HF beacons for US launched balloons
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One of the great aspects of the Amateur Radio hobby is the wide variety of activities and sub-topics. One can move in and out of different areas of the field- wherever your interests take you. Having only been a licensed amateur for a bit over 30 years, I still learn something new regularly.
Of interest to me, is the recent proliferation of high altitude balloons with sensors and telemetry transmitters aboard. For many years, these beacon transmitters have been primarily in the VHF/UHF range. My understanding is that this was for a number of reasons, including the need for light payloads, and international regulations concerning unattended (un-controlled) beacons. Of late, I see many that are transmitting in the HF spectrum, using the weak signal modes of WSPR and JT9, for example. It has always been my understanding of FCC regulations that unattended beacons below 28 MHz were not allowed for USA amateurs. This appears to have somewhat been ignored by the masses of people running WSPR beacons 24/7- These are not intended to be unattended transmitters. However... I am curious if there has been an exception made for balloon flights for these unattended HF beacons that are operating under FCC regulations and carrying US callsigns. If this is the case, I would greatly appreciate someone being able to help me locate the appropriate regulation or notice from the FCC that allows this. Thanks in advance, Bruce Beford, N1RX |
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I believe you make a good point regarding unattended HF beacons. If I may clarify a technical point regarding the nature of balloon flights, I understand your reference to high altitude balloons to mean the flock of balloons sent flying around the 10k meter (30k feet) altitude. In the world of free-flight balloons, high altitude balloons (HAB) are those that have a large balloon filled with enough gas to rise quickly to around 30k meters or 100k feet and then burst, allowing the payload to float back to earth, hopefully slowed by a parachute. Flights last a few hours usually, often much less. This type of flight makes good use of VHF/UHF frequencies and even low microwave i.e. Wifi frequencies. An argument could be made that flights of this nature could use HF transmitters as the working time is so short, the transmission will end within a known time, a crude form of operator control. The lower altitude long distance and long duration flights must of course use HF to be of any value and to be easily tracked. I am not sure if we have an acronym for these long distance balloons, but I think these are the ones that create the question about the propriety of using the unattended HF beacons.
It seems the 'newer' crop of ARS operators have less concern about sticking strictly to the regs than those of us who came into the hobby thru a lot of hard work and study. I was first licensed in 1972 and am of the old school, I'm afraid. I have a moderate amount of pride in what I have accomplished and feel strongly about the need to protect this hobby, one of the few that are internationally regulated. I have zero tolerance for violations, whether committed by others or myself. Inadvertent or unintentional violations are bad enough, deliberate is inexcusable. Man! This soapbox is so high I am suffering hypoxia! -- Wes AE6ZM Hereford, AZ ?-.- |
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Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Wes.
I believe we are of similar minds on the question at hand. I spend a great deal of time mentoring newly licensed amateurs, and head up a local Volunteer Examiner team in my area. I have been involved in the licensing and upgrading of the privileges of nearly 1000 other Radio Amateurs over the years. There have been many changes to the Amateur Radio Service over that time- many have been designed to promote experimentation and the furthering of the art and science of radio techniques. This is all good for our chosen field of interest. Beneath this all however, must run the code of ethics that we all voluntarily follow- the framework under which our unique privileges are granted. As I said in my original post, I am more than happy to be educated on how some of these obviously uncontrolled operations are justified within our rules and regulations. I know I am probably shouting into the wind when it comes to unattended WSPR beacons and the like. However, as one who tries to instill the desire to work and play within our internationally agreed frameworks, it does irk me a bit. I find it very disturbing, with the speed and breadth of online information, blogging, web forums and such, just how quickly bad practices can spread, and eventually be seen as "It must be OK, because everyone else is doing it". You're right. This soapbox is getting kind of shaky. Time to step down. 73 es HNY, Bruce Beford, N1RX |
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I am hopeful that the QCX and the SDR that Hans has made available to the Ham community will help some move from being just equipment operators, as we used to call them, into being more knowledgeable and capable in the technical i.e. mechanical and electronic sense. These kits require skill and thinking ability to get them built, setup and maintained. It is encouraging to see some of our group here persevering in the face of repeated problems, and unresolved issues with their build. It is more difficult for folks today because the only indicators of what is going on in a rig are from test instrument displays, which require skill to interpret. I miss the old days when I kept an eye on the plates in my PA tubes to see when they started to show a dull red glow. That meant I was right at the max loading I could get away with. When I messed up, a bright flash and a nasty hole in the plate told me what had happened. Now you need to know how to limit things while doing tests to find out what is going on before pushing things too hard. And often there is no way to limit power, just turn it on and watch for smoke. I spent too many years on a service bench to feel comfortable with just watching to see if I had done things right by NOT seeing the smoke!
