Balloon Flight B-40, 13 February 2014

Trip to the Arctic Circle (and beyond)

Flight path:

This as a successful attempt (after a series of failures) to participate in UK High Altitude Society challenge for an amateur balloon to reach Arctic region.

It turned out to be quite a task.

Latex balloons are too fragile to reliably float for extended periods of time. They usually burst in the morning following night float.

Foil superpressure balloons are floating at much lower altitudes (3 to 10 km) and present their own problems.

Too much free lift (5 grams or more) causes balloon to built extra pressure and rupture when heated by the Sun. Too little free lift (1 gram or less) makes it very vulnerable to icing and descending shortly after take off.

Floating at lower altitudes (3 to 7 km) makes icing much worse. Higher levels (8 to 9 km) cause payload to suffer from extreme cold, down to -60°C and lower.

Small radio coverage compared to latex balloons makes flight path planning more critical. Conditions of the competition required a balloon to transmit its position when crossing the Arctic Circle line.

And most importantly there is this little inconvenience of wind not blowing in the required direction.

But if you try long enough things might just work as planned.

The launch has been timed such that unusual wind pattern takes the balloon towards Scandinavia and up North along the areas where there are amateur radio station network.

AAA Energizer Ultimate battery has been chosen as smallest and lightest available and still capable of providing power for about 30 hours - flight time expected for balloon to reach the target line.

Payload weight: 12 grams.
Free lift: 4.0 grams.
Telemetry: 434.500 MHz Contestia 8/1000 and APRS on 144.800 MHz
Highest Latitude reached: 70.88° North
Total flight time: 32 hours

3-D view of the flight path created by Geoff Mather.

B-40 balloon has flown over the following countries:

 United Kingdom
 Denmark
 Sweden
 Finland
 Norway

I am grateful to all amateur radio operators who helped tracking the balloon and provided equipment and network for receiving automatic telemetry.

CallsignReceived telemetry lines
G8KNN-173
G8KNN51
OZ1SKY47
SA6BSS47
PE7ER34
Leo232
F5APQ30
M0UPU30
SM3ULC22
M0JCU19
G0WXI12
Leo4
la3eq2
OZ5AGJ2
G6GZH1

B-40 transmitted APRS telemetry using callsign M0XER-10 and used the following digipeaters:
(Data is courtesy of DB0ANF)

