Anyone seen my PICAXE?

[MBrej]

Evening

We launched a weather balloon today with an electronic radio communications payload on board. Unfortunately we lost it somewhere around the Lincoln (UK) area.

We managed to get some packets before we lost it, and so got its altitude 15000ft ish (based on pressure), and so predictions carried out suggest it could have landed in the 'target area' in the image

It was lost as it was taken (probably by the jet stream) at 140mph, and so when it got lower we were noway near it

If any of you have PMR446 walkie-talkies (8 channels), or UHF receiver, could you please spare a couple of minutes and help us!

Tune it to channel 5. (446.05625MHz, 446.050MHz works too)
Stand at an open window as high as possible.
Listen for modem-type noises. They will be about 2 seconds in length and once per minute.

Even if you don't hear anything please post back, so we know where it isn't.

Also, if you have a system to detect 433.92MHz (UHF radio/PICAXE project - yea its those transmitters), it transmits a string every 10s

Would be extremely grateful if a few people around there could do this! (obviously if you are nearby )

Also, we are offering a £50 reward

Thanks a lot, Matt

 

[SilentScreamer]

Good luck with finding it, I might be able to check tomorrow but I live just under 35 miles away so I doubt its near me. I'll let you know if I can check.

 

[MBrej]

Yea thanks for that, much appreciated

As i know there are some HAMs around here, if you have better equipment than a PMR446 radio, the actual frequency is 446.05625MHz, so UHF radios would work. The signal can also be picked up well at 446.050MHz, as PMR446 bandwidth is very low. Those with better antenna systems may have a better chance. If you do here it, it is transmitting in the AX25 format, and if you can decode it, it will contain the GPS location. If you cannot do this, a recording could be made and we can decode it. Also, it is transmitting at 433.920MHz (the standard PICAXE 433MHz frequency) every 10s or so. This can also be picked up by a UHF transmitter, or your PICAXE project

Thanks, Matt

 

[manuka]

For that 50 quid I'll even check the UHF airwaves down under- stay tuned.

Is it likely to be out on the A15/A25 ? No doubt you attached a good sized LiPo battery pack, & maybe even a solar PV? It's worth adding a white LED strobe & even a piezo beeper to balloon launches too. It may well be so deep in a quarry (& thus below RF coverage) that you'll never find it otherwise. Stan. in NZ

 

[BrendanP]

I'm not sure of GSM/3.5G coverage across the UK?

Perhaps that would be a better option in future. The payload would sms you its lat/long derived from GPS. Enter those in google earth and there's your balloon.

Sparkfun have GSM modules mounted on pcbs.

Most GSM modules will take serial coms from the picaxe no dramas. You could set it up so you prank the module and it then replies with the data.

BTW, Stan your picaxe and DS's are in the mail.

 

[Andrew Cowan]

It had luxeon white LEDs flashing on the top and bottom, and of course a bright red parachute. The battery was a non rechargeable, 7.4V 13Ah Lithium pack.

It did have a continually broadcasting GPS, but according to UK law you ware not allowed to get GPS position above 60,000 feet. (to stop people building missiles). We did briefly pick up the GPS signal as it came down near Grantham, but SMSing the data would be a very nice feature to add to the project for next years launch.

As for it being on a motorway, probability says it isn't. The payload had phone numbers and a reward posted on it, so it looks like it is not in a town (as we have recieved no phone calls yet).

Andrew

 

[hippy]

I suppose it's a dilemma; fit lots of expensive kit to ensure it can phone home and be recovered but risk finding that hasn't worked and a lot of expensive gear is lost in a field somewhere.

The biggest problem is perhaps that sod's law says it will come down far from the beaten track where no one will stumble upon it. Being brightly coloured may attract attention to it. A note indicating there will be a reward if discovered after a certain date ( covers you being on the way to fetch it knowing where it is ) may encourage people to do something about it, not ignore it or scoop it up and throw it in a bin.

Not sure about the data transmission on PMR; you could get a rap on the wrist or worse if someone reports 'interference' and the authorities are the ones who find it. Modem data isn't particularly useful either except for those expecting it. Maybe a voice announcement would get people on their bikes and hunting it down to claim the reward ?

Even then, PMR is of quite limited range, with a one in eight chance of someone listening on the right channel. Perhaps cycle through the channels ?

