As of Sunday, (12/23/12) The K4WCU Repeater has been relocated to the top of Reservoir Ridge. It’s new location should serve Cullowhee flawlessly, and potentially add improved service to the surrounding areas such as Tuckaseegee and Sylva. Can you now hit the repeater? We’d love to hear about it. Please give us your report by commenting on this article, We’d love to know how the location effects your coverage. We look forward to testing it’s coverage more extensively when we return to the area for the spring semester. Information on how to access the repeater can be found on the “Repeater” Tab above.

Much thanks to Russ, K4RCC for his efforts and work to obtaining permission to use the site, and getting the repeater installed!

As many of you may know we have successfully recovered the K4WCU (Catamount-4) Balloon. The write up below was written by Al, WD4A, and Chuck, W3WZN. Much thanks to them for tracking the information.

We have also Posted Pictures from the flight Check them out here! – K4WCU (Catamount-4) Baloon Slideshow

Catamount-4 Track and Recovery Teams, Along with the Property Owner, and Stakeholders taken as the balloon was first discovered

Stats:
· Launch: 10:06 AM ET Dec 15 from Jackson County Airport – Cullowhee, NC
· Maximum observed altitude (via APRS): 83,712 feet at 17:18:341 UTC (12:18:34 ET)
· One packet seen at 88,656 at 17:22:37 UTC but is likely erroneous since the packet immediately before and after were much lower
· After balloon burst, the payload was falling at 119 mph (174 fps for first 60 seconds) (10,469 feet in 60 seconds)
· At one time the balloon was observed to be traveling over 150 MPH horizontally!
· Landed near Wingate College in Monroe, NC at position N 35 00.87 W 080 25.66 (track picture below)
· last report to aprs.fi on Dec 16 at 12:11:17 UTC (7:11:17 AM ET) altitude 639 ft
· Distance traveled: 158.5 Mi at heading of 96.8 degrees

Hunt Highlights:
· At one point we were afraid we had lost the balloon payload as we did not hear the APRS or beacon for about a hour
· We got lucky after driving near the site of the last transmitted packet and just barley heard the beacon
· We converged on the payload by direction finding the beacon once we could hear it well enough
· Balloon was first found by following the sound of a piezo buzzer installed for that purpose
· The payload was hung up about 35 feet above the ground in a dead, rotten Sweet Gum tree -Tree branches easily snapped off when climbing attempts were made.
· We were unable to retrieve the payload on Saturday evening as dark overtook our efforts
· All chasers except except two (W3WZN, & W3WDD returned to Western NC Saturday night
· The landowner was found on Saturday night and permission was granted to cut down the tree
· Sunday afternoon the payload was retrieved around 1:25 PM

· All equipment in the payload was safe and secure although some of the batteries powering various pieces of equipment had become depleted

Flight Path of the Catamount-4

Our Monthly Meeting, which would have been scheduled for December 27, 2012, has been cancelled due to the holiday break. We will Resume our regular Monthly Meeting again in the new year. Our First meeting will be January 24, 2012 in the Dogwood Room, University Center @ WCU at 7PM.

We hope to see you all there, and that you and your families have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

CARGO, along with the Haywood County Amateur Radio Club, and the WCU Physics Dept. Will be Launching Catamount-4 This weekend on Saturday December 15 between 9-10AM from the Jackson County Airport.

Here’s the link we’ll use to track spot from the GPS

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0pOUNAiFhzp2nvv1tbUhMKXbnXzUx3rrB

If you happen to see the balloon (K4WCU-11) feel free to email us with any information you may have (especially if it’s down and helps us recover) to balloon at wcuradio.com

UPDATE: Balloon has been located, and recovery efforts are still underway at this time. (12/16/12)
UPDATE: Balloon and Payload successfully recovered at approximately 1325 EST, 12/16/12. It’s final resting place was only a few miles off of Highway 74 near Wingate University, in Monroe North Carolina. We will do our best to post a few pictures shortly, please continue to refer back to this post for updates.
UPDATE: (12/20/12) Pictures have been uploaded to the web. Check them out here! K4WCU – Catamount-4 Slideshow

We will be having our next meeting Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 7PM in the Dogwood Room, in the University Center. Talk in will be on the club repeater, K4WCU 444.975+ 131.8. We will also be available by phone – (828) 515-1426 (or 5151-HAM).

