[UKHAS]Radiosonde Frequencies - UK

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Steve Aerospace

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Nov 13, 2019, 2:48:52 PM11/13/19
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Hi Folks,

    Can anyone point me to a source of the use of radiosonde
frequencies in the UK (Met office + Military) .

    Steve

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f6...@free.fr

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Nov 13, 2019, 3:42:31 PM11/13/19
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Hi,
Herstmonceux using 404.800 all nights, with a RS41 radio sonding beacon.
If you want to take a look, all days see the trajectorys, from Herstmonceux start, on

facebook : BHAF Ballons haute altitude france

GPS TO LAUNCH POSITION is 50.89N & 0.32E

0Z all nights

12Z rare

Best regards, from Alan F6AGV





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De: Steve Aerospace <st...@randomaerospace.com>
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Envoyé: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 20:48:50 +0100 (CET)
Objet: [UKHAS]Radiosonde Frequencies - UK
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Mark Jessop

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Nov 13, 2019, 4:09:57 PM11/13/19
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You can also take a look on the tracker (with the RS_* filter removed) at about 00Z and 12Z, and see what sondes have been picked up by the auto_rx network.
The frequency of the sonde is in the comment field.

73
Mark

Steve Aerospace

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Nov 13, 2019, 4:26:05 PM11/13/19
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Yeah - I've been plodding through that - so far I have

    Larkhill - seems to use 404.4MHz

    Nottingham - 404.2

    Eskmeals???? (near Barrow-In-Furness) seems to use 401.6 and 405.1

    Camborne - 405.7

    Gawleys Gate??? (Northern Ireland) 404.2

    Ouston?? (Newcastle) 404.4

    Aberporth??? (West Wales coast) 405.6


Not sure of the station names. Any others?

    Steve

John Smith

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Nov 13, 2019, 4:33:03 PM11/13/19
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I can confirm that Nottingham and Northern Ireland use the same frequencies, when the wind is right they clash here in York, resulting in no decodes from either.

Regards
Bozzey

Steve Aerospace

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Nov 13, 2019, 4:33:19 PM11/13/19
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Also Lerwick (Shetland Isles)  404.6Mhz

    Steve

Steve Aerospace

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Nov 13, 2019, 5:09:50 PM11/13/19
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Looks Like:

    the Station in Northern Ireland is actually called Caster Bay

    Aberporth is correct

    the station nr RAF Ouston is called Albemarle

    the station nr Nottingham is called Watnall

    like Alan said Herstmonceux uses 404.8Mhz

   The station near Eskmeaks (lake district) is still a mystery.

There is also a station in South Uist (off the coast or NW Scotland)- but there aren't any recent tracks for that.

    Steve


On 13/11/2019 21:26, Steve Aerospace wrote:

John Smith

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Nov 13, 2019, 5:38:59 PM11/13/19
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Lots of RS92's recently from West of the Lake District, UK, not sure what these are about, various frequencies.

But please shout up anyone planning a LORA launch, got a brand new setup here itching for first use tracking..

Bozzey

John Underwood

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Nov 13, 2019, 6:33:13 PM11/13/19
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Is Eskmeals associated with the MOD range? (See https://www.notaminfo.com/nationalmap)

Steve Aerospace

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Nov 13, 2019, 6:46:33 PM11/13/19
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Yes think so (Thanks John & John) likewise South Uist is QinetiQ/MoD.

The process by which they allocate and or use frequencies is also a mystery to me - I know its in the 401.000 - 406.000 MHz band on 100KHz steps (50 channels) - but why would they put Caster Bay and Watnall on the same frequency - and why would Eskmeals use 2 frequencies - strange.

    Steve

Steve Aerospace

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Nov 15, 2019, 5:51:49 AM11/15/19
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I've found some Hourly Predictors made up for

    Herstmonceux (East Sussex)
http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/herstmonceux/

and

    Watnall (Nottingham) http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/watnall/


Is there one for Larkhill (Nr Stonehenge Salisbury Wiltshire) ?


