[VWS-6] Balloon Launch Information Bulletins

[Tom Azlin, N4ZPT]

thanks Bob,

One of our club members volunteered to take on the APRS messaging for 
the flight.  We have delayed VWS-6 a week to 16 Feb given the high winds 
aloft in the hopes the winds aloft will die down.  Right now a launch 
from Strasburg, VA would land over near the Atlantic in Delaware. Too 
risky for a flight carrying an elementary school experiment.

So look for APRS beacons next weekend.

73, Tom Azlin
VWS balloon coordinator
http://www.viennawireless.org/balloon/index.php


Robert Bruninga wrote:
>> Do we have to be careful on the selection of 
>> bulletin numbers to not wipe out some other 
>> person's beacon?  Or are they indexed to 
>> the sender. 
> 
> They are indexed by sender's call, so there can be multiple
> BLN1's for example.
> 
> Also, in the D700 and D7 and all other APRS software, you can
> also set up MSG groups.  Just add "VWS" to all of youir
> participant's MSG lists and then any message sent to "VWS" will
> go to all of them without bothering everyone else.
> 
> There is no ACK, but it will be sent 5 times which is sure to
> get to everyone.  So I would use BLN# for general announcements
> to ALL aprs mobiles in the surrounding areas, and use team
> specific messages to VWS so that all in your group see them, but
> they  don't fill up everyone elses message buffers.
> 
> Remind everyone to keep their message buffer cleared of old
> messages, or they might start rejecting them.  They can only
> keep 10 (or is it 16?)...
> 
> APRS.  Its not just icons on a map...
> 
> Bob, WB4APR
> 
> 
> 
>> Guess I will go look it up!
>>
>> 73, tom n4zpt
>> Vienna Wireless Society Balloon Coordinator
>>
>>
>> Robert Bruninga wrote:
>>>> This is the heads up for the Vienna Wireless 
>>>> Society VWS-6 balloon flight.
>>>> ... is intending to launch VWS-6, an amateur 
>>>> radio balloon flight, this Saturday around 
>>>> 10:00 am EST from Strasburg, VA. 
>>> Andre, Can we get the following back to the VWS powers that
> be:
>>> *** Please put out local APRS bulletins on the status of the
>>> launch so that mobiles will be alerted to this activity.  It
>>> doesn't take much to send out a bulletin to be received by
> all
>>> the mobiles in real time:
>>> You can even do it from your D7 or D700:
>>>
>>> 1) Since this is a regional activity, go ahead and violate
> the
>>> usual 2 hop path receommendation and use 3 hops.  This
> should
>>> cover the 6 state area.
>>>
>>> 2) Send your bulletins using the message address of BLN#
> where #
>>> is the number of the one-line bulletin.
>>>
>>> 3) Use sequential BLN# numbers if the information is new.
> But
>>> you can also re-use the same BLN# to overwrite (or in effect
>>> cancel) a previous bulletin.
>>>
>>> 4) Your bulletin can even contain the text [Balloon in view]
> and
>>> any APRS software with voice code will speak it.  The D700
> will
>>> speak some words, but I forget the vocabulary.
>>>
>>> APRS is an information distributino resource.  Plesae use it
> to
>>> keep everyone informed about the progress of this launch.
> Not
>>> just tracking the balloon!
>>>
>>> Bob, Wb4APR
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> 
>