WA8LMF Mirror of WB4APR Website - 21 July 2008 Satellite Lab ACADEMY BOAT TRACKING

USNA Satellite Tracking Experiment

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, US Naval Academy Satellite Lab, Annapolis, MD

THIS PAGE IS NOT VISIBILE OFF THE YARD.

This year we are conducting an experiment to track some of the USNA Sail Boats on summer cruise via our own USNA Satellite, PCsat and an Amateur Satellite experiment we have flying on the International Space Station.

For the underway period 5-15 Aug, 4 small GPS units/transponders on four of the boats will transmit their positions back to this WEB page via the two PCsat transponders and ISS at least twice a day during satellite overflights. Currently PCsat passes are in the morning and evening, and the International Space Station overflies in the evening and night.

  • CHALLENGER via PCsat side-A
  • DAUNTLESS via the Amateur Radio International Space Station Experiment (ARISS)
  • DANDY via PCsat side-B
  • FEARLESS via any of the above 3.

    The experiment is under the command of CAPT Ted Rogers, KH6JJD, on board the boat FEARLESS.

    This communications and GPS satellite tracking support are provided by the USNA Satellite Lab, Rickover 122 in support of the Professional Development Department and the Naval Station. Thanks to Small Boat Division, Eric Fairbank, N3EF for the actual installations below decks (in the 100 deg heat)... The installation consists of the TH-D7 Walkie Talkie shown below connected to the boats GPS unit and a small wire antenna taped to the overhead of the below-decks compartment.

    Below is a historical plot of the Naval Academy boats on a previous summer cruise. PAGE-UP to zoom out and see one of the boats go to Halifax or choose another detailed map from the MAP button below. The red lines show the track history. See a photo of our older HF communication equipment that we have used to date.



    If you have trouble viewing the above map with Java click here

    javAPRS Commands (Case Insensitive)
    U or D
    zooms up/down (you may also use PGup/dn)
    CTRL or ALT-click
    Centers or Zooms map on clicked location
    Arrow keys
    scrolls map

    You are visitor number: Since 6 Aug 2002, when this year's page was updated .

    Return to the SATELLITE GROUND STATION

    For questions/comments, Email to bruninga@nadn.navy.mil


    The Naval Academy is a registered user of APRS and WinAPRS. The purpose of this web page is to show several applications currently in use at this site and should not be considered as an advertisement or an endorsement of any commercial product.

    WA8LMF Mirror of WB4APR Website - 21 July 2008