    Steve

Philip Heron

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Nov 15, 2019, 9:14:54 AM11/15/19
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On 15/11/2019 10:51, Steve Aerospace wrote:
> Is there one for Larkhill (Nr Stonehenge Salisbury Wiltshire) ?

Not Larkhill, but I've setup one for Castor Bay:

http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/castorbay/

-Phil

Aaron Regan

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Jan 15, 2020, 5:12:34 AM1/15/20
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Hi All,

Sorry to dig up an old thread. 

Is there a predictor for Lark Hill did anyone find?

Also does anyone know how often radiosondes are launched is there a pattern?  Lark Hill seems a little sporadic in comparison to other places. Also are radiosondes released at the same time? I am not sure if it is my imagination but I noticed that the radiosondes launched from Lark Hill seem to be launched at night around midnight.

Does any one know any one that launches them (ideally someone down the south of the country) it would be good to speak to them to find out a little more and maybe even film a launch.

Kind regards, 

Aaron. 

John Laidler

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Jan 15, 2020, 5:22:15 AM1/15/20
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Lark Hill is the centre for artillery training so I guess it might be the military who are launching them. If you do a bit of Googling you might find contact details for the Royal School of Artillery. I had a quick look and found they have a Facebook page - but FB isn't something I use much but it would be worth posting something and see what response you get.

John 

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Steve Aerospace

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Jan 15, 2020, 5:27:41 AM1/15/20
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Thanks to Stirling work by other folk there is now:

    http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/larkhill/

    Steve

Steve Aerospace

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Jan 15, 2020, 5:42:04 AM1/15/20
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In fact I have this that I should share:


Station
Frequency
Hourly Predictor
Aberporth (West Wales coast)
405.6

Albemarle – RAF Ouston (Newcastle)
404.4

Camborne (Cornwall)
405.7

Caster Bay (Northern Ireland)
404.2
http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/castorbay/
Eskmeals – QinetiQ (Lake District)
401.6 & 405.1

Herstmonceux (East Sussex)
404.8
/http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/herstmonceux/
Larkhill (Wiltshire)
404.4
http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/larkhill/
Lerwick (Shetlands)
404.6

South Uist (off NW Scotland coast)
??

Watnall (Nottingham)
404.2
http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/watnall/







Range 401.000 to 406.000 – 100KHz channels

Anyone know what frequency South Uist uses when they are active? Or have any corrections to the above?

    Steve

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Graham Tanner

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Jan 16, 2020, 7:03:03 PM1/16/20
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Steve,

On Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 10:27:41 AM UTC, G8KHW wrote:

Thanks to Stirling work by other folk there is now:

    http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/larkhill/

    Steve


I have not seen (or heard) a Larkhill sonde up at 20000m for many years. The mostly burst somewhere between 12000 and 15000m .

Graham Tanner

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Jan 16, 2020, 7:03:03 PM1/16/20
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On Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 10:12:34 AM UTC, Aaron Regan wrote:
Hi All,

Sorry to dig up an old thread. 

Is there a predictor for Lark Hill did anyone find?

Also does anyone know how often radiosondes are launched is there a pattern?  Lark Hill seems a little sporadic in comparison to other places. Also are radiosondes released at the same time? I am not sure if it is my imagination but I noticed that the radiosondes launched from Lark Hill seem to be launched at night around midnight.

Does any one know any one that launches them (ideally someone down the south of the country) it would be good to speak to them to find out a little more and maybe even film a launch.


Aaron,

launches from Larkhill are Monday to Friday only, and usually at about 05.30z and about 10.30z. Very occasionally, if the weather is bad, there may be a launch in the afternoon, but the time varies.
The extra launches are usually when there is a band of bad weather coming in from the west, and they try to launch extra sondes to get maximum coverage. The bad weather may be snow or heavy rain (as we had on Tuesday this week - the remains of  Storm Brendan).
A few years ago there was a band of snow coming in and they launches 6 in one day! They used a few different frequencies on that day, but it's so long ago that I can't remember what they were.

