This thing was near my house today

K

Ken B

Well-known member
Oct 9, 2002
16,833
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My Ham Radio APRS station (called an igate or Internet Gateway) picked it up today and sent the tracking information on to the Internet.

I traced it back and it took off from Kankakee, Illinois and landed near Kouts, Indiana which is about 40 or 50 miles away. It reached a maximum
reported altitude of over 71,000 feet.

https://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=10&call=a%2FKC9LHW-11&timerange=43200&tail=43200

It turns out it is somehow connected with the Adler Planetarium, in Chicago and they use Ham Radio APRS to track it.

www.adlerplanetarium.org/education/far-horizons/

--
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
 
Tracking the winds aloft associated with the big storm in the S., huh?

Ken H.

> My Ham Radio APRS station (called an igate or Internet Gateway) picked it
> up today and sent the tracking information on to the Internet.
>
> I traced it back and it took off from Kankakee, Illinois and landed near
> Kouts, Indiana which is about 40 or 50 miles away. It reached a maximum
> reported altitude of over 71,000 feet.
>
> https://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=10&call=a%2FKC9LHW-11&
> timerange=43200&tail=43200
>
> It turns out it is somehow connected with the Adler Planetarium, in
> Chicago and they use Ham Radio APRS to track it.
>
> www.adlerplanetarium.org/education/far-horizons/
>
>
> --
> Ken Burton - N9KB
> 76 Palm Beach
> Hebron, Indiana
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
 
> Tracking the winds aloft associated with the big storm in the S., huh?
>
> Ken H.

I did some more checking and they periodically launch these. This one had two transmitters and two call signs on it. One belongs to the Adler
Planetarium and the other belongs to a PhD at the University of Chicago. They launch these things and at about 70,000 feet or so explode the balloon
so it comes down again. Then they run out and retrieve it. Had I noticed it sooner, I would have run over to the landing / recovery site to find out
what they are doing. I sent a note to the Phd. at the University of Chicago with a bunch of questions.

Winds aloft all right. That is a heck of a lot higher than either I have ever been.

I wonder is an SR-71 can go that high.
--
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
 
> > Tracking the winds aloft associated with the big storm in the S., huh?
> >
> > Ken H.
>
> I did some more checking and they periodically launch these. This one had two transmitters and two call signs on it. One belongs to the Adler
> Planetarium and the other belongs to a PhD at the University of Chicago. They launch these things and at about 70,000 feet or so explode the
> balloon so it comes down again. Then they run out and retrieve it. Had I noticed it sooner, I would have run over to the landing / recovery site
> to find out what they are doing. I sent a note to the Phd. at the University of Chicago with a bunch of questions.
>
> Winds aloft all right. That is a heck of a lot higher than either I have ever been.
>
> I wonder if an SR-71 can go that high.

Ken,

We weren't supposed to know this, but SR-71s could cruise at 90. That is why the crew wore space suits.

Concords transatlantic cruise altitude was about 60K. In US control, they had to come down to 43 because that is the limit of survivability on pure
O2 in the case of lost cabin pressure.

During a "Cadet Familiarization" ride (Read the kid gets to ride in the back while they try to scare the stuff out of him), we got an aged out F4 up
to 70K, there was this minor problem. There is no air for the engines (110% spool speed a Zip for EPR (thust) and control surfaces to grab on to.
That was 40+ years ago and I have no idea what they are doing now.

Matt
--
Matt & Mary Colie - '73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Still Loving OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Twixt A2 and Detroit
 
Ken, I suspect the number of people who know the REAL capabilities of the
SR 71 is VERY small. One of them was at the annual airshow in Toronto many years
ago. Strange colored engine exhaust and all.
--
DAVE KING
lurker, wannabe
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
 
Yep, ceiling for the SR71 is supposedly 85,000' but some say it can reach
100,000'.

I've never flown but a few feet above 51,000 (F101B). We weren't supposed
to be there since we didnt have pressure suits, but we HAD to try it. :-)

In the mid-60's we were aerial recovering, all over the western hemisphere,
from Alaska to Panama, instrumentation packages that the AEC had dropped
from balloons at over 115,000'.

Ken H.

> > Tracking the winds aloft associated with the big storm in the S., huh?
> >
> > Ken H.
>
> I did some more checking and they periodically launch these. This one had
> two transmitters and two call signs on it. One belongs to the Adler
> Planetarium and the other belongs to a PhD at the University of Chicago.
> They launch these things and at about 70,000 feet or so explode the balloon
> so it comes down again. Then they run out and retrieve it. Had I noticed
> it sooner, I would have run over to the landing / recovery site to find out
> what they are doing. I sent a note to the Phd. at the University of
> Chicago with a bunch of questions.
>
> Winds aloft all right. That is a heck of a lot higher than either I have
> ever been.
>
> I wonder is an SR-71 can go that high.
> --
>
 
51000' seems high enough. Is the view much different that at 30000'?

