Friday, June 26, 2009

Explorer report

T23.40 coord 42.39932 -87.99991 alt 692ft 0mph hdg0 63f 3.60v edge850 -95 snr 27 at t 310-410

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Explorer report

T13.51 no gps. 72F 3.32v gprs1900 -93 snr 42 at t 310-410

Ivory on cruise control

T3.21 coord 41.33902 -86.25741 alt 770ft 54mph hdg309 81f 3.71v edge1900 -72 snr 163 at t 310-410

T4.52 coord 41.60825 -87.34968 alt 482ft 54mph hdg286 81f 3.69v gprs850 -93 snr 6 at t 310-410

-Chris

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

US Postal Service

T17.33 coord 40.73845 -85.17100 alt 711ft 0mph hdg0 72f 3.79v edge850 -85 snr 68 centennial 310-30

It's cool cool/indoors

Compare "40.73845 -85.17100" to:

US Post Office
205 S Main St,
Bluffton, IN‎

:D

-Chris

Spam blocked again

The "backup systems" of russ's phone and a yahoo email account continue to receive stuff. There's videos from "in a box", pictures from "in a box", but no good location updates yet, and nothing interesting made it through that isn't already below.

So, "I think" most of the trip that should be posted is below. Enjoy! Will update if anything interesting comes thru (transmission from USPS / FedEx headquarters, or pictures of your house)

Explorer report

T14.49 no gps. 99F 3.81v edge850 -91 snr 62 centennial 310-30
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T7.12 coord 40.71172 -85.08891 alt 721ft 0mph hdg0 72f 3.85v gsm850 -105 snr 8 310-30 see you in 58

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

87 posts... but not done.

I believe there's 20+ emails stuck in the phone. Wait until later today, hopefully the phone wanders into a better coverage area. The emails will try to sort themselves chronologically, so make sure to scroll down if the phone does wake up. Maybe there's a neat picture or two of Lake Michigan or something else.

Thanks again to the Biberstine family for finding the balloons and shipping them back!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Explorer report

T20.51 coord 40.71179 -85.08893 alt 698ft 0mph hdg0 81f 3.91v edge1900 -111 snr 2 310-260
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T17.43 coord 40.71266 -85.08743 alt 360ft 0mph hdg0 81f 3.93v edge850 -109 snr 2 centennial 310-30 see you in 51

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Explorer report

T19.49 coord 40.71223 -85.08956 alt 836ft 0mph hdg0 81f 3.91v edge850 -113 snr 1 310-30

Explorer report

T18.33 coord 40.71218 -85.08919 alt 889ft 0mph hdg0 81f 3.93v edge850 -108 snr 2 310-30

Explorer report

T17.31 coord 40.71262 -85.08759 alt 472ft 0mph hdg0 81f 3.93v edge850 -109 snr 2 centennial 310-30
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Explorer report

T16.29 coord 40.71229 -85.08883 alt 593ft 0mph hdg0 81f 3.93v edge1900 -102 snr 11 310-260
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T14.40 coord 40.80425 -85.13369 alt 702ft 0mph hdg0 108f 3.95v edge850 -109 snr 3 centennial 310-30 see you in 50

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Explorer report

T15.29 coord 40.80217 -85.13791 alt 711ft 0mph hdg0 99f 3.95v edge1900 -100 snr 13 at t 310-410
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Explorer report

T14.28 coord 40.80527 -85.13251 alt 695ft 0mph hdg0 108f 3.95v edge850 -109 snr 4 centennial 310-30
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T12.21 coord 40.90869 -85.11407 alt 12273ft 13mph hdg165 81f 3.95v 0-0 see you in 69

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Explorer report

T13.27 coord 40.79704 -85.10073 alt 2004ft 13mph hdg272 90f 3.97v edge1900 -75 snr 6 at t 310-410

Explorer report

T12.17 coord 40.92214 -85.11891 alt 13182ft 16mph hdg166 72f 3.97v edge1800 -84 snr 1 0-0
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T10.32 coord 41.14842 -85.31004 alt 20997ft 11mph hdg148 90f 3.97v edge850 -76 snr 2 centennial 310-30 see you in 48

