SNOX V 10 MHz Amateur Radio Balloon Flight

[g4tut]

SNOX V 10 MHz Amateur Radio Balloon Flight

The Spirit of Knoxville V (SNOX V) balloon will launch Sunday 6th April at 0000 UTC, from Knoxville, TN in an attempt to cross the Atlantic.

It will carry Amateur Radio beacons in the 10 MHz and 144 MHz bands.

Please visit http://spiritofknoxville.com for more information and live flight tracking.

This will be the last SNOX flight this season, the trans-atlantic jet stream wind is slowing as warm weather arrives.

8PM EDT Saturday April 5
(0000 UTC Sunday April 6)

Thank you,

The Spirit of Knoxville Crew
http://spiritofknoxville.com







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[KE5GDB]

Here's a little bit from the website about receiving the beacon:

Receiving the Balloon's radio signal
Ham Radio and Shortwave Listeners- please download the Distributed Tracking and Relay Client http://dtrc.utarc.org/ to receive and relay telemetry to the live tracking page. Without you, the balloon will be lost!

Radio Frequencies

* ~10.146 LSB RTTY & CW Telemetry while outside of UK. (Radio tx is disabled over United Kingdom)

Radio Telemetry Format and Schedule, see DTRC Status page

[W5BFE]

Any news on the recovery or mode of failure?

[kg4kww]

It appears the balloon was a flop.

Here's the latest news from the balloon web site:

The Latest News:
Recovery plans underway. Volunteers heading to area. about 2 hours ago
Balloon has landed in southwestern Virginia. The balloon plastic seems to have failed during the initial climb. more details may be posted about 5 hours ago
Landing will occur within the next few hours in the US. The balloon envelope has failed, no reason has been hypothesis about 16 hours ago

http://spiritofknoxville.com/

[ki4hee]

You may call it a flop but I thought it was a great success of showing how to use Ham Radio and the Internet. My hats off to the UTARC balloon team for a great job! I can't wait for your next try, and am eager to participate. Count me in on working to track it's signal the next time.

[k5co]

HOW EXCITING! Just imagine a balloon crossing the Atlantic ocean. What a thrill.
Maybe one day, we'll be able to talk across the ocean.

It seems like an aeronautical hazard and more garbage dumped in the sea with little purpose. No wonder they call ham radio an embarrassing hobby.

[AE5FH]

If Alexander Bell or Edison had not had failures we would be poorer today. I salute the students who tried!! As a commercial hot air balloon pilot, I recognize the weather and the technology don't always get along well. Even vastly more sophistocated equipment built for millions of dollars is not fool- proof.

I'm sure that folks in Knoxville know more of ham radio than they did before.

I'm glad to be a part of a hobby which streches the limits!

73, Mac