Explorer Report, eh!

Bell Canada / Aliant's network in Newfoundland is fantastic. Really, I'm sure of it. 850 MHz means it's right in the middle of the tuning range of our antenna.

Too bad it's 1x/EVDO. That's right, CDMA.

Maybe we'll still get to Kazakhstan. Here's a coverage map from there (source: beeline.kz)

Walking a tightrope (aka garbage in, garbage out, rolling dice, etc.)

Thanks to NOAA's Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model, you can take a point in space/time and figure out where that "particle" will blow to.

If you want, you can manipulate the numbers to show anything you'd like them to show. Just varying the start point and altitude leads to these results... Kazakhstan, England, France, or middle of the Atlantic.

Again, these forecasts are approximately as accurate as the weather forecast. Your mileage may vary.

Cell coverage in Newfoundland

For those of you curious ("like me"), 850 MHz coverage in Newfoundland is good. Aliant Telecom and Bell Canada have towers in this frequency (No 1900 MHz there, either).

http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

We might within range at about Sunset on 10/1. Hopefully our batteries haven't refrozen by then and we get some transmissions.

-Chris

Where are we? Are we there yet?

Based on weather models at 5000 meters up, we're pretty much guaranteed to be 100 miles over the Atlantic, just getting out over the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

If that's accurate-ish, here's an optimistic view of where our flight path leads for the next 48 hours at 4000/5000/6000 meters above the sea.

If we get to Newfoundland in two days, it should only be another two days after that to get to Europe as long as we generally follow the jet stream (http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display_alt.cgi?a=natla_250)

Explorer Report (another manual SMS entry)

T19.37 COORD 40.10122 -86.72772 GPS ALT 9107ft 78mph HDG159 ALT 15745ft TARGET 7000ft TO 16085ft. Fans off. 31F 3.99V EDGE850 -79 snr 2 AT T 310-410

edit: Identical GPS location. With imperfect batteries, it's favoring battery life over running GPS continuously.

edit 2: With batteries below 4V, next update will be at about 8:30 central. Again, favoring using fans over frequent transmissions. Hopefully the solar panels are working in the morning.

Explorer report

T19.17 Coord 40.10122 -86.72772 gps ALT 9107ft 78mph hdg159 Alt 15140ft Target 7000ft to 14199ft. Fans DOWN. 49F 3.93V HSDPA1700 -104 ecio 31.5 310-420 debug info 283K 103adc 1050v 8.24PSI

Explorer Report (delayed, no 850 band over Indiana)

T17.20 COORD 41.27634 -87.33843 GPS ALT 17188ft 77mph HDG160 ALT 16135ft TARGET 7000ft TO 11262ft. FANS DOWN. 85F 4.09V GSM1800 -94 SNR 2 310-260

(ugh, edit x2, bad transcribing.)

on our way..

couple of notes... Sajid's tracker is online at http://sajiddalvi.net/ebony/location.php
Also, we might have had an improperly sized diode on our solar panels. There is a little surprise here that it's still working. We'll see if it stops charging in the morning.

Explorer report

T16.16 Coord 42.02418 -87.75275 gps ALT 12916ft 37mph hdg148 Alt 11975ft Target 7000ft to 10736ft. Fans DOWN. 94F 4.20V EDGE850 -61 snr 2 AT T 310-410 debug info 308K 120adc 1223v 9.35PSI

EXPLORER REPORT

T15.56 COORD 42.14066 -87.87878 GPS ALT 8772ft 19mph HDG131 ALT 8618ft TARGET 7000ft TO 10736ft. Fans off. 94F 4.20V EDGE850 -76 SNR 2 AT T 310-410 debug info 308K 140adc 1427v 10.66PSI

EXPLORER REPORT

T15.51 COORD 42.16204 -87.90368 GPS ALT 7906ft 25mph HDG141 ALT 7526ft TARGET 7000ft TO 11340ft. FANS UP. 94F 4.18V EDGE850 -70 SNR 7 AT T 310-410 debug info 293K 147adc 1498v 11.11PSI

EXPLORER REPORT

T15.47 COORD 42.18120 -87.92676 GPS ALT 5931ft 25mph HDG148 ALT 6913ft TARGET 7000ft TO 11340ft. FANS UP. 94F 4.18V EDGE850 -67 SNR 2 AT T 310-410 debug info 293K 151adc 1539v 11.38PSI

EXPLORER REPORT

T15.43 COORD 42.19981 -87.94838 GPS ALT 3471ft 23mph HDG147 ALT 5720ft TARGET 7000ft TO 11340ft. FANS UP. 85F 4.18V EDGE850 -68 SNR 58 AT T 310-410 debug info 293K 159adc 1621v 11.90PSI

EXPLORER REPORT

T15.36 COORD 42.23150 -87.96288 GPS ALT 4576ft 16mph HDG172 ALT 4298ft TARGET 7000ft TO 11340ft. FANS UP. 67F 4.16V EDGE850 -65 SNR 7 AT T 310-410 debug info 293K 169adc 1723v 12.55PSI

EXPLORER REPORT

T15.31 COORD 42.24681 -87.96771 GPS ALT 3362ft 12mph HDG165 ALT 3070ft TARGET 7000ft TO 11340ft. FANS UP. 67F 4.18V EDGE850 -69 SNR 4 AT T 310-410 debug info 293K 175adc 1784v 12.94PSI

It's in the air.

EXPLORER REPORT

T15.25 COORD 42.26543 -87.97662 GPS ALT 3057ft 10mph HDG153 ALT 2927ft TARGET 7000ft TO 11340ft. FANS UP. 67F 4.20V EDGE850 -70 SNR 2 AT T 310-410 debug info 293K 179adc 1825v 13.20PSI

Explorer report

T15.15 No GPS. Alt 1617ft Target 7000ft to 11340ft. Fans UP. 67F 4.22V EDGE850 -60 snr 27 AT T 310-410 debug info 293K 189adc 1927v 13.86PSI

Explorer report

T9.37 Coord 42.29051 -87.99609 gps ALT 620ft 0mph hdg0 Alt 731ft Target 7000ft to 11340ft. Fans off. Not OK To Sleep. 58F 4.26V EDGE850 -30 snr 79 AT T 310-410 used 14 ballasts. Debug info 293K 196adc 1998v 14.31PSI

Welcome!

Hi there,

This blog will document the flight of Ivory Ultimate. It's not necessarily the best Ivory launch, but it's definitely the last.

This launch features 6 small helicopter fans as active altitude control, 700 mA of solar panels to recharge batteries, and back to our favorite 850 MHz Yagi antenna.

Barring technical setbacks, launch is 9/29/2009 in the early afternoon CDT.

The Antenna is a reproduction of Ivory V4, 850-MHz tuned Yagi.


Here's an early image of the assembly of Ivory V6, Ivorycopter Beta a.k.a. Ivory Ultimate.