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Explorer report

T11.19 coord 41.06331 -85.22532 alt 18822ft 11mph hdg138 99f 3.97v edge850 -68 snr 3 centennial 310-30
T9.14 coord 41.44007 -85.53140 alt 20301ft 13mph hdg152 72f 3.97v edge850 -82 snr 4 centennial 0-0 see you in 67

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Explorer report

T10.20 coord 41.18740 -85.31595 alt 21827ft 17mph hdg154 90f 3.99v edge850 -76 snr 5 centennial 310-30

Heading...



Should be in southern Ohio by COB. There's 800 MHz network down there which will help us out.

We definitely aren't going anywhere fast.

-Chris

Thanks Sajid:
http://sajiddalvi.net/ebony/location.php
T4.53 coord 42.04598 -86.25469 alt 5882ft 13mph hdg127 63f 3.99v edge1900 -78 snr 3 at t 310-410 see you in 46

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T7.59 coord 41.62757 -85.59591 alt 19862ft 12mph hdg155 54f 3.99v 0-0 see you in 67

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T5.42 coord 41.94456 -86.03607 alt 11633ft 12mph hdg125 45f 3.99v 0-0 see you in 66

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Explorer report

T9.06 coord 41.46417 -85.53528 alt 19685ft 10mph hdg188 63f 3.97v edge1800 -87 snr 3 310-30

Explorer report

T7.55 coord 41.63885 -85.60278 alt 19980ft 12mph hdg155 54f 3.99v edge1800 -79 snr 7 0-0

Explorer report

T7.55 coord 41.63885 -85.60278 alt 19980ft 12mph hdg155 54f 3.99v edge1800 -79 snr 7 0-0

Explorer report

T6.46 coord 41.81195 -85.80513 alt 15682ft 14mph hdg94 54f 3.99v 0-0

Explorer report

T5.38 coord 41.94804 -86.04189 alt 11469ft 14mph hdg126 45f 3.99v edge1900 -83 snr 29 310-410

Explorer report

T4.41 coord 42.06000 -86.29159 alt 5131ft 7mph hdg109 63f 3.99v edge1900 -79 snr 1 at t 310-410
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Explorer report

T3.46 coord 42.01863 -86.28971 alt 5698ft 13mph hdg92 54f 3.99v edge1900 -75 snr 16 at t 310-410
T3.03 coord 42.03335 -86.43422 alt 2883ft 6mph hdg332 63f 4.01v edge1900 -77 snr 2 at t 310-410 see you in 45

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T2.08 coord 41.95846 -86.39218 alt 7066ft 15mph hdg108 45f 3.99v edge1900 -80 snr 5 at t 310-410 see you in 44

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Explorer report

T2.51 coord 42.01684 -86.41369 alt 2713ft 9mph hdg321 63f 4.01v edge1900 -81 snr 2 at t 310-410
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T22.03 coord 42.16789 -87.05924 alt 5183ft 4mph hdg64 54f 4.01v 0-0 see you in 53

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T19.20 coord 42.24420 -87.64149 alt neg 19219ft 3mph hdg349 72f 4.03v 0-0 see you in 52

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Explorer report

T1.57 coord 41.95964 -86.39836 alt 7247ft 13mph hdg103 45f 4.01v edge1900 -77 snr 5 at t 310-410

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Explorer report

T23.50 coord 42.12284 -86.69663 alt 25583ft 0mph hdg0 27f 4.01v gsm1900 -88 snr 2 0-0

Explorer report

T22.54 coord 42.18933 -86.89051 alt 9337ft 14mph hdg111 54f 4.01v 0-0

Explorer report - manual post


T17.23 coord 42.18015 -87.89454 alt 10646ft 22mph hdg93 72f 4.09v edge850 -67 snr 9 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report - manual post


T16.51 coord 42.15033 -88.05929 alt 4842ft 13mph hdg14 81f 4.09v edge850 -60 snr 23 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T21.59 coord 42.15844 -87.07464 alt 10229ft 8mph hdg72 54f 4.01v 0-0

Explorer report - manual post


T16.21 coord 42.10458 -88.02527 alt 551ft 0mph hdg318 81f 4.09v edge850 -68 snr 16 at t 310-410 bal ok

Solving a captcha isn't good enough...

