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.

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?

How's this for a prime viewing spot of a shuttle launch?

With only two opportunities left to catch a space shuttle launch, getting the perfect spot to view the launch is probably not easy to do. It really isn't easy for ANY launch, but as the shuttle program sunsets, people want to catch one last glimpse of a shuttle launch while they can.

How about this shot:

Taken from an altitude of 64,000 (about twice the height of a passenger jet), this student-launched high-altitude balloon flight caught Endeavour streaking towards space on its final trek to the International Space Station.

As if that wasn't cool enough, speaking of passenger jets, one was en route to Florida and passed by the Cape at the same time Endeavour took off, and a passenger captured this amazing shot:

And there's a video as well...

Atlantis wraps up the space shuttle era in early July, so make plans now if you can!

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.

Two new hams in my family?

On the way home from visiting family, I talked to my daughters (ages 8 and 6) and asked them "so, would you like to learn how to be a ham operator?" and enthusiastically, both answered "yes" repeatedly until I told them I got it.

It made me feel good to know they were both interested. Already, I'm thinking about those applications to the ARRL for scholarships in 10 years...better keep my membership current!!!

It's not too terribly surprising, really, at least for the older of the two. Lauren's been listening to me talk on the radio during Field Day (the above picture was taken when she was two), launch balloons, and even read off a weather warning during a recent SKYWARN net.

I'm glad this is one thing that runs in the family. Not just my wife and I, but my wife's youngest sister also had her license at age 13. Supposedly my father-in-law had one but he was more into CB than ham radio, mainly because he didn't like power limitations...

Some friends of ours from Bristol, TN have a son who go his ticket about a year or so ago. He's active in their SKYWARN group and likes it thus far.

So now I have at least one who's looking to get ticketed soon, my other one, Amber, I'm not so sure of, at least not yet. Granted, if she got her license it would be big news around here since she's 6 (7 in a couple of weeks) and to have both of them licensed might turn a few heads. Question is, how do I teach them, and how will they administer the exam?

I'll probably start online and look over the sample questions, then talk with them about what this means, or what that indicates, or how something works, etc. Then we'll see if they're still interested. Between Brownie Scouts, school and the possibility I may become a soccer mom before too long, I don't know if I'll keep their attention long enough to get their ham tickets.

I know that the VEs can administer an oral exam, which they'll have to do for Amber since she's not reading at that level yet, and probably give one to Lauren. Even though she's an excellent reader, she sometimes has issues with the comprehension, and I don't want her to just memorize the questions and answers, I want them to understand why something works this way or that.

Like all things around here, time will tell if I succeed or not. If I do, George will have the exclusive on that story...

UX-24 recovered

Other than the usual dings, the UX-24 payload looked much the same as it did when we launched it from the RACK Hamfest last Saturday.

I drove with Carl up to get it. I thought we'd talk to the guy who found it, but he wasn't there. He left the payload on a chair on the porch. We left him a $20 gift card for gas (Should buy him half a gallon) and some pics and a copy of the Metro Pulse article that featured our flight attempts to cross the Atlantic.

We're going to send it back up again some time in the next couple of months to test out a homemade zero-pressure balloon to see how it holds up. Hopefully we'll be landing on dry land come March of 2009 or sooner.

UX-24 found

Received a phone call from a surveyor in Sevierville who said he found our balloon we launched Saturday!

Not much more until we get the payload back, but it was found "'near a shoreline". It will be interesting to see if the payload landed in water and floated downstream or if it landed close to the water and the antenna was underwater.

More as I get it.

Followup to hamfest activity

Today was a good Father's day.

I got a new wallet and a tool belt from my girls. They knew I needed a new wallet, and the little one just knew that I needed a toolbelt to keep my tools organized.

We launched UX-24 yesterday. That's #24 in UTARC's balloon flight series. Nothing fancy, just a 10 meter transmitter on 28.215 LSB and a 350 gram latex balloon.