We will be holding our drawing to give away a free testing session this month. (You must be present with your ticket stub to win) We will continue to give entry opportunities to members and listeners who check into our weekly nets, Tuesdays at 8PM on the 444.700 Repeater.

As for a program following the business portion of the meeting, we will be discussing narrow-band requirements that take place at the end of the year, along with digital radio, and how it all works!

Talk in will be on the 444.975+ 131.8 K4WCU Repeater, or by calling (828) 5151-HAM.

Hope to see y’all there!

We will be having our next meeting Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 7PM in the Dogwood Room, in the University Center. Talk in will be on the club repeater, K4WCU 444.975+ 131.8. We will also be available by phone – (828) 515-1426 (or 5151-HAM).

We are still attempting to give away a free testing session, by raffle! (No Entry Cost- just promise us you will study) We will be giving these opportunities to members and listeners who check into our weekly nets, Tuesdays at 8PM on the 444.700 Repeater.

As for a program following the business portion of the meeting, we will be following up on the balloon launch that took place October 13, 2012. The launch was very successful! Thanks to all those who participated by chase team, radio, phone, email, and all others.

Hope to see you all there!

We will be involved in Launching a Weather Balloon with the Physics Department at WCU! The Balloon will make it’s first run This Saturday, October 13 beginning at the Jackson County Airport. It will be flying as K4WCU-11 on APRS, and will be equipped with (among other things) a camera, a SPOT II GPS, and a beacon transmitter (433.920MHz).

We ask that all reports be sent to “balloon at wcuradio dot com”. Anyone who wishes to assist to learn more, or participate, please contact the club. (see the contact us tab)

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0pOUNAiFhzp2nvv1tbUhMKXbnXzUx3rrB

We will be having our next meeting Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 7PM in the Rogers Room, in the University Center. Talk in will be on the club repeater, K4WCU 444.975+ 131.8. We will also be available by phone – (828) 515-1426 (or 5151-HAM).

We are still attempting to give away a free testing session, by raffle! (No Entry Cost- just promise us you will study 🙂 ) There was no winner this past month, so will are continuing to give away tickets, and the chance to win is still out there!

As for a program following the business portion of the meeting, we will most likely be speaking on the proper use of IRLP, and will leave room for question regarding the basics session we had last month. Hope to see you all there!

Greetings all!

You may have seen us at Valley Ballyhoo Today! We are excited to introduce you into the fun and exciting world of Amateur (HAM) Radio! Our next meeting is Thursday August 23, 2012 at 7:00 PM in the Belk Building, Second Floor by the vending machines. We will feature a program that introduces the basics of Radio, how it works, and have a demo followed by an opportunity for anyone to operate.

For Directions, Talk in, or Questions please do not hesitate to call or email us (Check the contact us tab). Good luck in your first days of classes this year!

Interested in Public Service?

The Blue Ridge Breakaway is this Saturday, August 18, 2012. The Blue Ridge Breakaway (BRB) is a 100 Mile Bike Race with several routes (some shortened) that tours the Blue Ridge Parkway and covers various parts of Haywood County (NC). Ham Radio Operators are needed to provide communications for this event, as most places are spotty or provide no cell phone coverage. If you are interested, please email us (email at WCURadio dot Com) or visit the Haywood County ARC’s Website at WNCHamRadio.org and contact the HCARC Directly. Radio Operators are being stationed at Rest Stops, operating SAG Vehicles, Running the County’s Emergency Management Communications Trailer, as well as reporting to the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. Hope to see you there!