High Posting Rate

If you make a large number of posts in a single day, you will be required to complete a word verification for each one, independent of whether your blog has been cleared as a potential spam or not. If this happens to you, simply complete the word verification for each post, or wait 24 hours, at which point it will be removed automatically.

This restriction is in place as much to control the load on our servers as to prevent explicit spam. Therefore, there is not a whitelisting review process to exempt individual blogs.

Technical failure revealed!

Apparently, Ivory doesn't know how to solve a Captcha.



----- Original Message ----
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem
To: ccfrixxx@yahoo.com
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 5:33:54 PM
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

ccfrixxx1.xxxxx@blogger.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
You have exceeded the the allowable number of posts without solving a captcha.

----- Original message -----

Explorer report

T21.05 coord 42.11692 -87.28782 alt 24389ft 16mph hdg98 36f 4.03v 0-0

Explorer report

T20.10 coord 42.26386 -87.50873 alt 10387ft 15mph hdg97 54f 4.03v 0-0

Lake Michigan

Well, so... we're over lake michigan. One single emergency SMS made it to Russ's phone, "composed" at 6:18 PM in lord-knows-which-timezone.

18.18
42.18753, -87.56532
Altitude 12791 ft
11 MPH heading 58 degrees
54F
4.05v
Neither GSM nor UMTS, MCC/MNC 0-0
see you in 51 minutes


-Chris

Explorer report

T19.14 coord 42.23594 -87.63329 alt neg 16062ft 6mph hdg317 72f 4.03v 0-0

Explorer report

T19.08 coord 42.21715 -87.62781 alt 2604ft 8mph hdg315 72f 4.05v 0-0 bal ok 5 minutes later alt 4419.2ft dropping ballast

Explorer report

T18.15 coord 42.16864 -87.57910 alt 7919ft 14mph hdg93 54f 4.07v 0-0

Explorer report

T18.00 coord 42.14161 -87.74373 alt 3359ft 0mph hdg0 45f 4.07v gsm1800 -80 snr 2 310-410 bal ok 5 minutes later alt 301.8ft dropping ballast

Explorer report

T13.47 coord 42.10450 -88.02568 alt 547ft 0mph hdg0 99f 4.11v edge850 -73 snr 28 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T13.16 coord 42.10460 -88.02525 alt 662ft 0mph hdg0 81f 4.13v edge850 -62 snr 50 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T12.45 coord 42.10458 -88.02539 alt 623ft 0mph hdg0 90f 4.13v edge850 -72 snr 8 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

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Explorer report

T11.44 coord 42.10456 -88.02533 alt 626ft 0mph hdg0 99f 4.13v edge850 -70 snr 31 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

T9.41 coord 42.10467 -88.02557 alt 574ft 0mph hdg0 99f 4.16v edge850 -71 snr 62 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T9.10 coord 42.10462 -88.02531 alt 666ft 0mph hdg337 90f 4.18v edge850 -71 snr 16 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T8.40 coord 42.10456 -88.02529 alt 669ft 0mph hdg0 81f 4.18v edge850 -65 snr 70 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T8.09 coord 42.10463 -88.02533 alt 692ft 0mph hdg0 81f 4.18v edge850 -59 snr 57 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

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Explorer report

T7.08 coord 42.10459 -88.02507 alt 583ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.18v edge850 -57 snr 71 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

T6.25 coord 42.10482 -88.02493 alt 790ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.20v edge850 -57 snr 70 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T5.55 coord 42.10526 -88.02539 alt 682ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.20v edge850 -63 snr 50 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

T2.14 coord 42.10454 -88.02531 alt 557ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.22v edge850 -60 snr 65 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

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Explorer report

T1.05 coord 42.10482 -88.02559 alt 702ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.24v edge850 -63 snr 48 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T1.01 coord 42.10459 -88.02528 alt 649ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.24v edge850 -68 snr 55 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T0.30 coord 42.10457 -88.02541 alt 649ft 0mph hdg210 72f 4.24v edge850 -61 snr 63 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T0.26 coord 42.10468 -88.02553 alt 692ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.24v edge850 -70 snr 62 at t 310-410 bal ok

This launch sucked in three specific ways....

