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The Amateur Radio And Television Society Announces Balloon Launch

Alden, NY -
The Amateur Radio and Television Society, a group of a western NY ATV operators, is launching another high altitude balloon carrying an Amateur Television payload. The planned launch time of WESTERN NY - 3 is 10:00 am from the Batavia, NY Hamfest July 28th 1996. Last year's launch by the group was very exciting as the video and two meter CW beacon were copied over much of the Northeast. Several ATVers in the Syracuse area were able to receive live amateur television from the balloon.

In addition to the amateur television and two meter cw beacon, this year's launch will include a high altitude science experiment. Eight Lockport High School science students along with their science teacher Don Scoma and SUNY Buffalo Assistant Professor Steve Vermette have helped design an experiment which will sample the high altitude atmosphere and return the air sample back to earth for analysis. An electron microscope will be used by scientists to analyze the air sample looking at density and composition of the suspended particles. Scoma and Vermette will submit a paper to NASA detailing the outcome of the experiment. The teachers are responding to a request by NASA , which they saw on the Internet, for information on an air sampling package weighing 200 grams or less that could be used to sample the earth's high atmosphere.

Last year it was a real thrill to be able to watch the telemetry from the balloon live right here in Central NY. Telemetry on this years flight will include, altimeter, inside temperature, outside temperature, battery voltage, and the callsign WA2CXW.

Roger Garbacz , WA2CXW described the onboard camera system which includes a custom designed moveable mirror assembly. "The special black and white CCD camera is stationary, we use a moveable mirror assembly to view the earth and horizon" Roger reported. "The position of the mirror determines what the camera sees", he explained. Improvements in this year's moveable mirror assembly will allow ground control to "aim" the camera upward to watch the balloon fly away as the payload is cut free when an altitude of 100,000 feet is obtained. Special scan circuitry is used with the CCD camera to correct the reversed image from the mirror. Exterior fins help stabilize the spinning shuttle package as it floats up. The 439.25 MHz video transmitter and the 144.340 MHz cw transmitter each provide 1 Watt output . The two meter cw is modulated cw so any two meter FM transceiver can be used to copy the beacon. The cw will be sent at approximately 10 wpm. With the same video transmitter power last year , several Central NY ATV operators were able to view the launch with a P 4 quality picture.

Aim your antennas towards Batavia on July 28th and be a part of one of the truly amazing events of Amateur Radio.

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