Photo courtesy of Matt Dowling who exited on his back to get the shot of Mark Meltzer AF6IM (in blue) leaving an ATL 98 Carvair over Chanute AFB, Rantoul Illinois 2005.

Most people have more than a single hobby. Few hobbies, however, are well suited for combining. Bowling and ham radio don’t make a very exciting combination for example. The idea for PARACHUTE MOBILE started in April 2008 when Mark Meltzer, a skydiver since 1968, obtained his ham radio license and was issued the call sign AF6IM. He checked into a local VHF repeater (N6NFI in Palo Alto CA) and started chatting with other San Francisco Bay Area hams. Hams communicating through the repeater were discussing their other hobbies and Mark mentioned that his was skydiving. Michael Gregg, call sign KF6WRW, a ham since 1999 heard the remark and mentioned that he too was a skydiver. The two skydiver-hams started discussing ways to combine their mutual hobbies and soon were preparing for making ham radio communications under parachute.

The US Amateur Radio Service (called ham radio) currently has about 630,000 FCC licensees and at least 200,000 active participants. Ham radio operators must pass a federal license exam which tests the applicants’ knowledge of FCC rules and evaluates their level of technical competence. Hams enjoy all aspects of radio communication ranging from designing and building their own gear to emergency communications support and more exotic technical challenges like bouncing signals off of the Moon or even Venus and building their own orbital satellites.

There is no federal licensing of skydivers, but the USPA (United States Parachute Association) does issue sport parachuting licenses. US skydivers are far fewer in number than hams, with about 33,000 current USPA members and an estimated 10,000 active jumpers. A typical jump for a skydiver is a plane ride to 14,000 feet followed by a freefall to about 2500 feet and a parachute ride to the ground under a high performance “square” ram air steerable canopy. Groups of freefallers sometimes form intricate formations. Some skydivers deploy their canopies immediately after opening and “dock” their parachutes on others to form canopy formations. The wilder side of skydiving involves BASE jumping from fixed objects rather than aircraft.

Meltzer and Gregg have been making weekend practice jumps at Bay Area Skydiving at Byron CA and using VHF handy talkies to talk with hams over a wide area of Northern CA. They have been opening their canopies above 13,000 ft and using the long ride down for ham radio communications. They are preparing for a “main event” ham radio jump later in 2010 which will take them to an altitude of at least 18,000 ft and possibly as high as 24,000 feet pending FAA clearance. This main event jump will require oxygen gear, thermally insulated clothing and careful planning. Meltzer has made two jumps from 24,000 feet, but both were freefall jumps and no oxygen or radio gear was carried during the fall. Due to the rapid ascent and time that will be spent at higher altitudes the jumpers will need oxygen to maintain consciousness. They will be carrying tanks and masks as well as various pieces of radio gear including navigation and physiological telemetry tracking beacons and voice communication radios, power sources and antennas.

The main event jump is still in the planning stage but the jumpers intend to try various bands and modes including HF and VHF (high frequency) ham radio communications which under favorable conditions can permit them to communicate with other hams thousands of miles away. They will also carry amateur radio telemetry gear (APRS) which will broadcast their position, altitude, heading and speed using GPS signals. The transmitted data will include real time monitoring of their blood oxygen levels and heart rates relayed to the PARACHUTE MOBILE mission control station on the ground where medical technicians will monitor their progress.  Active map displays will show the positions of the jumpers and their progress towards the intended landing zone. Should anything go wrong such as incapacitation due to hypoxia or off course flight paths due to unexpectedly high winds aloft, mission control will dispatch tracking teams with appropriate rescue and recovery resources to the predicted landing area.

A team is being assembled by PARACHUTE MOBILE’s Crew Chief, Jon Gefaell K6OJ. There will be mountain top based Command and Control, Dropzone, Ground Tracking  and Communications relay teams all reporting to Mission Control. All this team building is not just a fun imitation of NASA’s launch infrastructure.  At a jump altitude of 20,000 feet, an uncontrolled chute could easily land ten miles or more away from the intended landing zone. A minor failure in a jumper’s oxygen system could render them unable to communicate or control their canopy flight path. Mission Control will also serve a parachute air traffic control function assuring canopy separation between the two jumpers using direct radio communication and their received GPS telemetry. With oxygen masks and special helmets, the jumpers may have impaired peripheral vision and need to stay safely separated during the long descent. A canopy collision could be fatal to both jumpers as it has to five other California jumpers this summer. PARACHUTE MOBILE is serious business, but we also have a lot of fun at our planning meetings and during the practice jumps.

We welcome you to this website and look forward to your participation in the forums. That’s where you can find out more, join a team that interests you most and form new teams and create new ideas for what we might do with this project. We need many folks to participate in many areas, so please join in!

PARACHUTE MOBILE is a project, but it is also a community. Participation probably won’t get you much more than a team t shirt and a great QSL card, but you will have the satisfaction of being a key part of one of the more exciting practical demonstrations of ham radio. We welcome ideas in all areas related to the jumps, their planning, preparation and execution.

PARACHUTE MOBILE: in the air, on the air. Please join us.

73,

Jon K6OJ

Crew Chief

K6OJ@ARRL.NET

PARACHUTE MOBILE: in the air, on the air