Aaron Regan

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Jan 17, 2020, 4:37:18 AM1/17/20
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Thanks for you reply guys. I really appreciate your responses. 

Looks like the winds have changed and they are now looking not to land near my house! I need to get my rig back online to track them again. I will keep my eyes on the maps because there is a chance the Cornish or Welsh radiosondes could make it over this way  (Wilts). I am looking forward to chasing one down!

All the best, 

Aaron.



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David Akerman

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Jan 17, 2020, 4:40:48 AM1/17/20
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If someone has a list of links to all the radiosonde hourly predictors, that would be nice thing to add to the UKHAS wiki ...

Dave

Steve Aerospace

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Jan 17, 2020, 5:05:32 AM1/17/20
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Thanks Graham - I have adjusted the Larkhill predictor accordingly.

I note that the recent Larkhill sondes all seem to stop at 5,000m - 10,000m on the way back down - but it doesn't seem to be lack or receiver coverage.

Most seem to stop about 50mins after launch.  Is that typical for Larkhill?

    Steve

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Steve Aerospace

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Jan 17, 2020, 6:59:31 AM1/17/20
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David Akerman

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Jan 17, 2020, 7:01:03 AM1/17/20
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Nice one!

Could someone set up an hourly for Camborne please?

Dave

Aaron Regan

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Jan 21, 2020, 10:58:38 AM1/21/20
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I too have noticed that the Lark hill sondes seem to just stop does anyone know why this could be? 

Thanks for your responses and advice. 

Aaron.


On Friday, 17 January 2020 10:05:32 UTC, G8KHW wrote:

Thanks Graham - I have adjusted the Larkhill predictor accordingly.

I note that the recent Larkhill sondes all seem to stop at 5,000m - 10,000m on the way back down - but it doesn't seem to be lack or receiver coverage.

Most seem to stop about 50mins after launch.  Is that typical for Larkhill?

    Steve

On 16/01/2020 23:14, Graham Tanner wrote:
Steve,

On Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 10:27:41 AM UTC, G8KHW wrote:

Thanks to Stirling work by other folk there is now:

    http://predict.habhub.org/hourly/larkhill/

    Steve


I have not seen (or heard) a Larkhill sonde up at 20000m for many years. The mostly burst somewhere between 12000 and 15000m .
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Steve Aerospace

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Jan 21, 2020, 11:19:30 AM1/21/20
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Since they are not going very high and don't need to get it back one wonders if they are just cheaping out on the batteries.  The RS41 normally uses a couple of Lithium-Iron-Dislphide AAs (e.g. Energizer ultimate lithium) - a couple of Alkaline's would probably give the results seen (Ive seen similar with folk using Alkalines for raspberry pi flights).

Annoying really as Larkhill was probably my best bet in bagging a RS41 round here.  Perhaps I should send them some Energizer ultimate lithium's for when the wind is blowing my way.  ;-)

    Steve

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Spike

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Jan 21, 2020, 11:41:55 AM1/21/20
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Isn't Larkhill a training school for the Royal Artillery?

Maybe these sondes have several purposes? ;-)

Spike

John Laidler

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Jan 21, 2020, 12:45:59 PM1/21/20
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If they are being launched by the Army then I suspect they are only interested in conditions around and above the Larkhill artillery range. I guess they want wind velocities, direction, temperature and humidity up to around 10Km high, perhaps up to 15Km. This data is fed into their fire direction computers to improve accuracy.

John

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Mark Jessop

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Jan 21, 2020, 3:55:02 PM1/21/20
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Have any of these been tracked by an auto_rx station yet?

You should be able to see if the kill timer is activated (look for BT xx:xx:xx in the comment field), and in the log file for the sonde (I don't send this onto habhub at the moment) you will find the battery voltage.