Callsign Icon User Pos Digi Pos Dist U->D Dir U->D Frames First Heard Last Heard
DB0WOA-10JO46HDJO44QA238.6 km168 / SSE12014-02-13 14:06:452014-02-13 14:06:45
DB1HC-1JO35JHJO44NG188.6 km126 / SE92014-02-13 11:57:312014-02-13 12:54:11
G6GZH-1JO03VDJO02CM125.5 km238 / WSW12014-02-13 09:36:302014-02-13 09:36:30
LA2MLAKQ10CCJP99ME158.6 km232 / SW52014-02-14 11:33:172014-02-14 13:04:12
LA5AKQ00OQKP19QX115.0 km134 / SE542014-02-14 10:23:122014-02-14 14:41:36
LA6GGA-5KQ00SJKQ10DO 35.2 km 56 / NE22014-02-14 13:42:452014-02-14 13:58:21
LA6TMA-1JO67IUJO59HK214.1 km326 / NNW22014-02-13 16:16:432014-02-13 16:51:33
LA9UI-2KQ00SJJP99IP134.2 km233 / SW12014-02-14 13:56:182014-02-14 13:56:18
LD2RKJO68TCJP50PF270.0 km331 / NNW12014-02-13 17:20:052014-02-13 17:20:05
LD3KFJO68SBJO59CA218.8 km300 / WNW12014-02-13 17:19:162014-02-13 17:19:16
LD3SKJO57QJJO49TG228.5 km334 / NNW12014-02-13 16:04:022014-02-13 16:04:02
LD9AFKP19UHJP99GD205.1 km267 / W492014-02-14 07:24:292014-02-14 10:54:52
LD9ATKQ00LUKQ10MA122.6 km138 / SE212014-02-14 12:12:192014-02-14 15:17:46
LD9BAKP19RLJP99QF163.4 km262 / W52014-02-14 10:20:432014-02-14 11:22:15
LD9HSKQ00MUKQ10BL 59.2 km133 / SE172014-02-14 12:55:362014-02-14 15:13:46
LD9TFKQ00KVKP09BK163.0 km190 / S312014-02-14 12:57:242014-02-14 15:19:48
LD9TKKP19QMJP99JR180.9 km280 / W12014-02-14 11:28:492014-02-14 11:28:49
M0NASJO13LRJO01HW251.7 km219 / SW32014-02-13 09:23:002014-02-13 10:22:00
MB7DSJO03SAIO92GU201.0 km266 / W32014-02-13 09:29:572014-02-13 10:15:59
MB7UCJO03WEIO81XW295.7 km243 / WSW12014-02-13 09:39:002014-02-13 09:39:00
MB7UCPJO13JQIO93XN187.1 km267 / W12014-02-13 10:17:272014-02-13 10:17:27
MB7UNJO03SAIO93GH205.5 km280 / W12014-02-13 10:23:012014-02-13 10:23:01
MB7UNBJO13PVJO02QP185.2 km223 / SW22014-02-13 10:29:012014-02-13 10:35:35
MB7UTGJO13NUJO02BR236.7 km240 / WSW202014-02-13 09:25:272014-02-13 10:31:03
OH1MLKP01CQKP01SN 67.7 km 98 / E32014-02-13 22:26:122014-02-13 22:39:42
OH1RTJP90MNKP10MP217.6 km 86 / E32014-02-13 20:35:302014-02-13 21:25:03
OH2LIYKP02OLKP20NK306.8 km136 / SE92014-02-13 21:59:092014-02-13 23:33:45
OH3MBCKP14VOKP12VG262.2 km181 / S22014-02-14 02:20:512014-02-14 02:25:24
OH3TKKP13EJKP10QV282.2 km169 / S72014-02-13 21:05:002014-02-14 00:41:33
OH6AA-1KP13MWKP02UT142.7 km209 / SSW472014-02-13 22:50:452014-02-14 01:26:42
OH6AA-3KP14TJKP03SC176.9 km216 / SW22014-02-14 01:10:452014-02-14 02:07:18
OH6AI-1KP26ITKP13MU337.4 km194 / SSW22014-02-14 01:58:152014-02-14 05:58:20
OH6GSLKP13FKKP12JL107.9 km171 / S32014-02-13 23:15:422014-02-14 00:46:03
OH6HFX-1KP26IPKP14RA298.5 km191 / SSW662014-02-13 23:02:122014-02-14 05:42:18
OH6NT-5KP13HOKP13JO 6.5 km105 / ESE102014-02-14 00:00:522014-02-14 00:59:39
OH8MXJKP25DFKP23KV149.0 km169 / SSE242014-02-14 01:28:452014-02-14 03:19:54
OH9MBS-1KP26ISKP25QC187.3 km170 / S292014-02-14 03:01:452014-02-14 05:55:51
ON0ABTJO13GMJO11PC273.7 km168 / SSE22014-02-13 09:50:102014-02-13 10:06:19
OZ0DIP-2JO46QKJO46FD 64.4 km238 / WSW112014-02-13 12:31:372014-02-13 14:36:27
OZ2DIJ-2JO46MHJO45FM 91.8 km202 / SSW22014-02-13 13:39:302014-02-13 14:22:51
OZ2DXE-2JO24STJO46ML288.5 km 48 / NE12014-02-13 12:04:112014-02-13 12:04:11
OZ4DIO-2JO46PKJO55GU101.9 km127 / SE12014-02-13 14:33:592014-02-13 14:33:59
OZ6REC-1JO68SCJO55TP295.9 km204 / SSW582014-02-13 12:52:092014-02-13 17:14:54
OZ8DIA-1JO57GAJO47WA 40.5 km271 / W52014-02-13 14:54:392014-02-13 15:26:21
OZ8TT-2JO56FXJO45VL170.5 km195 / SSW272014-02-13 12:20:202014-02-13 15:21:48
OZ9SJJO57NGJO46GO171.6 km246 / WSW32014-02-13 15:05:452014-02-13 15:46:36
PE1OEZ-7JO24OQJO23OI145.5 km180 / S62014-02-13 10:33:322014-02-13 11:50:37
PI1CDDJO24ILJO22IW169.7 km179 / S142014-02-13 09:48:062014-02-13 11:29:57
SA6APY-1JO88DWJO68RJ176.6 km251 / WSW212014-02-13 16:18:212014-02-13 18:56:27
SK2AT-2KP26IQJP93VU387.2 km218 / SW32014-02-14 04:18:522014-02-14 05:44:46
SK4BW-1JP90FCJP70RJ168.0 km283 / WNW12014-02-13 20:49:002014-02-13 20:49:00
SK4TL-1JO89LFJO79OG 98.2 km274 / W42014-02-13 17:44:032014-02-13 19:27:57
SK6BA-1JO57UMJO67HL 56.8 km 94 / E22014-02-13 15:58:472014-02-13 16:09:47
SK6DW-1JO67LWJO68DG 56.0 km315 / NW12014-02-13 16:54:242014-02-13 16:54:24
SK6LK-2JO68XFJO67MR 76.8 km225 / SW52014-02-13 16:27:212014-02-13 17:29:05
SM0KCR-1JP90GEJO99AK 86.6 km199 / SSW12014-02-13 20:55:572014-02-13 20:55:57
SM0OEM-1JP90DAJO89WF 89.3 km195 / SSW422014-02-13 18:36:182014-02-13 20:42:27
SM0XHJ-1JP90RWJO99AK187.6 km206 / SSW72014-02-13 19:12:242014-02-13 21:52:12
SM1NVP-1JP91WIJO88XV294.7 km203 / SSW302014-02-13 18:29:182014-02-13 22:19:15
SM4XDJ-1JO89PJJO79OG117.5 km264 / W242014-02-13 17:53:062014-02-13 19:43:54
SM6PGPJO67APJO67BK 22.6 km169 / S112014-02-13 15:30:532014-02-13 16:20:51
SM6VBT-1JO67KVJO67AP 60.9 km240 / WSW12014-02-13 16:52:202014-02-13 16:52:20
SM6WZI-2JO78IKJO67MP128.7 km228 / SW192014-02-13 16:07:432014-02-13 17:53:48
SM7WUNJO68XFJO77CS 52.1 km167 / SSE22014-02-13 17:19:242014-02-13 17:28:27

Altitude profile(metres):

UKHAS Arctic Challenge:

Balloons flights home

(C)2014 Leo Bodnar