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Long Duration Flight Techniques

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Continuous Vent Hole – Latex balloons

Conduit Pipe with 1/16” hole in end cap

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Continuous Vent Hole – Latex balloons

Ascent Rate – 17 hour flight with 1500 gm latex balloon

4/26/2008

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Continuous Vent Hole – Latex balloons

RESULTS:

-1/16” hole reaching peak altitude 1 hour before sunset:

17.5 hour flight floating between 98,000 to 107,000 feet

-1/16” hole launched mid-day for Field Day:

Normal flight but achieved higher than usual 115,000 feet

- TWO 1/16” holes:

Flight leveled off at 23,000 feet and slowly descended landing with balloon intact

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Vent Valve and Ballaster – Latex balloons

Using items from Lowes, Autozone and Walmart

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Vent Valve and Ballaster – Latex balloons

Using items from Lowes, Autozone and Walmart

710 mW – RTTY and audio CW - AM

WB8ELK UHF Telemetry Xmtr

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1 W – RTTY, Hellscreiber and DominoEX

WB8ELK HF Telemetry Xmtr

GPS data, temperature, pressure, voltage

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1 W – RTTY, Hellscreiber and DominoEX

WB8ELK HF/VHF Telemetry Xmtr

Final PC Board Version

10Mixed Signal – Analog and Digital Blocks

Cypress PSoC Microcontroller

11HF/VHF synthesized output – 10 mW

Cypress CY22393 clock chip

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Ben Gelb’s N1VF CW/Hellscreiber Xmtr

Hellscreiber Mode

13Hellscreiber reception of W1MX balloon

Hellscreiber Mode

14W1MX/balloon from 1400 miles distance

Hellscreiber Mode

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IZ8BLY Hell-Hell automated screenshots

Hellscreiber Mode

16MixW and DTRC are two popular programs

RTTY Mode

17MixW and DTRC are two popular programs

RTTY Mode

18MFSK 18 tones – very weak signal

DominoEX5 Mode

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ATV Simplex Repeater

DVR 8100Electronics123.com

- 10 sec video clips- stores on SD card- 5 fps video

Keypad interfaceoperated by BasicStamp

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ATV Simplex Repeater

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ATV Simplex Repeater

C6810 DVRElectronics123.com

- 4 channel input- 99 sec video clips- stores on SD card- 15 fps video

- Controlled by serial interface fromBasic Stamp

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Serial Output TV camera - SSTV

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Long Duration Balloons

Polyethylene Zero Pressure

- If vented, can stay aloft at float altitude for several days with ballast drop each night

- Expensive to buy

- Difficult to make

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Long Duration BalloonsCylinder Balloon (helium or hydrogen filled)

- Vent at bottom, can stay aloft several days with ballast drop each night

- Relatively easy to make with a heat sealer

WB8ELK launch of ES-OS cylinder balloon built by NG0X

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Long Duration Balloons

UTARC Spirit of Knoxville Trans-Atlantic Flight attempt

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Solar Balloons – only Hot Air(one day flight)

-Can be assembled with Scotch Tape

- Inflated with a fan

-Sun does the rest

-Can stay at float altitude all day long until sunset

- Tetroon only takes 3 seams and approximates a sphere

KC8UCH

Solar Tetroon and Cylinder

http://www.solar-balloons.com

http://mail.gpacademy.org/~rochter/

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Long Duration floater flightsLATEX Floaters

-Vent valve in balloon neck

-Ballast drop

- Several hours to 20+ hrs

- UV degradation of latex will limit time aloft when sunlit

-Low-tech idea proven out by Dr. Jean Laby:

( tie string to top of balloon to lift ping-pong style valve in balloon neck)

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Long Duration floater flights-No vent valve

-No ballast

-20 plus hour flights

-Standard latex balloons

-Low free lift

-Released a few hours before sunset

-Ascent stops at balloon sunset

HiBall Launch Video

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Solar Irradiance vs. Ascent Rate

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Ascent Stops at Sunset

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Launched from Huntsville, AL1400 miles downrange in 20 hours

Green = Daytime portion Violet = Nighttime portion

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Long Duration floater flightsUsing READY HYSPLIT to predict flight paths for multi-day missions

- Registration required by FAXing in request on your group’s letterhead

- Once registered, can do long range forecasts at various float altitudes

- Can run archived data without registration

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Long Duration floater flights

JANUARY Flight Paths(72 hours aloft)

Float altitudes:

Red – 45,000 feetBlue – 60,000 feetGreen – 75,000 feet

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Long Duration floater flights

MARCH Flight Paths(72 hours aloft)

Float altitudes:

Red – 45,000 feetBlue – 60,000 feetGreen – 75,000 feet

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Long Duration floater flights

JULY Flight Paths(72 hours aloft)

Float altitudes:

Red – 45,000 feetBlue – 60,000 feetGreen – 75,000 feet

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Long Duration floater flights

OCTOBER Flight Paths(72 hours aloft)

Float altitudes:

Red – 45,000 feetBlue – 60,000 feetGreen – 75,000 feet

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Long Duration floater flights

NOVEMBER Flight Paths(72 hours aloft)

Float altitudes:

Red – 45,000 feetBlue – 60,000 feetGreen – 75,000 feet

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The Future of Balloon Technology?

http://www.wb8elk.com

Launch Video