New Repeater Information
On June 4, 2010, the Rock Hill UHF repeater was installed at the WNSC-DT-FM Transmitter site, (exit 73, I-77 and SC 901) Rock Hill, SC. The repeater WR4SC, which will cover the York County area, is on 441.525 MHz with a PL tone of 123.0. To link to the Rock Hill repeater use *60.
On June 22, 2010, the Beech Island (North Augusta) UHF repeater was installed at the WLKJ-FM (ETV Radio) transmitter site, Beech Island, SC. The repeater WR4SC, which will cover the Aiken County area including Richmond and Columbia Counties in GA, is on 443.125 MHz with a PL tone of 91.5 Hz. To link to the Beech Island repeater in the SC HEART system use *62.
Another dud…so far. We sent up another balloon on Saturday. This one went better but still no brass ring.
We launched it from Waynesboro, Georgia. This time we had a lighter payload and we put more helium in the balloon. In addition to my ham radio transmitter we also included a beacon transmitter. The ham transmitter was set up to send a signal every 30 seconds that told latitude, longitude and altitude. The only problem is that on the ground, the signal will either be very limited or there won’t be a signal at all. A beacon transmitter on the other hand, doesn’t tell where you are, but will give a directional signal that can be tracked from the ground... Think of Wild Kingdom. It’s like the collar they put on the bear, then track with the directional antenna.
The fill went well, packed the capsules and checked the electronics. The balloon took off quickly. There was some cloud cover and the balloon was into it and out of sight in a few minutes.
We followed the transmission to Walterboro. A second team left directly from Beaufort and we met them there. We stopped getting a signal from the transmitter at 3,000 feet…That was expected. But what was not expected was the beacon transmitter stopping. It might be the jolt from the landing. There’s no way to tell. We spent two hours looking Saturday but we had to get the students back to Beaufort.
What we do have is a position from 9,000 feet, 6,000 and 3,000. So you’d think we should be able to figure the touchdown spot. I figured the direction and distance and went back today. Easy right? I thought so too…that is, until I spent another two hours looking. The problem is that the area was clear-cut a year or two ago and replanted. So there are 15 foot pine trees every few feet, chest high grass and briars. Lots of briars. Did I mention there was a butt-load of briars? The capsules and parachute could literally be 15 feet away from you and you might not see it.
If you want to see the location reports go to http://aprs.fi/?call=KJ4RSG-11&mt=m&z=12&timerange=259200
A different ending to the story, it seems that the package came down and hit a house across the street from where they thought it should be. The home owner called the Colleton County Sheriff’s Dept. to come get this strange package.
In the end Todd was able to recover the package and got some very good pictures.
we got some nice pictures of space. They will be on www.thetalon.smugmug.com/misc/space within a day or two.
A well done to Todd and his group at Beaufort High as well as others………
