Just about lift off.

We (the beacon hunting group and I) were gearing up to launch two balloons on the 29th of May 2005. One was to be the main payload and the other was to be a simple beacon and camera payload.

The main payload incorporated a GPS, UHF CB radio, tone encoder IC, picaxe 18X microprocessor, high power beacon, and horizon pointing camera.

The second simple payload had only a downward pointing camera, with timer set for 5 min increments, and a low power 1mW beacon.

The purpose of the second payload was merely to guide the fox hunters in the approximate area of touchdown, so that they would be ready to accurately track the main (more complex and expensive) payload. 

Above: Main payload is on the left. The simple payload is on the right.

The weather on that Saturday morning was pretty much atrocious. Low cloud, rain, and a good deal of wind. A few days before, I thought about cancelling the whole thing and moving launch to another day, but as the launch date had already been postponed once (see updates), I thought I'd launch it anyway.

Once again, on the night before launch, I found myself working on the payload to the early hours of the morning. Why do seemingly simple modifications take so long!! After testing everything, I finally went to sleep at 3.30am, confident everything was working perfectly.

The morning came, and just after 7am I met a few participants of the fox hunting group that came to the launch. Some other members of the group were either on the road, or standing by at home, so that they could monitor the beacon, and offer the direction of the payload for triangulating the position better.

Above: That's me fiddling with the rather explosive Hydrogen gas. The previous launch was with helium but I chose Hydrogen this time. (well it does have better lift and is cheaper). I have since done some safety tests and have found that the hydrogen only burns (not explodes) if it is in high concentration. A balloon filled with the right mix of air and hydrogen, however, would be very volatile and much more dangerous.

I had two friends that were going to come on motorbikes to help with the inflation of the balloon. As we were filling it with explosive hydrogen, their leathers and helmets would have been good protection if anything were to go wrong. Unfortunately they couldn't make it to the launch, so after deliberating for a while, I decided to blow up the balloon with minimal safety protection. After ensuring there were no sources of ignition around the balloon, we started filling it up.

Filling the balloon took longer than expected. I had permission from the Civil Air Safety Authority (CASA) to launch one balloon at 8am and another at 8.30. As it turned out, the first balloon was only fully inflated just on 8.30. After it was tied off, we attached the main payload. This was where the trouble started. My two nice new 9V lithium batteries that cost $20 each were looking like they were both dead. I had ensured to not use them at all before the launch so that they would be nice and full for the flight. Now, once plugged in, they were only reading 8V. As the regulator for the electronics needed a bit of head room, 8V was just not enough. The first thing to malfunction was the camera. As it was 0.8V short of its 3V operating voltage, it failed to wind on. It was then that we decided to abort the main payload, and only launch the second one. 

The second payload was very simple. It only had a 1mW transmitter. Compare this to the main payload that had a 1500mW UHF CB transmitter, and you will see why I was worried.

The transmitter proved to be very effective while in the air, with reports of people able to track it from a great distance just a couple of minutes after launch. The anticipated problem was when it was going to land. A transmitter on the ground is terrible at transmitting a good distance. 

Above:  One of the 7 or so? vehicles that came out to the hunt.

Shortly after launch, most fox hunters hit the road to get a good head start on tracking the payload. I had to drop off the hydrogen cylinders at home before I could start tracking it, so Mark and I were about 20 minutes behind the pack. We expected the payload to travel in a North East direction, and while most hunters were taking other back roads and highways, we thought we'd stick to the Hume Freeway. 

After taking a few direction readings, and comparing with others, somewhere around Benalla, we lost the signal. The last point we had with certainty was somewhere around Albury NSW. So that's where we went.

After unsuccessfully trying to get readings at Albury, we were rather dismayed. We knew that as it had already come down, that range would be 3km at best on the ground. But after hearing word of a possible fix from one of the other teams, our spirits lifted. We travelled South to try to pick up the signal, but it was still no go. Then, we received word that it was found!! It was found somewhere between Yakendandah and Beechworth in very good condition.

Above: The recovery team holding the prize of the day. This is a good 6 hrs after launch and with the trip back to Melbourne still ahead. Fortunately the payload did not land in a tree or in water or on private property or.....................

The balloon had not fully separated from the nozzle as it is designed to do. Rather, it was like a giant ball of spaghetti attached to one single point.

The camera was very wet. The lens had signs of water, as did the body. Water had also gotten into the camera and was starting to condense underneath the LCD display.

What was worrying was that the meter read that there were another 6 shots left. That was strange as there was only enough film for 3 hrs of shots, and that time had well and truly expired. I wondered whether the moisture and rain had killed the circuitry, and whether any of the photos would turn out. After all, within a couple of minutes after release, the balloon was seen heading for a nice big rain cloud. 

As it turns out, 26 good shots were taken. It was a 36 shot film, and remember that the meter read 6 left, so I don't know where the other 4 shots went. It is possible that the camera did take them but they were under exposed due to the very cold temperature. I'm sure that temperature also played a part in killing the batteries prematurely.

Here are the images that it took. Each file is actually four images. All are in order from top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right. Pretty much all of the photos are just clouds as the camera on this payload was facing down. The first photo that it took was on the ground. By the time it took the second photo (only 5 minutes later), it was already in the middle of a cloud.

launch pic 1,2,3 and 4

 -Pic 1 is of my shoes on the ground. Mark's car in the background? I think that is Bryans leg in most of the shot. The other pics are right in the middle of a cloud. That's the antenna sticking out of the payload. It's a shame the camera didn't take a picture just before it hit the cloud.

pics 5 to 8    - clouds (right in the centre of them)

pics 9 to 12    -clouds (just on top of them)

pics 13 to 16     -um.... more clouds, high up.

pics 17 to 20    -more clouds. Really high up

pics 21 to 24         - pic 22 is the best I think. I reckon that is the highest. Pic 23 shows a great deal of spinning. Maybe on its way down by this stage?

pics 25 and 26       - on the way back down to earth I think.

More excellent pics of the launch, recovery and the team at Greg's website.

If you were there on the day and you have some more pics, let me know:

email:   philippawlowski at hotmail dot com

Thanks for reading.

Philip Pawlowski