Chinese "Spy Balloons" ruining it for everyone else

All this commotion about the so-called "Chinese Spy Balloon" has been truly incredible to watch. There is a lot of information we are NOT getting from the military or our intelligence agencies. While that is not unusual, this leads to a lot of speculation about what's happened and a lot of room for innuendo and hyperbole on how serious the situation was. And now a fun part of ham radio may be the ultimate victim of this travesty.

I was with UT's amateur radio club back in the early 2000's and we launched balloon experiments several times. We did a few that were using latex-style balloons, and we sent payloads into high-altitudes (90-100k feet+) before the balloons burst and fell back to terra firma via parachute. These are the type the NWS sends up 2x/day to take a vertical snapshot of the atmosphere and help predict severe weather.

Then there were the zero-pressure style balloons, clear thin plastic that was designed to float in the jet-stream and we attempted to go across the Atlantic. We never made it but got very close (Our 3rd attempt went to within ~350 miles off the coast of Ireland).

Then the "pico" payloads started happening. Literally a long cracker-sized circuit board that could transmit on very-low power on HF frequencies using APRS or a mode called "WSPR" ("whisper") and these used large mylar party balloons to go into the jet-stream. There were several that have gone around the world MULTIPLE times...see picture.

These were/are harmless experiments that were excellent for highlighting radio propagation using low power. Some have floated over "unfriendly" territory, mostly ignored, and seldom did one cause any issues. Unfortunately those days look to be over.

It appears at least 2 of these "objects" shot down were possibly these amateur radio pico balloons; one over Alaska near the Aleutians and another over Lake Huron.

Unfortunately one "bad apple" has ruined it for those of us who enjoy radio as a way to do exciting and fun things, educating kids and adults alike.

And the ironic thing, that "Chinese Spy Balloon" quite possibly WAS accidental! My hypothesis is that China lost control of the balloon and could not cut it down or command the balloon to raise/lower altitude in order to steer AWAY from the US. China might be ballsy but I don't think they're that crazy to actually send a LARGE WHITE AND COMPLETELY VISIBLE BALLOON all the way from CHINA, to catch a jet stream wave and MAYBE go over the US mainland to SPY. That's not "SPYING".....It may have had "listening equipment" but it might also have simply been communications equipment, essentially a high-altitude "repeater" in order to communicate with people in remote parts of China, either for military or commercial/civilian purposes. Not everything sent from China has to be attributed to espionage, does it?

Something else to consider, when you're floating at 65k feet altitude, the temperatures are down to around -70F to -100F, so it's possible the equipment froze up and stopped responding to ground commands. We had some amateur radio payloads stop functioning until they got closer to the ground and warmed up.

I could be wrong as well. But there's nothing to discount these possibilities either.

Tom Ogle, KE4WFJ, SK

It's with great sadness I report that one of my closest friends, Tom Ogle, KE4WFJ passed away this morning after a brief fight with cancer. He was 52.

He is known to many in the Knoxville ham community, from APRS, chasing high-altitude balloons, DFing QRMers on some repeaters, bike tours, Field Days, and as an NCS for SKYWARN.

Tom (right) with me at Field Day in 2010

I hadn't been in touch with him for a few weeks but invited him to come up this past Friday for SKYWARN Recognition Day but had not heard back from him. I didn't think it was anything serious, but he apparently kept his illness a secret from even his closest friends.
He only found out last Saturday (Dec. 1) that he had Stage 4 cancer that had spread rapidly in his body, and was given just 6-8 weeks. It ravaged him so fast I don't know if it could have been caught early enough, because he claimed he didn't feel any symptoms until a few weeks ago. I was contacted at 7:30 this morning with the terrible news.

He loved ham radio and he was always wanting to help whenever possible. He was also a great friend. A few years ago when I had a falling out with another ham, he was one of a handful who stood by me from the beginning and reminded me what a true friend could be.

Here is his obituary.

RIP Tom. I miss you already.  ..._._

Amateur Radio balloon crosses the Atlantic

It's finally been done.

Several amateur radio groups, including one here in Knoxville I was a part of, have tried to send an amateur radio high-altitude balloon (ARHAB) across the Atlantic Ocean for several years, and now congratulations are in order to the California Near-Space Project (CNSP) and StratoFox for being able to accomplish what others have been unable to do. And they did it all the way from Silicon Valley, California!

After 2 1/2 days aloft, on what they're saying was a goal to only go trans-continental, K6RPT-11 splashed down in the Mediterranean Sea, 6223 miles from where it was launched in San Jose, CA. It crossed the southern tip of Spain some 109000 feet about the town of Chipiona, north of Cadiz at 0538Z on December 14.

Path of K6RPT-11 from APRS.FI (credit theRegister)

It began to lose altitude about 4 hours later some 50 miles north of the Algerian coastline, the last packet received being about 14k' above the water as it plummeted to its watery demise.

It may never be recovered, but the payload nearly doubled the distance record (set by Spirit of Knoxville IV in 2008) and exceeded the duration record by a few hours. SNOX IV held that record for over a year prior to being bested by a group from Cornell.

While on Spirit of Knoxville, we had one payload (the 4th) that made it about 95% of the way across the Atlantic, stopping some 300 miles from the southwest tip of Ireland. Unfortunately the balloon's helium lost its lift from solar heating as night fell, and a weather system caught up to the payload, which is believed to have weighed the balloon down with water-ice and sent it to its demise in the Atlantic just shy of its goal.

On a personal note I am somewhat disappointed we at Spirit of Knoxville never got to make that push for the final 300 miles, but as with some grassroots efforts, things happen and real life gets in the way of a small-time project with big-time dreams.

