Launch of Pico Balloon K9YO-22, October 3rd 2025

October 7, 2025 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We gathered for the launch of Pico Balloon K9YO-22 on Friday October 3rd 2025 in Libertyville, Illinois. The tracker didn’t report until the next day over Nashville, Tennessee. Now 4 days later, our balloon is near Europe. This isn’t the 22nd launch of K9YO, we use a number after the callsign to help track our balloon which will be described below.

The current flight information will be updated daily on our Locate and Track page, feel free to bookmark this page.

Pico Balloon K9YO-22 asleep at 17:28 UTC

This is the last report of Pico Balloon K9YO-22 before going to sleep. The track starts near Nashville Tennessee on October 4th. The Gridsquare HI51hi tells us the last reported location. The code QF8DHI gives us additional information, the second letter “F” tells us it’s getting 5 volts of power, the letter after the number in this case “D” shows the tracker is actually getting 5.3 volts. B=1, C=2, D=3, E=4, F=5 etc. The track shows red when it’s reporting, green when asleep or not reporting if there are no amateur radio stations receiving and reporting.

Our balloon last reported flying at 12,480 meters or 40,944 feet in altitude, flying at 134 miles per hour. The time showing 12:28 is our local time, Central Daylight Time. In UTC, the balloon last reported at 17:28 UTC (5 hours ahead of CDT)

Below is the projected trajectory over the next 84 hours. The different colors represent 10 different altitudes in 20 meter increments. This is from the Sondehub site, Float link, described below.

Pico Balloon K9YO-22 Projected Trajectory from October 7th 2025 thru October 11th 2025

Throughout this post we will have links in blue to help you navigate our website and the links we use to track our balloon. We will be able to see how many people received and opened this email and have clicked on various links to show us your areas of interest. We won’t know who clicks on a link.

We are the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, formed on June 9th 2021, We build and launch Pico Balloons as part of the amateur radio hobby, our home page is https://nibbb.org/

On our website you can read about our project with pictures through the years. I added a webpage to highlight special projects from our Blog which can be found here Highlights of the NIBBB

Once you get to our home page you’ll be able to follow our project, and learn how to build and launch Pico Balloons.

This is the first time we’re flying our newest in-house designed NIBBB tracker and solar panel package. For this launch the tracker was modified with a supervisor chip to help regulate the voltage before transmitting (pictured below). Our future NIBBB trackers will have a supervisor chip built in.

This tracker is launched vertically with the solar panel package sitting on the tracker like a hat, two solder joints connect the solar panel package to the tracker. With the added supervisor chip and wires, the total package of tracker, solar panels, and 33′ dipole antennas weighed in at 18 grams.

The balloon is a 32″ diameter silver SAG balloon purchased from Balloons Online. The balloon was pre-stretched to 32″ by Ken Daniel prior to the flight. We used Helium filled to lift 18 grams plus an additional 6 grams of free lift.

The solar panels are polycrystalline cells each 2″ x 3/4″ in size. We’re using 8 cells for this solar panel package. We were so concerned about the safe launch of this solar panel package, that Jim Janiak, NE9JJ designed a device to hold the tracker off the ground with a wireless release when the winds were calm. Luckily we were launching in very mild winds, Jim was ready to deploy the tracker launcher (name pending). Look for the upcomming video of Jim demonstrating his tracker launcher.

To get our package to the launch site safely, Michael Seedman, AA6DY is using a coffee can with the plastic lid cutout to hold the tracker/solar panel package in place, and a cardboard flap to hold the coffee can and antennas.

Below are pictures from the build and launch

Ken Daniel, K9YO wating with the balloon — Ken Daniel, K9YO

Joining us for the launch were Ken Daniel K9YO, Michael Seedman AA6DY, Stewart Spies KB9LM, Jim Janiak NE9JJ, Cary Willis KD9ITO, Don Whiteman KK9H and David Detelfsen K9EAD

With everything in place here are pictures of the launch

Traacker and Solar Panel package in flight — Balloon and Tracker package in flight

For tracking our balloon we use several websites that are available on the Locate and Track page of our website. For your easy viewing we have the links below and an explanation of each link.

Sondehub Balloon Tracker To follow all Pico Balloons flying around the world
K9YO-22 APRS.fi To see where our balloon is reporting, the altitude, and the travel over the last 7 days of flight. Click on the balloon to open the info page as seen above.
K9YO-22 on Sondehub similar to the sondehub link above, this will only show K9YO-22. On the left hand side you will see information on this balloon, click on Floats to see where the balloon is headed (Projected Trajectory) over the next 84 hours. Click on Plots to see more data received on this balloon and if you really think this project is cool, you can click on Share which will allow you to share the page by email
K9YO on WSPR Spot Database To see the Amateur Radio stations that report on our location and the distance from their station to our balloons location by km and miles
National Hurricane Center Weather systems over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that may affect the direction of our balloon’s travel
K9YO-22 on lu7aa site Provides more detailed and interactive information on our balloon with additional links. Click on 12 Km winds will open Ventusky which will show the Jetstream at the altitude and location of our balloon. Zoom out, hover your mouse over the area to see the wind speed. Clicking on play will fast forward the jetstream over the hours and days. You can also get other weather information all over the world. This site also shows other Pico Balloons by callsign.

Please play around with these various links, and share with people you know.

To be added as a follower of the NIBBB and recieve these posts when published, send me an email at this link Contact Us or find me on QRZ

We are now flying over darkness and not transmitting. With the current wind speed at 120 mph, we should expect a wakeup in about 8 hours.

We have so many people to thank for supporting our program and our Pico Balloon hobby.

