Hams in Space!

B,N Brown W88ELK
~ 73 Magazine
ForsstRoad
Hancocll NH 03449
Cross--eountry ATV
Adventure!
On a clear morning this spring. me
door 10 a large blimp hangar in Orange
County, California. will open to reveal a
75-loot diameter balloon. a gondola
suspended high in the air just below
the balloon, and a large ball ast balloon
on the ecncm (see Photo A). Thr,*,
daring balloonists will ride in the qcndola
as they attempt a nonstop crosscountry
Ilight.
This is a warm-up flight for thei r nonstop
round-the-world flight scheduled
lor th is November. Dubbed Earth ·
winds, the November flight will fly in
the jet stream al a constant altitude of
35,000 teet . The three balloonisls will
ride in a special pressured gondola
(see Photo B) SlJspended between the
helium balloon and a unique ballast
balloon. The ballast balloon is what
makes the mission possiblv. tis weight
can be adjusted by varying its inlernal
pressure through means of a highpressure
fan and release valve . This
means that V61'Y little ballast needs to
be carried, resulting in very long f1ighl
duration ceoeoarnes. If the winds are
favorable, it should take from 11 to 20
days 10 ci rcle the globe.
Onboard the gondola in November
Will be captain Larry Newman KB7JGM,
Ma j . G en. Vl adimir Dzhanibe ko v
Number 21 on your Feedback card
Work a Balloon
PholO A. Earth windS lest ffight (Sep t, 8, 1990) at
17,SOD feel over Mt, Rainier, Washington. The
March test flight baltoon is identical 10 this system.
Photo byMark GreenbergIVisions.
76 73 Amateur Radio Today . March, l991
Ham Television
(Ot'ector aI cosmonaut training in the
SovieIUnion), and Richard Branson (who
just completed the first hol-air balloon
crossing 01 the PacifIC- Ne wman was
the first to cross me Pacific in a helium
balloon in 1981).
Since flying with the historic trans>
oceanic balloon crossings 01 Double­
Eagle II (Atlantic) and Double-Eagle V
(Pacific), Larry Newman has dreamed
of the ultimate ballooning conquest 01 a
nonstop round-the-world flight. Aller
years of planning, it could be a reality
this spring.
Larry KB7JGM. a very enthusiastic
ham, is quite active on 10 meter SSB
(recently he' s be en found around
28.385 MHz). He is a pilot with America
Wesl Airlines (see Photo C), and soon
plans to operate on 20 and 15 meters
while on his twice weekly coast-tocoast
Boeing 757 flights.
During th is spring's balloon test
night. he will be activeon 20, 15 and 10
melet$, Listen on 28.385, 21.385 and
14 .330 MHz lor KB7J GM/balloon
throughoul the night. When Larry is not
operating live lrom the balloon , he may
have a talking-voice beacon operating
on 28.385 MHz to relay their altilude
and posilion. Hopefully schools nationwide
can monitor these transmiSSions
and plot the balloon's path as It drifts
across the country.
LIve ATVfrom 17,500 Feet
In addition to l arry's HF activities,
he plans to operate a
com plete ATV stalionl
A live color camera ettached
to Ihe railing 01
the gondola can be remotely
pointed via a 2
meter control link when
larry is busy with other
activities. When Larry is
not receiving ATV, he'll
be tr ansmi tting spectacula
r .,iewS o t the
Earth below ttlllt can be
seen o n 434 MHz
(439.25 MHz aJtllfnate).
Those of you with cableready
TVs or VCRs can
tune in on cable channels
590r 60 (as tong as
you connect an ootside
antenna ). Since lhey
plan on flying at 17,500
feel lor the c ross~u n­
try effort , anyone within
160 miles of Ihe flighl
path should be able to
view the ATV signal or
contact Larry on 2 metars.
He will be mc nucring
144.34 MHz FM as
well as the HF Irequenc
res.
l arry c an oper ate
with either vartical or
horizontal polanzat-on on ATV. During
each night, there is the possibility 01 a
cross-band ATV repeater mode: 434
MHz inpul/1255MHz 0U1pUt (AM or FM).
Two lines 01 telemetry will be displayed
at the ecuom of the screen
showing the allitude, latitude, and l0ngitude;
and the temperature, ground
speed, and heading. This is acc0mplished
with the aid 01 a Magellan GPS
(Global Positioning Satellite) receiver
interfaced to flight compUler/video
overlay board availab le Irom High
Technology Right. The telemetry CM:Iflay
system was Gesigned by Bob Rau
N81YD and is similar to Ihal used in
previous balloon experiment s (see
High Altitude Ballooning. Photo E in
the August 90 issue of 73), For more
information contact Bob Rav NBIYD,
1450 Jeffery 51., Ypsilanli MI 48 198­
6319. Telephone: (3 13)482-2870.
Flight Path
Typical spring wind patterns could
take Ihe crew along a path across
Photo B. Pressurized gondola which
will be used for the round-the-world
flig ht al 3S,OOO feet Ihis November.
Artist rendering byStan Stolles,
Pholo C. Larry Newman KB7JGM, America WestAirlines 7S7ceplein, andcaptein
ofIhe Earthwinds balloon. Photo oooneev ot America West Airlines.
Photo D. With an A TVreceiver you 'f! be able to see ~ularviews such as this
one. Don Moses (backup crewmember toe lhe Earthwinds ffight) is drB6Sed in his
cold weather gear near the radiO opersting position. rest baJlOOfl a117,SOD feet
over Mt. Rainier, Washington (immediate bacllgrovnd). You can see Mr. Adams.
MI , Hood, and Mt. St, Helens in tha distance. Photo by Larry Newman KB7JGM.
sou thern California, Arizona, New
Mexico. Kansas. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana,
Oh iO, Pennsylvania and into New York
state. The Ilight could take between 2
to 4 days 10 complete. Keep in mind
that this is only an estimate 01the actual
flight path. A few days before launch,
the actual flighl path should be easier
to predict.
Due to the current world situatiOn,
plans lor this spring's flight could
change. l isten to the AM$AT nets.me
ATV net (3.87 1 MHz, tues. al 8 p.m.
ESn and packet BBSs, lor updates.•