Flight Recap of EOSS-13  (The Picture Flight)

Launch date: August 22, 1993
Launch time: 14:00 UTC
Launch site: Holiday Inn at DIA
                   Denver, Colorado  USA
Launch coordinates:  39.76617 deg NORTH
                              104.83030 deg WEST
Burst Time: 15:21 UTC
Max Altitude: 107,000 ft.
Touchdown time: 16:17 UTC (LOS)
Touchdown Distance: 64.48 miles
Touchdown coordinates:  40.36281 deg NORTH
                                     103.89161 deg WEST

Payload Systems:

  • LORAN-C
  • W6ORE Flight Controller
  • ATV - 426.250 MHz
  • Beacon - 147.555 MHz
  • Pressure Sensor used to determine altitude
  • Temperature sensors (internal and external)

 Second Balloon Systems:
    2 Meter - 70 Centimeter cross band repeater

Project Lead: Jack Crabtree, AA0P
Balloon Lead: Merle McCaslin, K0YUK
Tech Committee: Mike Manes
Ground Station: Rick von Glahn, N0KKZ
Tracking and Recovery: Greg Burnett, K0ELM

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  Flight Highlights
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Click HERE or on photo for high resolution version

The picture above is used in just about every publication EOSS turns out and it was taken on this flight.

On the weekend of August 20-22, 1993 EOSS hosted the first annual "National Balloon Symposium". As a fitting way to close the event, it was decided to launch a demonstration flight of the EOSS payload.

We offered to launch a secondary balloon as long as it was understood we couldn't guarantee recovery of both payloads and that our "Shuttle I" was going to receive priority tracking.

Bill Brown, WB8ELK, decided to join in the flight activities by launching a low power cross band repeater.

The location of this launch site was approximately 5 miles northeast of Stapleton International Airport in Denver. This placed extreme limits on when we could launch. If we didn't get the balloons off the ground by 7am we were going to lose our window, as the traffic at the airport dramatically picks up then.

We did have some problems getting the LORAN-C receiver to lock up prior to flight but Jack decided to heck with it and at 6:59 or so, we launched both balloons one after the other with a 10 or 20 second interval.

It was a beautiful day, no wind to speak of at the launch site.

Both payloads were tracked throughout the flight by the Tracking and Recovery team. They would alternate DF fixes every few minutes to keep track of both targets. The cross band repeater's signal was extremely weak (intentionally) and it became somewhat difficult to hear it.

After landing, both payloads were recovered in short order and the teams in the field returned to the Holiday in to recount their DF experiences of the day and return the payloads to their respective owners.

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