We lost GPS lock after about 27000 meters (nearly 89,000 feet) due to the limitations of the GPS onboard. We knew it burst when the balloon started warbling during a transmission soon thereafter. We pretty sure it made 90k feet.

We obtained lock after it dropped below its design limit, and the last transmission was near Newport, TN. Carl and I separately drove up to the area some 10 hours later and we never heard it. My friend Jason and I got to within .21 miles of the payload and got nothing.

Who knows, perhaps someone in the area will come across it and call. We may never see it again, but we didn't lose a lot with this one.

I got an antenna and mount like I wanted. But still not sure where I'm going to mount it or where I am going to put everything, and I'm still not sure if I'm going to put in my tribander, 742 Kenwood, but I have the antenna in case I ever decide to install it.

This wasn't a 100% perfect weekend, as TWIAR's mail server is wreaking havoc. It's sending upwards of 8-12 messages of the same thing. The medianews mailing list sent one of George Antunes' emails some 8 times. What I tried to do was to remove and then restart the mailing list. After I deleted it, I come to find I can't create a new mailing list!

It's doing the same for mail forwarding. I re-created everyone's mail forward and sent them all email asking how many msgs of the same email they got, if all the info is right, etc.

The reason for all this is that our host apparently had a tornado hit some equipment where the mail server was housed. He's taking care of his paid users first, so I'm not going to complain. There's things more important right now.

Dale, TWIAR's "file guy" had some damage to his internet connections and has some good connections and was able to get some connectivity to upload all the files. I can only do 256k max for upload (2meg down). He has upwards of 10 megs UP!!! I don't know how he pulls off such luck, but if I were to upload, it would take me 4-5 hours, and I'm on HIGH speed!!! Dale gets it done in less than 30 minutes! Domino's can't even deliver a pizza that fast anymore...

I need to get some sleep before I put in for a tough week at work. Until next time...

Hamfests, balloons, and bad weather

Well, Dayton has come and gone, and once again I missed out.

I haven't been to Dayton since 1999. That was when my wife and I found out she was pregnant with our first child.

Ever since then, something's come up to take the chance of going to Dayton out the window. No money to go, usually. This year, though, the high gas prices and work commitment kept me from going.

But I'm going to the Knoxville Hamfest this Saturday. My third year going since a big blowup I won't go into. Due to the ballooning project I've been involved with, however, things have gone along better and I attend strictly to do the balloons and occasionally buy something.

I need an antenna mount and a dual or tri-band antenna, and plan to sell a couple of radios I no longer need.

I've always enjoyed going to hamfests, for several reasons:

1. Camaraderie. It's nice to put a face to a voice you hear on a local repeater or a callsign you hear.
2. Bargains. I get a lot of stuff cheaper than from eBay. No shipping fees!
3. The sights. Oftentimes I just stop and stare at the porcupines in the parking lot or the trailers in the flea market with equipment you only see at a hamfest.

The University of Tennessee ARC is going to try and launch a balloon, if the weather cooperates. Nothing big this time around. Just a demo to show people how it's done.

The first time we launched a couple of years ago, it was called "pie-in-the-sky" and we threw a bunch of moon pies on the payload and sent them up. Why moon pies? It hadn't been done before!

Last year we sent up a video camera but lost the payload. I hope to one day go up to recover it, but it's (literally) an uphill climb to get to it.

After the trans-Atlantic flights this winter, I was hoping we were going to do a zero-pressure demo, but time is not on our side.

The way the weather is going, we may not even get around to doing a launch. The forecast is currently 50-50.

I hope it's not as bad as the weather today. We had nickel-sized hail here at the house (I was at work) and some real close lightning strikes.

Not as bad as Iowa, though. Tonight a tornado hit a boy-scout camp and so far 4 are reported dead.

It's bad when weather hits like this, but it makes SKYWARN and weather spotters all the more valuable.