Watches, Warnings & Advisories for Sunflower Co.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

This Weekend in Amateur Radio Mississippi

If you have a good outside antenna on you scanner, or are an Amateur Radio operator, you may be interested in keeping up with an awesome project by a group of school children in Ridgeland.

The Olde Town Middle School Radio & Technology Radio Club - callsign KC5NXD - will launch a high-altitude balloon loaded with amateur radio payload packages Saturday morning, March 26 around 9:00am.

The balloon will carry a host of science experiment packages, and a high-definition digital camera to an estimated 95,000 foot altitude.  In addition to these experiments, the balloon will utilize various amateur radio transmitters and modes to relay telemetry to any station that can monitor the data.  Additionally, there will be a voice beacon transmitter on 146.565 MHz.  At that altitude, stations within a 400-mile radius should be able to hear the beacon.

There will be an APRS transmitter onboard to relay position and altitude.  You can track the balloon's location on www.findu.com or www.aprs.fi and search for callsign KC5NXD-11.

On top of all that, the kids will broadcast their efforts on Ustream at www.ustream.tv/user/kc5nxd, and you can also follow their efforts on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kc5nxd.

Look them up, or program your radio or scanner and listen in.  They'll appreciate it!

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