Well, this thread is not too pertinent to the QRP labs kits, but I do want the folks who are building and working through issues to know that their efforts encourage an old f**t like me to think this hobby has a good future. Keep on trucking folks!! -- Wes AE6ZM Hereford, AZ ? |
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Trevor, there is no power level below which an intentional radiator in the amateur radio bands becomes "unregulated". It is still an amateur radio station, and must be operated in accordance with the relavent regulations, including emissions purity, proper IDing. (and control of operations) etc. QRP and QRPp enthusiasts regularly run at these low power levels. It is the hallmark of a diligent operator to insure all of his or her "stations" are compliant and under the proper control.
73 Bruce N1RX Trevor wrote: We are talking power levels of 50 to 100milliwatts. With an eirp of even less.
What is the power level in the US where devices become unregulated.
73s HNY
Trevor
VK3PD |
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sorry, no.
These flight rely on a large quantity of stations monitoring the small slices of the amateur bands that these uncontrolled beacons operate in. Putting a transmitter outside the amateur bands accomplishes nothing. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this issue. The best I could hope for by asking about this, is to at least start a discussion, and get people thinking about what it means to operate an amateur radio station within the confines of the US FCC regulations. We all have some pretty amazing privileges as licensed operators. I believe that those privileges, we also must accept responsibility to play within the regulations, and encourage other operators to do the same. 73 Bruce |
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Ironically, approved transmissions create a tremendous amount of QRM and promote even more LID behavior.? The recent FT8 mode is a good example.? From: Bruce Beford N1RX <n1rx@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, January 1, 2018 7:06 PM Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] HF beacons for US launched balloons sorry, no. These flight rely on a large quantity of stations monitoring the small slices of the amateur bands that these uncontrolled beacons operate in. Putting a transmitter outside the amateur bands accomplishes nothing. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this issue. The best I could hope for by asking about this, is to at least start a discussion, and get people thinking about what it means to operate an amateur radio station within the confines of the US FCC regulations. We all have some pretty amazing privileges as licensed operators. I believe that those privileges, we also must accept responsibility to play within the regulations, and encourage other operators to do the same. 73 Bruce |
开云体育The redeeming part of the rule breaking, and justice in the end is that the offenders typically attach their call signs to the illegal operation. ?Very helpful.?Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: email:??bill@...
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开云体育Perhaps it’s time to start working with FCC and others for an experimental regulation for QRPP unattended HF beacons for balloons only.?Newt N4EWT On Jan 1, 2018, at 16:53, Trevor <trevor@...> wrote:
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C'mon guys, really?? We need to lighten up on this.? Even if these HF balloons are violating any rules, which is questionable regarding the vague FCC legalese, are they even remotely any threat or negative influence?? If anything, they are a good example of innovation and progressive experimentation utilizing the latest technology.? They use literally only milliwatts, compared to the kilowatt+ of contesters who completely disregard any rules or etiquette for Yet-Another-Certificate. The real threat to ham radio as we know it, is the proclivity of the "paper-chaser" modes, unfortunately with the ARRL's blessing and encouragement. From: J68HZ <bill@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, January 1, 2018 8:44 PM Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] HF beacons for US launched balloons The redeeming part of the rule breaking, and justice in the end is that the offenders typically attach their call signs to the illegal operation. ?Very helpful.? Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: email:??bill@... |
Bruce Beford N1RX
Wes WB7BR
Jeff KP3FT
J68HZ
Newt N4EWT