Nevertheless, I watched anxiously as word spread that this payload was closing in on Spain and beyond, and stayed up late to watch it happen in real time on APRS.FI. It was bittersweet, but I was happy to see it officially occur.

Spirit of Knoxville's 3360 mile flight proved that it could be done. Had we launched from the coast of North Carolina, or further north, it might have happened. But then again, it wouldn't have been the Spirit of Knoxville, then, would it? Then again, the Spirit of St. Louis didn't take off from St. Louis, did it?

In any case, I'm happy for the CNSP team and everyone who worked hard to accomplish one goal, only to see it turn into so much more. Perhaps a circumnavigation of the globe is now the next big frontier?

"New" web site address

You can now get to my blog by using the domain http://www.khaos.net.

This was a domain I registered a few years ago when it became available. The original intent didn't pan out but I kept the domain name anyway.

I wanted to start up a high-altitude ballooning group using an acronym and came up with "Knoxville High-Altitude Operation System" or "Observation" instead of "Operating". Somethinglikethat...

This was actually a couple of years before UTARC's guys started up their ARHAB efforts and I joined up with them instead.

Hmm, maybe now it can stand for "K4HSM's Ham (Amateur) Operator Service"?

k4hsm.blogspot.com still works as well.

Hey "balloon boy", you're doing it wrong!

Like many of you, last Thursday I was glued to the TV watching this "UFO" over Colorado with what was believed to be a kid inside the lower compartment. Thousands of feet over land, thoughts were the obvious for me: Was Falcon Heene cold? Did he have adequate oxygen at whatever altitude he was located? Was the helium mixing with the lower compartment? Was he even on board?

I was relieved when he wasn't on the balloon and then began to wonder where he was. I was out of the house shopping for clothes for a funeral when I got word he was found at home.

I've dabbled with high-altitude balloons over the last 3-4 years, most notably trying to get one across the Atlantic. I have a little bit of knowledge about helium and zero-pressure balloons like what we used for the attempts. I'd like to think I, though not the expert, had a little more than the average bear about what was going on. So when I saw the balloon in the sky with only helicopter cameras and high-def zoom for reference, I couldn't judge just how large this balloon was. It could have been 30' in diameter, 50', 100' maybe? It wasn't easy to determine.

Then, when I saw it coming down to the ground, only when I saw the rescue person chasing after it did I see how big it truly was. I gathered it to be 10-15' in diameter after using the chaser for reference (see below).

When I saw the balloon's true size, it couldn't possibly lift off the ground with a 6-yr-old, much less carry him 50 miles.

I had my doubts based on what I did with launching balloons for Spirit of Knoxville back a couple years ago. I've emptied large tanks of helium into a 1500kg latex balloon and it would have maybe 15 lbs of lift.

How, then could a 50 lb boy (rough guess) reside in a roughly 20 lb "UFO" (another rough guess) with that much helium? It didn't seem possible, at least to me.

My suspicions were validated when the balloon turned up no boy inside. Only after the drama did we see the actual launch of the balloon, and even there I was stumped at how people might think a child was in there, as flimsy as it was slowly climbing into the sky.

I am on a couple of ARHAB mailing lists, and this was a hot topic for those who are more adept at calculating lift, volume, and the specs of what size balloon would be needed for lifting large payloads (like children). However, the debate was somewhat divided, several thought the balloon might be able to lift 60+ lbs of human into the great beyond, and others (like me) felt it was not possible. Of course, I weighed in more of the stability of the craft as opposed to just lift vs load.

In the image to the right, this was SNOX II, our 2nd attempt to send a payload up and out over the Atlantic. The balloon is what's called "zero-pressure". There is an opening at the bottom to vent excess helium as the balloon climbs to a higher altitude and the balloon expands. The venting of helium balances out the lift/load ratio, and once it has reached an equilibrium, will cruise at altitude for several hours. If you look carefully, the bubble at the top of the balloon is filled with about 13 lbs of "positive lift" helium. Below it is an anchor, but the payload was just under 12 lbs, the maximum legal size payload we could use for FAR 101 exemption of balloon flight rules. I'm holding the payload and ballast to the right of the balloon, by the way...

Now, compare the bubble in the SNOX balloon to the helium that filled the "UFO" in the picture above. Even with one side of the "UFO" deflated, I'm speculating that the helium in the SNOX balloon is roughly a third the capacity of the Heene balloon. 13 X 3 = 39 lbs of positive lift. Give or take 10 lbs, is it possible the "UFO" balloon could haul a 6-year-old boy?

I am certainly not an expert mathematician. I did well in math until we started subtraction in Kindergarten, and it was downhill from there. However, even looking at my past experience I certainly think there's no way that the Heene balloon could have ever gotten off the ground.

Now, it looks more like the whole incident was an elaborate hoax by Richard Heene and his wife and kids, who were also in on it. You have to ask what kind of deranged mind would concoct such an elaborate hoax as this, but then again, I've never watched Wife Swap to see just how insane he is.

I'm not one who would do some of the things he's done, such as taking my kids tornado chasing or hurricane chasing. The closest I've come is taking my oldest (Lauren) with me to Foothills Parkway to watch an approaching thunderstorm system, and that frightened her to where I decided not to do that again anytime soon.

Who knows what Heene was thinking when he came up with this scheme. I'm just glad he's not a ham operator. Who knows what kind of trouble he would cause then...

I do think, though, a "reality show" about a balloon autonomously crossing the Atlantic would sell much better to TV execs than whatever he had going on.