________________________________
From: Gmclist on behalf of Ken Henderson
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2017 10:48:13 AM
To: gmclist
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] This thing was near my house today

Yep, ceiling for the SR71 is supposedly 85,000' but some say it can reach
100,000'.

I've never flown but a few feet above 51,000 (F101B). We weren't supposed
to be there since we didnt have pressure suits, but we HAD to try it. :-)

In the mid-60's we were aerial recovering, all over the western hemisphere,
from Alaska to Panama, instrumentation packages that the AEC had dropped
from balloons at over 115,000'.

Ken H.

> > Tracking the winds aloft associated with the big storm in the S., huh?
> >
> > Ken H.
>
> I did some more checking and they periodically launch these. This one had
> two transmitters and two call signs on it. One belongs to the Adler
> Planetarium and the other belongs to a PhD at the University of Chicago.
> They launch these things and at about 70,000 feet or so explode the balloon
> so it comes down again. Then they run out and retrieve it. Had I noticed
> it sooner, I would have run over to the landing / recovery site to find out
> what they are doing. I sent a note to the Phd. at the University of
> Chicago with a bunch of questions.
>
> Winds aloft all right. That is a heck of a lot higher than either I have
> ever been.
>
> I wonder is an SR-71 can go that high.
> --
>
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Yes!

Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Frederick, CO

>
> 51000' seems high enough. Is the view much different that at 30000'?
>
> ________________________________
> From: Gmclist on behalf of Ken Henderson
> Sent: Friday, June 23, 2017 10:48:13 AM
> To: gmclist
> Subject: Re: [GMCnet] This thing was near my house today
>
> Yep, ceiling for the SR71 is supposedly 85,000' but some say it can reach
> 100,000'.
>
> I've never flown but a few feet above 51,000 (F101B). We weren't supposed
> to be there since we didnt have pressure suits, but we HAD to try it. :-)
>
> In the mid-60's we were aerial recovering, all over the western hemisphere,
> from Alaska to Panama, instrumentation packages that the AEC had dropped
> from balloons at over 115,000'.
>
> Ken H.
>
>

>>

>>> Tracking the winds aloft associated with the big storm in the S., huh?
>>>
>>> Ken H.
>>
>> I did some more checking and they periodically launch these. This one had
>> two transmitters and two call signs on it. One belongs to the Adler
>> Planetarium and the other belongs to a PhD at the University of Chicago.
>> They launch these things and at about 70,000 feet or so explode the balloon
>> so it comes down again. Then they run out and retrieve it. Had I noticed
>> it sooner, I would have run over to the landing / recovery site to find out
>> what they are doing. I sent a note to the Phd. at the University of
>> Chicago with a bunch of questions.
>>
>> Winds aloft all right. That is a heck of a lot higher than either I have
>> ever been.
>>
>> I wonder is an SR-71 can go that high.
>> --
>>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
 
From 54-55 years ago, I don't remember much -- but there were no clouds up
there! :-)

Ken H.

> 51000' seems high enough. Is the view much different that at 30000'?
>
> _
 
There's a high altitude chamber at the Brooklands museum in the U.K.
In the 50s it was used to test how aircraft would work at 70K feet.
It's really big.
It was invented/created by Barnes Wallace of bouncing bomb fame.
It was used to verify a lot of things that ended up being used for
the Concorde.
There's one of those also at Brooklands
https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com
--
DAVE KING
lurker, wannabe
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
 
The str-71 dash 4 manual was on the net. Impressive. Back in the early 70s, there was a guy attending Staff and Command School at Maxwell who had
commanded SR-71s in I believe Turkey - someplace far away anyway. He was very close mouthed - wouldn't say much about them but would tell you, after
you fly one you pretty much sneer at everything else. He was a fairly young man, and a full bull Colonel at the time. He used to fly out of the
Wetumpka airport.

--johnny
--
76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
"I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell" - ol Andy, paraphrased
 
The magazine Nuts 'n Volts regularly has articles about "near space" balloon flights usually carried out by high school classes or college classes.
Its pretty neat the stuff they do. I remember a recent article where they focused a camera on a large bag of potato chips which burst somewhere in
around 60,000ft.

