Hi Rick!
the Arizona Near Space research group will be launching a high altitude balloon with a ham radio payload on Saturday at 0900 mst (1600ut) from Maricopa, AZ, about 30 miles south of Phoenix. the balloon will be carrying a cross band repeater and APRS digi and an SSTV system. Expected burst altitude is about 90,000+ feet. this should give a foot print of about 450ish miles at max altitude. If it stays in the central AZ area, this would reach out into SoCal, Western New Mexico, southern Utah & Nevada and northern Sonora
I'll be trying to work the Cross band repeater and if time allows the APRS digi.
Detail including frequencies and such are at www.ansr.org.
Kevin KF7MYK, if it get high enough, you should be well in range. This sounds like something you';d be interested in. Listen for my call.
If Kevin isn't in southern Nevada, he might not be able to hear this one. A few years ago, I put together a simple web page that included coverage maps based on the balloon being over the area south of Phoenix for those balloon flights. It's at:
If I'm not terribly busy in the morning, I may give that a listen.
In the past, once those balloons are up a bit, a VX-2R (1W) and a duckie in Phoenix was more than enough to work the cross-band repeater. Just like working the FM satellites, except you won't have to deal with Doppler.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/