[aprssig] Fwd: RE: BUOY-4 recovery

[Bob Bruninga]

APRS fun...

Here is the report I got from the buoy recovery crew...
looks like we got lucky...  Its a harsh environment out there.... Our Tiny/Microtrak buoy was sent out with 3 other high cost commercial buoys (with ARGOS satellite trackers)...
All deployed about 1000 EDT on the 4th.  See my report at end.

> Well it looks like the drifter you made is 
> pretty darn good.  Here's the luck with ours:
>
> #1 stopped talking at 0900 EDT- August 4th.  
> Lost.  Likely hit by a motorboat.  Unfortunately 
> with no buoyancy near the elctronics, losing a
> sail or float means losing the drifter.  We 
> couldn't find any trace of it this morning.
>
> #2 Aground right across the Severn from the 
> lab.  Stopped "talking" at 1800 August 5th. 
>
> #3 Still "talking" but had a 2-hr old fix when we 
> left the pier and couldn't reach anyone at ARGOS 
> by phone for an update.  We'll try to get it 
> tomorrow.  It's probably out somewhere near the Bay 
> Bridge, so I hope the winds shift.
>
> APRS BUOY-4- except for the fact it was a little 
> hard to spot, the 10-minute transmissions with the 
> D7 radio and AVMAP gps gadget made it really easy 
> to find on the water.  To purchase a GONIO RDF 
> for our drifters would be ~40K.

Here was my report since I had to travel to Alabama on short notice:

>> Im sitting here in the breakfast room of my 
>> parents nursing room in Alabama and watching 
>> the receovery there in Maryand on FINDU.COM.  
>> I see you picked up buoy-4 between 1000 and 1010.
>> THen I could see you move around the area 
>> searching for the other buoys...
>> Kinda neat from 800 miles away!

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/track.cgi?call=BUOY-4&degree=.07

Bob, Wb4APR