UTARC UX-10 Launch Saturday Night, March 31, 2007

The University of Tennessee Amateur Radio club is calling on any amateur with an HF receiver and a computer to monitor the airwaves this weekend as the club sends up a high-altitude balloon for an overnight test of the RTTY transmitter as well as beta testing of a software client that users simply monitor the RTTY transmission and the software relays via the internet back to UTARC's server the updated coordinates and telemetry. Users all along the East Coast and possibly the Carribean and Canada (depending on the prevailing winds) are invited to participate. The press release is below.

UTARC UX-10 Launch Saturday Night, March 31, 2007

Who: The University of Tennessee Amateur Radio Club (UTARC)
What: High Altitude Balloon Launch
When: Saturday night, March 31, 2007, 10PM Eastern Time
Where: Launch from Island Home Airport, Knoxville, Tennessee USA
Why: Test flight of onboard software and hardware enhancements and beta test of downlink software for receiving stations on the East Coast of the United States. Preparation for future trans-oceanic attempt.
Contact: Dan Bowen, K2VOL - dbowen1(at)mac.com

QST:

The University of Tennessee Amateur Radio Club (UTARC) will be launching a high-altitude weather balloon on the evening of March 31, 2007. Time TBA. The codename of this flight will be called "Project Icarus".

UTARC will launch from the Island Home Airport (KDKX) with the following specifications:
* Zero pressure balloon
* 14.060 MHz RTTY transmitter (45.45 baud) - power out is approximately 300mW
* Solar panel
* GPS
* Measurements of temperature, current, and voltage

Not only will this be the first flight using zero pressure balloons, it will also utilize software that listeners across North America can download onto their computer and monitor the flight as it goes overnight across the Eastern United States.

We appeal to adventurous hams and shortwave listeners in the radio community to join our project as remote stations for Mission Control. Many HF operators and listeners will already have the appropriate station equipment setup: an internet connection and HF digital modes capability.

Locations across North America east of the Mississippi would be most appreciated, but any station that might be interested in trying to receive the signal are welcome. We will provide special software that will link your radios to the UTARC Mission Control Server, allowing UTARC to receive telemetry as it goes out of range of the East Tennessee area to parts unknown.

This software is called the Distributed Tracking and Relay Client, or DTRC. It is designed to allow you to help the UTARC Balloon program by becoming a remote telemetry receiver for balloon flights, connecting your radio to UTARC through the internet. The DTRC is a RTTY decoder program that automatically forwards received data to UTARC.

For more information on this flight and to check for the latest updates on the balloon launch, please visit the UTARC web site at http://balloon.utarc.org