Jamie LaRocque

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Jamie LaRocque Gordon Nelson

• GROUND TRACKING

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COMMUNICATIONS
Flight Equipment - Communications
Ground Equipment - Receiving - Tracking
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Communication Overview
Balloon
Ground
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Flight Equipment
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Kenwood TH-D7A
Handheld Model Light weight Built in TNC
Reliable Up to 6W output Built in GPS
interface port
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Flight Antenna Commercial Rubber Ducky
2m antenna Quarter Wave Ground Plane Style
Mounting Bends Radiation Pattern Downward
Tuned to National APRS, 144.390 MHz Coax
Cable connector
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Ground Equipment
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Kenwood TM-D700A

• Built in TNC
• Higher Gain than TH-D7
• Better SNR than TH-D7
• Easily interfaces with a
• computer
• Connects to antenna
• mounted on a vehicle

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Tracking Software APRSSA
Logs data from TM- D700A into .txt file
for later flight
reconstruction Allows visual tracking via
digital map Real-Time updating of position map
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Communication Procedures
Communication Card Ham callsigns and cell
phone numbers Every vehicle must have a ham
station operator! Pre-Flight Communication
Checklist