We might have continuous tracking if the balloon stays above 100,000'!?
The max range heard by CU2ARA-1 at 3100 feet HAAT was 507 miles. The Max range heard by CU2IE at 20' HAAT was 419 miles. My estimate of max range of those stations is on the map as "max-rng?" object That object is only 536 miles from Lisbon.
I do not know the mountains around Lisbon, but if there is a 4000' mountain with a 144.39 listening station, we might get continuous tracking!!??
But if Portugal stations are nearer sealevel, we will have a 100 mile gap in coverage... But with the slight turn to the north, I hope there is a landing team in Portugal, or Gibraltar getting ready to go!
Bob, Wb4APR
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bob Bruninga Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 5:58 PM To: [email protected]; 'TAPR APRS Mailing List' Subject: [amsat-bb] Gibraltar Monitoring for 144.39 balloon
While everyone in Southern Europe and Northern Africa is listening for the Transatlantic Balloon, K6RPT-11 on 144.39, I should also offer that you might hear (during mid-day only) a possible packet from W3ADO-1 too.
PCSAT-1 has a downlink on 144.39 that is usually never heard in the USA due to QRM, but it might possibly be heard in Europe where there should be no other packets on that frequency. But remember, that PCSAT can ONLY be heard during rare alignment of its best solar panel to the sun, and usually around mid-day. All the excitement about K6RPT-11 landfall will be at night, so there will be nothing heard of PCSAT (using the callsign of W3ADO-11) until possibly mid-morning (if at all). If PCSAT does come alive, you will hear attempted occasional packets at both 1200 and 9600 baud, but almost always they are not decodable because there is not enough battery power to complete even the full duration of most 1 second packets..
But I just thought I would keep everyone informed in case a rare packet popped up on 144.39 in a quiet area.
I also put out an object named "max-rng?" where I think will be the maximum receive range of the Azores stations based on the range when the started hearing it. This object is NNW of Funchal.
And I see the track is starting to turn slightly northward, improving our chances of a Portugal reception!
Bob, Wb4APR
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