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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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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