GSM voice and/or SMS would seem to be the best bet for getting data to you so long as it lands in an area with coverage, transmission range being unlimited if it is. Plus you can tell it to silence once it has announced where it is.

Not that I'm anywhere near the area; what sort of size are these balloons and what do they look like ( when not "torn and battered" ) ?

There's something which goes beep-beep at irregular intervals either in my house or close outside and tracking that down has eluded me for months now. This sounds like a worse needle in a haystack, so good luck, fingers crossed.

 

[Andrew Cowan]

We had all the relevent permission from the autorities for the frequencies we were using. When launched, the balloon was around 1.8m in diameter. It will burst when around 6 metres in diameter (due to low pressure outside). A 'fire alarm type' alarm on the device would be nice to have, activated once the balloon was on the ground. A message over the radio could be sent, but the GPS data would still need to needed to find it.

A

 

[Rickharris]

...

There's something which goes beep-beep at irregular intervals either in my house or close outside and tracking that down has eluded me for months now. This sounds like a worse needle in a haystack, so good luck, fingers crossed.

Check your smoke detector - or CO detector mine does just what you say as the battery gets to marginal -

I was really lucky last week I found an entire electronic package with picaxe and all in a tree!!! - No sorry Will look around as I go to workin that area -

How long will the battery keep it powered?

 

[MBrej]

... How long will the battery keep it powered?

The battery is 13AHr, and the current draw is 300mA. So that means about 36hrs, which is 11pm tonight or so.

The power is 0.5W into an egg beater antenna, and i cannot remember what the gain of one of those things is, and so what the ERP is.

And thanks again to all those who have looked!

Matt

 

[manuka]

Even with such a decent reward youthful bright sparks may find the setup better value for their tinkering. As a kid in the 1950s (yeah- mumble ), I well recall finding a downed met balloon & valve(!) transmitter in a NZ field. In spite of the "10 shillings reward if taken into any Post Office" (equiv. to about £20 now), I found the package MUCH more useful for my early electronics projects.

Given the sharper eyesight of kids,who (c.p. - especially indoors attractions) are hence most likely to find it, consider adding a helpful support message about ham radio/electronics as a hobby- this would have swayed me! It's also worth adding a small solar PV to keep at least something energised long term- you may otherwise drive right past it next weekend & never know.

 

[Andrew Cowan]

It says 'harmless amatur radio project' along with contact details and a promise of a reward on it. In terms of youths finding it, not much can be extracted from it, especially if it crash landed. I would guess the value to someone who wasn't a radio enthusiast would be about £15.

A

 

[Marcwolf]

Today.. Folkingham UK became the new Roswell when locals claimed to have found a UFO complete with flashing lights etc.etc..

Local claims "They obviously have been here before as there was a note attached saying $50 to take me to your leader"

Good Luck with the find though.

Dave

 

[hax]

Hang in there and it might show up.

I launched two separate balloons two months apart.

The first one went missing in action. But 6 months later, I received a call from the Police saying they found my payload.

Actually a land caretaker found the payload while doing some routine work. He was kind enough (or alarmed enough) to hand it in to the police station.

All the photos were still there.

My second balloon only had a tiny 1mW beacon transmitter. No GPS, no position fix, no altitude data, just a constant beep that could be detected by yagi antennas.

Tracking it in the sky was easy, but after it landed we lost its signal for about an hour or two.
As we had about 7 cars tracking it from different directions, we picked up the signal and found it.


http://www.apmp.com.au/balloons/webpages/balloonlaunch2.htm

 

[demonicpicaxeguy]

when i was 12 at school in malaysia for a class project on the "weather" we used a helium gas bottle to fill 200 odd balloons which we grouped into big groups of ten with a laminated message "this is a school project from xx school if found please call XXX -XXXX and tell us how far these balloons went" and it was repeated in most of the common localish languages

they were also weighted down a fair bit as well so they didn't just shoot straight up in the air

in the 20 odd we sent up 2 was found, one by a schoolboy roughly 120km south by a school kid walking home along the beach just south of a place in "kampung batang tiga" it was found 3 days after launch

the second one was found between sepang and nilai by some old guy that thought there was some reward offered for it the ballons were stil partially inflated bar 3 and was drifting near the ground near some village and that one travelled roughly 30 off km