ARBONET 2 Press Release for October 20th, 2007

ARBONET-2 High Altitude Balloon Flight Set for an October 20th Launch Members of the ARBONET (Amateur Radio Balloons Over NorthEast Texas) organization are making final preparations for the October 20th launch of ARBONET-2. Originally scheduled for launch last spring, ARBONET-2 is being dedicated to the memory of  Kim R. Miles, N9IS SK, a long time contributor to the central Indiana Windtrax Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloon team who passed away March 27th at the age of 51. ARBONET-2 will be launched from the JD Trissell Airport in Clarksville, TX which is located in the northeast corner of the Lone Star State. Launch time is scheduled for 9:30 AM CDT on Saturday October 20th. Current winds aloft forecasts indicate the ground track of the flight will carry the amateur payloads towards the Texas - Louisiana state line. If ARBONET-2 reaches its expected altitude of 96,000 ft, radio amateurs in parts of as many as seven states should be able to monitor the beacons and communicate through the cross band repeater onboard the near space vehicle. The compliment of payloads aboard ARBONET-2 includes: A plain language homing beacon that will transmit navigation data to the ground on 146.560 MHz in plain English thus allowing anyone with a scanner or 2 meter hand-held in the coverage zone to follow the progress of the flight without the need for additional equipment to process the data. An APRS beacon operating on 144.390 MHz to report vehicle location data throughout the duration of the flight and to aid in the recovery of the packages following descent. A 70 cm Up / 2 meter Down Cross band FM repeater (445.800MHz Up 147.560 MHz Down) will support two way communications during the duration of the ARBONET-2 flight. A 10 meter CW beacon experiment produced by the Richardson Wireless Klub, K5RWK will transmit a 500 milliwatt signal on 28.061 MHZ. In addition, ARBONET-2 will carry a number of secondary payloads that will perform remote data collection functions for analysis once the payloads are recovered. These payloads include a 4 mega pixel digital camera configuredto capture images every 30 seconds through the duration of the flight, a self contained balloon burst video system designed to capture images of the balloon burst event and other environmental data loggers. Operators are encouraged to submit reception reports from the ARBONET-2 flight to team members via the ARBONET web site: www.arbonet.net. A special commemorative QSL card will be made available to everyone who submits reception reports to the ARBONET team. An ARBONET Launch Information HF net will be held on 3.910 MHz ( +/- 10 KHz) beginning at 9:00 AM CDT to report the progress of flight preparations and to provide real time coverage of the expected two and a half hour flight. The ARBONET team encourages radio amateurs throughout the flight's coverage zone to make use of the payloads aboard ARBONET-2. Additional updates will be posted to the ARBONET web site in the days leading up to the mission. In the event weather conditions cause a postponement of the launch, the next launch attempt is scheduled for the following Saturday, October 27th.

Press Release, Oct 14, 2007

ARBONET II Launch is scheduled for October 20th, 2007   North Texas Radio Amateurs Prepare to “Touch the Edge of Space”   The View From Above – A look down on Northeast Texas as captured by a camera aboard ARBONET-1 that was launched from the Clarksville – Red River County Airport last September. Photo Credit: ARBONET At 9:30AM on the morning of Saturday October 20th, if the weather cooperates and all of the advanced planning falls into place, amateur radio operators from across north Texas will converge on the Clarksville - Red River County - JD Trissell Airport to participate in what has been termed “the poor man’s space program”. The organization sponsoring the event is known as ARBONET (Amateur Radio Balloons Over North East Texas), and is one of approximately 25 groups from across the United States that conduct regular high altitude balloon flights carrying amateur radio experiments. The public is invited to attend the launch and monitor the progress of the flight from the ARBONET mission control center that will be located at the Clarksville Airport. Directions and more information can be found at the ARBONET web site: www.arbonet.net. Using low cost weather balloon technology these hobbyist will propel a specially built package of electronic equipment aloft for a two and a half hour flight that will ascend to an altitude of over 95,000 ft over northeast Texas thus brushing the edge of outer space. During the flight, equipment on board will collect data, relay radio signals and provide navigation information back to the ground for use by radio amateur operators in roughly a 7 state area. At an altitude of approximately 96,000 ft, the weather balloon used to lift the specially built packages will burst and the electronic equipment attached will descend back to Earth on a specially designed parachute assembly. During the descent phase of the flight a team of chase specialist will track the package using Global Position Satellite technology to locate and recover the equipment once it returns to Earth. Dubbed ARBONET-2, this will be the second such flight to be launched from Red River County in the past several months. On the morning of Saturday September 30th of last year ARBONET-1 was launched from the JD Trissell Airport and was successfully recovered in Cass County some 52 miles away from the launch site following its brief encounter with outer space. The Clarksville airport was selected as the launch site for the ARBONET missions due to its proximity away from busy congested major airports such as DFW as well as the major metropolitan areas of the metroplex.  A large number of the volunteers reside in the Red River Valley thus making the Clarksville area a natural choice as the home of ARBONET activities. The ARBONET team is comprised of several dozen volunteers from across North Texas from as far away as Ft. Worth, Arlington Richardson and McKinney as well as volunteers from Bonham, Paris and Clarksville. ARBONET is a totally non-profit self-funding amateur radio organization. ARBONET-2 is one of a series of planned flights that the hobbyist hope will one day lead to an attempt to navigate a similar such balloon system around the world. Following the release of ARBONET-2 the team has arranged for school students to participate in an experiment designed just for them. To illustrate the power of winds aloft, using the excess helium left over from filling the ARBONET-2 launch balloon, event organizers will provide smaller “party type” balloons for the students to release for their own free flights. The students will attach a small post card sized message to the balloon asking anyone finding their card following the free flight of the balloon to please report the location where the card was found. Instructions will appear on the card on how to provide the recovery information to event organizers who will then collect the data from reports submitted and plot the information on a map display to show the effects of winds aloft in moving an object a long distance. Any school student who wished to participate can simply come to the Clarksville Red River County JD Trissell Airport on the Morning of October 20th to participate, no advanced registration is necessary. ARBONET volunteers prepare to release the ARBONET-1 experiment package last September for its brief encounter with outer space. Photo credit:  Jody Lindsey, - ARBONET Media inquiries should be directed to:  ARBONET@ARBONET.NET