The HEB/Central Market Plano Balloon Festival 

Thursday, September 17th through Sunday, September 20th

Festival Link

Getting Into the Event

The festival is a pay-for-entry event with over 100,000 people attending and parking is at a premium. Volunteers working the field will park offsite and be shuttled in to the field (see ICS documentation for parking and shuttle information). 

A limited number of Field Passes will be issued to the volunteers working the Field. The issueance and management of passess and carpooling will be coordinated by the Field Lead.

Can my family/friends ride along?

Sorry, they cannot.  This is limited to volunteers.

Traffic Laws and Municipal Codes

We do not encourage the use of flashing lights on a recovery vehicle, but if they are used, these guidelines must be followed:

• • • • Amber only

      • Rotating or lightbars only (No strobes)

      • Vehicle must be parked or traveling under 10mph

      • The use of lights will not and can not be used for personal gain.  All operators must use them at their own discretion and will be held liable for their use.

T-Shirts

The Plano Balloon Festival provides us with a limited amount of t-shirts to mark our volunteers. However, we typically have more volunteers than shirts. Priority will go to assigned staff members, then to volunteers that have logged the most volunteer hours. Volunteers must show in the log to be eligible. This can be done by checking in and out with the volunteer liaison at your respective assignment.

Field Operations

What times do I need to be on shift for Field?

Morning:  0600 hours 

Evening:  1700 hours 

Field Operators must be on site at the Field Ops tent one hour prior to the scheduled launch to receive their  briefing.

How long is my shift?

Including pre-briefing and post-launch activity, you can assume you will be needed for 4-5 hours per shift.

What equipment do I need?

You should be basic CRF and CRF-S capable.  Please visit the CRF documentation of this site for more info.

What are the frequencies?

A list of frequencies is available on the "What I Need to Know" page and in the ICS documentation.

Can I bring a camera?

If you bring a camera, we ask that you do not use it during the flight operations.  We ask this so you do not become distracted from your primary responsibilities.  We have added a photography position to our staff that will be out and about to capture the event as well as our operators at work and will be shared with our volunteers.

Recovery Operations

What time do I need to be at Recovery staging?

Morning:  0600 hours on Saturday and Sunday.  Weather dependent.

There may be a launch on Friday morning, but is not a part of the festival operations.

Evening:  There are no longer evening launches.

We ask that you be at staging one hour before the start of the scheduled launch.  This will allow time to pair up single operators, attend a briefing and get clarity on any tactical questions you may have.  We ask that everyone attends the briefing (even seasoned volunteers).  This time may also be spent mentoring and sharing ideas related to Ham radio.

Where is Recovery Staging?

Recovery Staging is dependent upon wind direction.  Please review the ICS documentation for staging locations that may be used.  Listen to the Talk-In frequency and monitor the discussion on this site as well as the Yahoo Group for announcements about the location.  Every attempt will be made to make this announcement. 

Intuitively, if the wind is from the S, SE or E, the staging site will be at Garden Ridge.  If the wind is from the W, NW, or N, the staging will be the SW corner of 14th and Shiloh in the Plano ISD parking lot.

How long is my shift?

Aside from the one hour prior to the scheduled launch, you should expect to be operational for 1.5-2 hours.  This may increase to as much as 3 or more hours based on events that occur during the launch such as locating "lost" balloons, assisting crews with "walking out" their balloons or many other things that may happen during that time.

What equipment do I need?

We ask that you are basic CRF, CRF-S, CRF-M, and CRF-DT.  Please visit the CRF documentation on this site.

What are the frequencies?

A list of frequencies is available on the "What I Need to Know" page and in the ICS documentation.

What is the Inner/Outer Zone operations thingy?

In an effort to decrease traffic on one operations net and increase the ability to manage the recovery of the balloons, a two-zone recovery structure was created.  In short, as an operator travels from the inner zone into the outer zone, they check out of one net into another.  More about this can be found in the Training and Operations section of this site.

The Plano Balloon Festival has been supported for nearly 40 years, with sponsorship of the Plano Amateur Radio Klub (PARK) and with the aid of many other amateurs from the north Texas area. Our primary purpose is to provide communications and logistics support to the balloonists and organizers of the event.   With the aid of the outstanding volunteers, PARK was awarded the Volunteer Organization of the Year at the 2011 PBF.

With the event spanning the course of four days, a rather significant amount of resources is required to coordinate and administer. Operators are required in two general categories, Field Operations and Recovery. We also provide weather monitoring and liaison to many of the Public Safety agencies supporting the event.

This event has also been used to deploy new technology and techniques to validate their operational capabilities and exercise message handling, equipment deployment and operational procedures and discipline.

Special Thanks to the Following

Plano Amateur Radio Klub for the use of their Repeater

McKinney Amateur Radio Club for the use of their Repeater

North Texas Repeater Association for the use of their Repeater

KD5UMO  - Chadwick for the generation of the maps and training video.

For those that spend countless hours helping our amateurs prepare to be successful and enjoy this fun-filled weekend. Thank you!