73
Mark VK5QI

Aaron Regan

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Jan 21, 2020, 4:18:59 PM1/21/20
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If they do have a kill timer will that mean they just go dark and then float off never to be seen again?

What would be the point in them having a kill timer if that is the case I would have thought they would want to get as much info as possible?

Cheers 

Steve Aerospace

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Jan 21, 2020, 4:26:07 PM1/21/20
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The end of the last couple if flights from larkhill - cant see battery voltage or kill timer in either:

RS_R1350022:

{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5097,11:23:51,51.01866,-2.09248,14037,9.0,-60.5,1.8,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:03:42*B89F\n"},
{"_receivers": ["G1BLO_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5150,11:24:44,51.01434,-2.09604,13796,11.4,-62.3,2.5,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:02:51*B56A\n"},
{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5181,11:25:15,51.01080,-2.09688,13657,13.6,-62.9,3.2,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:03:42*6B82\n"},
{"_receivers": ["M0HOW", "G1BLO_AUTO_RX", "F6KFW", "M6OLZ"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5181,11:25:15,51.01080,-2.09688,13657,13.6,-62.9,3.2,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:02:00*F1B0\n"},
{"_receivers": ["M0DTS_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5181,11:25:15,51.01080,-2.09688,13657,13.6,-62.9,3.2,RS41-SG R1350022 404.399 MHz BT 00:02:00*5D03\n"},
{"_receivers": ["G1BLO_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5210,11:25:44,51.00684,-2.09714,13531,17.5,-64.1,4.4,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:01:09*1EBB\n"},
{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5238,11:26:12,51.00273,-2.09710,13412,15.5,-66.0,6.5,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:01:09*4B71\n"},
{"_receivers": ["M0DTS_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5241,11:26:15,51.00233,-2.09711,13401,15.4,-66.1,6.8,RS41-SG R1350022 404.399 MHz BT 00:01:09*946F\n"},
{"_receivers": ["G1BLO_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5270,11:26:44,50.99862,-2.09776,13282,15.1,-69.2,10.7,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:00:18*CE20\n"},
{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5272,11:26:46,50.99836,-2.09783,13274,15.1,-69.2,11.0,RS41-SG R1350022 404.400 MHz BT 00:00:18*41B5\n"},
{"_receivers": ["M0DTS_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1350022,5275,11:26:49,50.99797,-2.09794,13262,14.8,-69.2,11.5,RS41-SG R1350022 404.399 MHz BT 00:00:18*05C6\n"}
]


RS_R1330246:
{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4343,07:21:44,50.94338,-2.17500,4293,16.2,-7.7,48.5,RS41-SG R1330246 404.400 MHz BT 00:01:34*75DE\n"},
{"_receivers": ["F6KFW"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4373,07:22:14,50.94047,-2.18001,4125,15.6,-6.3,34.4,RS41-SG R1330246 404.401 MHz BT 00:01:34*EB05\n"},
{"_receivers": ["G1BLO_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4372,07:22:13,50.94056,-2.17984,4132,15.8,-6.3,34.7,RS41-SG R1330246 404.401 MHz BT 00:01:34*C216\n"},
{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4373,07:22:14,50.94047,-2.18001,4125,15.6,-6.3,34.4,RS41-SG R1330246 404.400 MHz BT 00:01:34*FBE7\n"},
{"_receivers": ["G1BLO_AUTO_RX", "F6KFW"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4403,07:22:44,50.93802,-2.18491,3933,13.5,-5.5,50.0,RS41-SG R1330246 404.401 MHz BT 00:00:43*0DE0\n"},
{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4403,07:22:44,50.93802,-2.18491,3933,13.5,-5.5,50.0,RS41-SG R1330246 404.400 MHz BT 00:00:43*1D02\n"},
{"_receivers": ["G1BLO_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4432,07:23:13,50.93627,-2.18996,3745,14.1,-3.9,50.1,RS41-SG R1330246 404.401 MHz BT 00:00:43*138A\n"},
{"_receivers": ["Wareham_Loft_AUTO_RX"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4433,07:23:14,50.93622,-2.19014,3741,13.7,-3.9,49.8,RS41-SG R1330246 404.400 MHz BT 00:00:43*E26D\n"},
{"_receivers": ["G1BLO_AUTO_RX", "F6KFW"], "_sentence": "$$RS_R1330246,4433,07:23:14,50.93622,-2.19014,3741,13.7,-3.9,49.8,RS41-SG R1330246 404.401 MHz BT 00:00:43*F28F\n"}
]

