a
soybean field. It's final resting spot was 30.6 miles due west of the
the launch site, near Centerville, TN.

I would like to thank Bill Brown, WB8ELK and David Hoffman, KE4FGW for
helping with the launch and recovery of our little balloon project. You
guys really made all the difference.

Images will be posted soon. The group hopes to fly again
soon, though not with 802.11 on the next flight. However, I have a few
thoughts on how to counteract the affect of the pendulum action on the
antenna radiation pattern and hope to fly another payload like that soon.

Balloon Project (TABEL-1) Announcement
Added On: Aug 03 2005 | Posted By: ke4pjw | Relating to: TABEL-1

This Saturday, Aug 6th, a group from Nashville, TN is launching a
balloon from Springhill, TN. The payload will be a digital camera, an
802.11b access point and an APRS tracker. We hope to launch at 10AM. We
would like as many amateurs as possible to attempt to connect to the
balloon. It will be operating on Channel 5, No WEP and SSID of KE4PJW.
It should provide host configuration VIA DHCP. We will be using
netmeeting at the launch site. Simply connect to the host

“netmeeting.ham” and if we have a good connection we will be able to
video conference. For those that do not have netmeeting capability, we
would like you to start up a web browser and visit http://www.ham The
site should have a place for you to fill out your callsign and a short
message. There may also be an IRC server setup at irc.ham.

Ralph Wallio, W0RPK, sent me this prediction
of coverage from 50kft (inner ragged edge) and 100kft (outer ragged
edge).

Details about the Access Point: We are using a
stock Linksys BEFW11S4 AP/Router. We have diversity enabled. Antennas
are a patch antenna pointed to the ground and one of the stock dipoles
in the vertical position. Operating on Channel 5, No WEP and SSID of
KE4PJW.

Details about the APRS Tracker: The APRS encoder
and transmitter is a Byonics Pocket Tracker. It produces about 150mW of
power and will be using an inverted groundplane as an antenna. It should
beacon with an SSID of AA4VU-11

Details about the Digital Camera: It is a small
Polaroid digital camera that has been modified to take timed images. It
should snap an images every 3 Minutes. Images will be very small.

Details about the group: Just a group of friends
including KE4PJW, K4IDC, KG4QQK, KI4AMX, KD4NMD, KQ4TV and KG4OZL.

Details about the balloon, payload and etc: The
balloon is a Kaymont
KCI 1500. (1500gr) The payload is made from pieces of 2"
polystyrene. The total weight of the payload will be just under 5lbs.
The parachute is a 72" nylon chute.

Details about flight and recovery comms: Launch:445.975
PL107.2 Recovery: To be Announced

Details about Launch Site: Tennessee Children's Home We may be
launching from either the field in front of the School's campus or the
field in the rear of the campus. There will be a film crew
documenting the launch and recovery.

Contact: Terry
Trapp - KE4PJW

Those of you involved with the film crew, we have a
message board located here.

Welcome

The Tennessee Balloon Group is a group of amateur radio operators who enjoy building, launching and retreving near-spacecraft. We are mostly from the Middle Tennessee area. The TNGB hopes to have at least 4 launches this year.

Track Your Flight in Google Earth

Click here to upload the APRS logs of your baloon flight and create a KLM file to use with Google Earth.