.... so hard, so bad, and wicked bad.

Yes, the ballast is stuck in a tree, and the balloons are still attached to the ballast.

No, it's probably not going anywhere for a few hours.

I think the ballast cut-down "saftey" is at 4.15 volts, so as soon as we get to 4.15 volts (Sunday late morning?) it should cut itself free. That is, assuming the ballast doesn't break off early, or the rest of the balloon doesn't get super stuck.

Anyway, if the ballast comes off, it'll be an interesting high-flying experience. I hope it doesn't pop a balloon and short out the antenna.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Explorer report

T23.56 coord 42.10472 -88.02565 alt 780ft 1mph hdg164 72f 4.26v edge1900 -61 snr 53 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T23.52 coord 42.10453 -88.02564 alt 620ft 3mph hdg250 72f 4.26v edge1900 -68 snr 16 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T23.21 coord 42.10467 -88.02555 alt 672ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.26v edge850 -63 snr 54 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T23.17 coord 42.10444 -88.02813 alt 249ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.26v edge850 -66 snr 54 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T22.46 coord 42.10421 -88.02648 alt 324ft 1mph hdg170 81f 4.26v edge850 -65 snr 66 at t 310-410 bal ok

Explorer report

T22.39 coord 42.10437 -88.02613 alt 341ft 0mph hdg0 72f 4.24v edge850 -71 snr 70 at t 310-410 bal ok

Where are we going?

So, there's a fork in the road over the Atlantic... we might be headed to England, Morroco, or Cuba. Or Texas.

Mystery!

Anyone want to place a bet?

http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/flight_path/index.php?appletsize=large
http://www.wunderground.com/Aviation_Maps/Winds_Aloft/FL150-12.html#a_topad
http://www.jeppesen.com/aviation/personal/aviation-weather.jsp#

We're looking at probably 15,000-18,000 feet..

Pre-flight building / testing

Russ's finishing touches on Ivory 4.0 / Bottle 1.0. He reports that it's 96 grams fully assembled.


1 cm of pink foam is our "ballast cut down mechanism". We'll tie ballast to it, and the phone will decide to drop it under an increasingly complicated set of circumstances.

Also notable: Gamma matched Yagi antenna. There's 50 ohm Coax (black) running to the "Driven Element". The driven element is grounded to the coax shield. The still-shielded antenna wire then passes into a short length of aluminum tube, which is capacitively coupled to the driven element. Then witchcraft happens, and the RF knows to go towards the directors and away from the reflector, unless it's GPS, and then it'll go the other way.

Without the gamma match, we'd need a (heavy / more complex) "balun" to match the balanced dipole of a Yagi to an unbalanced feed from the cell.



Smile! This balloon weighed 31 grams empty, had 50 grams of lift when full and we'll probably launch it with 25 grams of lift. (70% full means we'll rise until the air is 70% less dense, about 12,000 feet. Then, the balloon will start building pressure until it levels off at 14,000 dark, and maybe 16-18000 in the sun. Fingers crossed.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Explorer report

T17.54 coord 42.13705 -87.99863 alt 633ft 0mph hdg0 81f 3.99v edge850 -77 snr 51 at t 310-410

Testing

Explorer report

T17.32 coord 42.13664 -87.99868 alt 613ft 0mph hdg0 81f 4.03v edge850 -92 snr 50 at t 310-410 bal ok 5 minutes later alt 633.2ft dropping ballast
T17.23 no gps. 81F 4.07v edge850 -92 snr 37 at t 310-410 bal ok see you in 140

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Explorer report

T17.11 no gps. -45f 3.67v edge850 -88 snr 11 310-410 bal ok

Testing 1 2 3

This should be "live" Saturday PM, around 10:00 PM