Arizona Near Space Research (ANSR) is pleased to announce the flight of ANSR-47. This high altitude balloon flight will take place on Saturday, November 22, at 9:00 A.M. The primary launch site will be the University of Arizona Maricopa Agricultural Center, near Maricopa, AZ (33 deg 04.42 min, 111 deg 58.97 min). The alternate launch site will be the Gila Bend High School, in Gila Bend, AZ (32 deg 57.33 min, 111 deg 58.97 min). Final launch site choice will be depend on the predicted winds aloft. Watch for additional announcements on Thursday and Friday prior to launch day.

The balloon will be a 3000-gram weather balloon, filled with helium. The expected burst altitude will be 90,000 feet or more. The flight is anticipated to last about 2.5 hours from launch to touchdown.

The balloon will carry 6 student-built payload packages carrying a variety of scientific measurement devices and apparatus. This student flight is part of the Arizona Space Grant ASCEND! program, http://spacegrant.arizona.edu/research/ascend. The participating universities and colleges are the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Pima Community College and, South Mountain Community College. This flight is sponsored by the Arizona Space Grant Consortium and we thank them for helping us fulfill our goal of "Promoting Science and Education through Amateur Radio and High Altitude Balloons."

The standard ANSR Flight Computer and APRS tracking beacon will accompany the student payloads. The ANSR Cross-band repeater will again be activated on this flight. Stations, especially those distant from the balloon, are invited to use the repeater when the repeater is not in use by the chase and recovery team. Please give priority to the chase and recovery team. Feel free to use the Yahoogroups Ballooning site to coordinate schedules. Peak altitude should be in the range 10:20 to 10:50 A.M. MST (1630-1650 UTC) depending on the actual ascent rate.

The following is the payload frequency plan:

Cross Band NB-FM Voice Repeater

Input: 145.560 MHz/162.2 Hz PL tone

Output: 445.525 MHz Linked to IRLP Node 9255

APRS Beacons will transmit on 445.950 MHz as follows:

Time
(Seconds) Callsign Payload Notes
0 KD7LMO-11 APRS Beacon Payload Status Message
5 KD7LMO-11 APRS Beacon MIC-E Packet
10 KD7LMO-11 Cross Band Repeater
15 KD7LMO-11 Cross Band Repeater KD7LMO Landing Prediction*
20 KD7LMO-11 Cross Band Repeater
25 KD7LMO-11 APRS Beacon MIC-E Packet
30 KD7LMO-11 APRS Beacon Payload Status Message
35 KD7LMO-11 APRS Beacon MIC-E Packet
40 KD7LMO-11 Cross Band Repeater
45 KD7LMO-11 Cross Band Repeater KD7LMO Landing Prediction*
50 KD7LMO-11 Cross Band Repeater
55 KD7LMO-11 APRS Beacon MIC-E Packet

*Note that landing prediction packets will be available only after balloon burst and have no -ssid.

Our mobile cross band Digipeater will repeat the APRS data to the 144.390 MHz standard APRS frequency and subsequently will be I-GATED to the Internet for out of area trackers. You can track the flight using the following links:

http://map.aprsworld.net/kd7lmo-11

http://aprs.fi/?call=KD7LMO-11&mt=m&z=11&timerange=21600

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=kd7lmo-11

Be sure to check http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ballooning for updates to this announcement prior to the flight.

Jack, W7JLC
ANSR/AZ Space Grant Liaison