Mark Jessop

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Jan 21, 2020, 4:31:41 PM1/21/20
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Ok yep the kill timer is active. It's the 'BT 00:00:43' but at the end of the string (HH:MM:SS). Note that it counts down. It's listed as 'BT' (Burst Timer) because the feature is usually used to shut the sonde down some number of hours after burst (the default is 8.5 hours, long enough for someone to recover it).

In this situation the sonde has been configured with another kind of timer, which starts counting down from launch. One possible reason for doing this is they might be worried about frequency re-use for multiple sonde launches, but.... I don't see that applying in this case.

I suspect their ground station system has been set up with this as a default, and no-one can be bothered to change it. If you can get in contact with someone at the launch site you might be able to get it changed, but from previous experience dealing with the Army, they are usually button pushers and are not too keen on messing with settings.

73
Mark VK5QI

Steve Aerospace

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Jan 21, 2020, 4:52:43 PM1/21/20
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Ah - looks like a 55min/1hr kill timer then.  If they are only interested in data up to 12-15Km then 1hr is enough - makes sense to free the frequency.

    Steve

Aaron Regan

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Jan 21, 2020, 5:02:41 PM1/21/20
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Ah that's a shame. I have been trying to source contact for the launch site hut no avail currently. I will keep looking.

Would be good if they were able to change that setting quite a few come by me! 

Thanks for your responses guys and if anyone can help with a contact please do let me know as I don't live too far away from the launch site to go meet with them. 

Aaron. 


Aaron Regan

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Jan 25, 2020, 10:02:15 AM1/25/20
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Update on larkill.

I emailed the met office asking them to forward an email onto the person at larkill regarding kill timers etc this was their reply: 

"The Larkhill data is available on the Internet, for example here: http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

Larkhill use a kill timer because of technical reasons to support site operations. In the future, we hope to be use the full duration flights again. The kill timer is not used at most sites, so hobbyist tracking could be done at other UK sites.

Our radiosondes are marked with a label identifying them, so if they are found, the usual advice is to remove the batteries and to recycle them as electronic waste – we cannot re-use them unfortunately, as the sensors may not be reliable. They can also be retained and used as teaching aids etc. and we can supply information about the radiosondes upon request."

So basically keep an eye on them fingers crossed it will change. Thanks for all of your help and advice people! 


Kev Walton

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Jun 26, 2020, 10:54:55 AM6/26/20
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Hi

If there isn't one already (I couldn't find one by guessing names), could we get a predictor setup for Cardington please?  They are launching Sondes quite often these days.

Launch site's latitude, longitude, altitude;  

52°06'35.7"N 0°25'15.1"W
52.109908, -0.420869
33m AMSL

I think a 19km burst and 5 up 5 down seem sensible values, but happy to be corrected.

"Owner" name and email;
Happy to be the 'owner' although might make more sense to set it the same as the other Sonde sites?
Kevin Walton, kevin at unseen org


I will add it to the list when avaliable: https://ukhas.org.uk/frontpage:radiosondes

Thanks very much
Kevin
Capture.JPG

Kev Walton

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Jul 2, 2020, 4:27:27 AM7/2/20
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Thanks Adam, Cardington predictor added to the list.

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