They track elevation, GPS, temperature, light spectrum amoungst other cool things.

GMC content, Potato chips go great with GMC'ing.

--
Bruce Hislop
ON Canada
77PB, 455 Dick P. rebuilt, DynamicEFI EBL EFI & ESC.
Hubler 1 ton front end
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=29001
My Staff says I never listen to them, or something like that
 
My local ham radio club has flown balloons with transmitter payloads, and
if we only get to 70,000 feet we are kinda disappointed. We've been as high
as 110,000 feet before the balloon burst. The balloon bursts all by
itself--the skin gets cold and brittle, and the little bit of helium we put
in it eventually expands too much.

Chasing down the payload is a challenge.

It's been four or five years since we have flown a balloon, come tothink of
it.

Rick "speaking of ham radio--using the coach for Field Day this weekend"
Denney

> The magazine Nuts 'n Volts regularly has articles about "near space"
> balloon flights usually carried out by high school classes or college
> classes.
> Its pretty neat the stuff they do. I remember a recent article where they
> focused a camera on a large bag of potato chips which burst somewhere in
> around 60,000ft.
>
> They track elevation, GPS, temperature, light spectrum amoungst other cool
> things.
>
> GMC content, Potato chips go great with GMC'ing.
>
> --
> Bruce Hislop
> ON Canada
> 77PB, 455 Dick P. rebuilt, DynamicEFI EBL EFI & ESC.
> Hubler 1 ton front end
> http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=29001
> My Staff says I never listen to them, or something like that
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
--
Rick Denney
73 x-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Off-list email to rick at rickdenney dot com
 
> My local ham radio club has flown balloons with transmitter payloads, and
> if we only get to 70,000 feet we are kinda disappointed. We've been as high
> as 110,000 feet before the balloon burst. The balloon bursts all by
> itself--the skin gets cold and brittle, and the little bit of helium we put
> in it eventually expands too much.
>
> Chasing down the payload is a challenge.
>
> It's been four or five years since we have flown a balloon, come to think of
> it.
>
> Rick "speaking of ham radio--using the coach for Field Day this weekend"
> Denney

Talk about chasing this thing down, It looks like they were worried about finding this one too. For a while I could not figure out why there were two
different call signs reporting their position. Now I realize that they had two independent trackers installed in it in case one quit.

Heather and I are spending Field Day installing an intake manifold gasket in Laurie's Jimmy. It is not a fun job. Everything has to come off of the
top and front of the engine to get to it.
--
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
 
Other groups are using Mylar balloons. They are much stronger and typically do not pop. They reach the jet stream, around 37000 feet, and will travel
for long distances. Lighter payloads being the trade off.
GMC's make excellent Field Day operations. 6 kw powers lots of radio sets. A/C makes all the difference here in the Deep South. 89 degrees in the
shade at our Field Day site.
Tom, MS II
--
1975 GMC Avion
KA4CSG
 
Ham radio is where the Generac falls down--the dedicated inverter sprays RF
from DC to daylight. But a Honda 2KW portable works great, and will run the
whole event with the auxiliary fuel tanks we use.

It was supposed to rain all day Friday, and we baked. I'm the color of a
freshly peeled strawberry. I parked the coach pointed North, so the awning
would be deployed on the leeward side. I also stood my awning legs
vertical, Henderson-style, tied down to screw anchors. That managed the
stiff breeze we had at times.

The coach ran great.

Rick "crispy fried" Denney

> Other groups are using Mylar balloons. They are much stronger and
> typically do not pop. They reach the jet stream, around 37000 feet, and
> will travel
> for long distances. Lighter payloads being the trade off.
> GMC's make excellent Field Day operations. 6 kw powers lots of radio sets.
> A/C makes all the difference here in the Deep South. 89 degrees in the
> shade at our Field Day site.
> Tom, MS II
> --
> 1975 GMC Avion
> KA4CSG
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
--
Rick Denney
73 x-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Off-list email to rick at rickdenney dot com
 
I just found another one. My station gated one of it's packets today. The station is KF5KMP-8. It looks like he has sent up 7 other of these in
the past.

I can not tell where it started from because I can not go back in history that far. The first record I can see is in the Northwest Territories
(Canada) a couple of days ago. It is traveling at 30 to 35 mph at 51,500 to 51,900 feet and has been up for days. It has been through Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and it now in Ontario almost to the Quebec border as of 7PM CDT.

The call sign is registered to some guy from Texas.

https://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&call=a%2FKF5KMP-8&timerange=86400&tail=86400



--
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
 
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