Balloon Flight VWS-7

Payload Summary

• APRS on 144.39 MHz
  • WhereAVR APRS Controller
  • Garmin GPS-18 LVC
  • Yaesu VX-3 Trasmitter @ 0.5W
  • J-Pole Antenna
  • 3 Energizer L91 Lithium AA Batteries
• Digital Photo System
  • 2x Canon Powershot A620 7.1 Megapixel Cameras
  • 8 Energizer L91 Lithium AA Batteries
  • CHDK firmware to take photos via intervalometer

Flight Summary

VWS-7 was launched from Strasburg, VA at around 10:00 AM on December 6, 2008.

The flight used a Kaymont 1200 gram balloon and with its 4.5 pound payload, it was expected to reach 88,000 feet altitude. With the wind predictions, we also expected it to fly to the north side of Baltimore.

Problems with the telemetry kept the Balloon Track from processing the data packets received, so tracking was done largely via the displays on the Kenwood TM-D700 and TM-D710 radios and UI-View.

The payload was recovered in Sparks, MD, just north of Baltimore where it landed in tall trees.

Complete photo collections are here.
Camera 1 photos (110 down looking photos), 336 MB
Camera 2 photos (117 side looking photos), 266 MB

Here are videos from the launch, combined with 179 of the better photos from the two onboard cameras:
VWS-7.m4v
NOTE: this 59 MB video file is formatted for iTunes / iPhone / iPod.

VWS-7.mp4
NOTE: this 41 MB video file is formatted for most media players.

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