To Douglas Malnati, KD2KDD and for his continued support for the Pico Balloon worldwide Community. For information on his Traquito project please visit https://traquito.github.io/

When we first started our NIBBB project in 2021 we followed his site https://www.picoballoons.net/ by Doug Malnati KD2KDD and Mark Malnati KN4IUD

Please share your comments and questions,

73, Cary KD9ITO

NIBBB Update April 17th 2025

April 17, 2025October 7, 2025 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We’ve added some followers here at the NIBBB and it’s time to share what’s new. We hope that you’ll head back to our website and check out our new page, Highlights of the NIBBB which are highlights from our Blog posts.

We will be celebrating our 4th year of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade on June 9th 2025. We have some pictures through the years on our home page https://nibbb.org/ that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

From our original group, Elizabeth Ziemer KD9ORR who wrote the Fram2Ham article will be graduating college next month. You can read about Fram2Ham on our Highlights page.

Pico Balloon KD9ORR was our 8th flight on December 22nd, 2021, which occurred when Elizabeth returned home from her Freshman year in college for winter break. Pico Balloon KD9ORR was our first long flight which can be viewed here https://nibbb.org/2021/12/24/flight-2021-12-22/

We’ve been trying to launch several balloons for quite some time. Due to some unforseen situations, a few little crashes here and there. We were only able to get one balloon up and reporting for longer than 24 hours, some reporting longer from their final destination. We have one balloon now flying for 55 days.

Before we get to that balloon, we have some other information to share.

Recently we’ve had three balloons report for one day then go silent. We also had a few break before or during the launch. While we can easily see a failure when the polycrystalline solar panels come crashing to the ground, we don’t know what happens after a launch until the balloon reports, or not.

While we figure out whether it’s a balloon or tracker issue, I’ll report on what we have flying.

For those in the Pico Balloon community, we’ve been flying the Yokohama valved and valveless balloons and the clear SAG balloon.

Although we used Hydrogen for some of our earlier flights, we’re back to Helium. No one objects to having a helium tank in their homes, we have two that are refillable.

We invite you to learn more about our hobby on flying Pico Balloons by visitng our Technical Page which include the FAA regulations, that we must follow. We also invite you to join the worldwide pico io.group at this link https://groups.io/g/picoballoon

There was a post today on the io.group asking if anyone was having issues with their balloons, which we found very interesting. Our last long flights of 5 days and 130 days were launched on April 13th 2024.

Cal Knowles KD9WNU and his Mom Janet Knowles KD9WVO had built and tested their trackers and solar panels with Ken Daniel K9YO over a two week period. Pico Balloon KD9WNU was flown with a valved Yokohama balloon and flew for 5 days to Ukraine, lost altitude and continued to report for several days. Pico Balloon KD9WVO was flown with a valveless Yokohama balloon flew for 130 days and seven times around the world.

We had purchased newer Yokohama balloons after those launches. We launched Pico Balloon KE9LSI and Pico Balloon KD9TVR with a Yokohama balloon that flew for one day from Northbrook, Illinois to Ohio where they landed in farm fields about 10 miles from each other. These balloons continued to transmit for about a week. Kelsi KE9LSI, and Gordie KD9TVR are sister and brother, and two of our younger members.

We’ve also had some failures with the clear SAG balloons. We still need more time to test all these balloons.

The Pico Balloon community often talk about how they pre-stretch their balloons. Stewart Spies KB9LM created a rig which he named “The Stretchinator”. Stewart invited our group into his home to show us how it works. We show these projects on our Highlights page but you can fast track it here. https://nibbb.org/2024/01/31/the-stretchinator-hasta-la-vista-balloon/

We report all daily activity on our Locate and Track page, feel free to bookmark this page.

We launched on April 8th and April 12th 2025 with one balloon reporting for one day KE9LSI on April 12th. Unfortunately we broke the solar panel package for KD9TVR which went back to the shop for a new panel. We’re now testing KD9TVR which is shown on our Locate and Track page. We’ll be launching their trackers again very soon.

Now, back to our current flight. Pico Balloon KD9ITO was launched on February 21st 2025 from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, Illinois.

Below is a slideshow from the launch on February 21st with Pico Balloons KD9ITO and KE9LSI with KD9ITO still flying.

We’re flying an in-house designed tracker and larger powerfilm solar panels. We’ve been having issues with the reporting of this tracker, so this is the first and last flight of this tracker. I suppose the good news is that we finally have a balloon circumnavigating the world since last year. We’re using a clear SAG Balloon and Helium.

Tracker and Solar Panels, a 3D printed cylinder holds the antennas and line to launch site
Stewart Spies KB9LM holding tracker package
Stewart releasing balloon
Jim Janiak, NE9JJ holding the tracker
and releasing the tracker
the launch

Pico Balloon KD9ITO made it’s first circumnavigation on March 8th 2025 after 15 days of flight, the 2nd circumnavigation on March 25th 2025 after 31 days of flight, and the 3rd circumnavigation today on April 17th 2025 after 55 days of flight. Our balloon went missing for a short time while visiting the North Pole. Our balloon is now asleep over Hudson Bay, Canada in a slow moving pattern heading east.

Below is the location of Pico Balloon KD9ITO on April 17th 2025 at 20:22 UTC.

Once we have the latitude, longitude and altitude of the balloon, we can plug that information into the NOAA Balloon Trajectory software that will give us a projected trajectory for 84 hours.

Below is the projected trajectory for KD9ITO from April 17th 2025 to April 21st 2025 flying at 11,340 meters, just over 37,000 feet altitude. From Hudson Bay, Canada to along the Newfoundland and Labrador coast.

We also track the Jetstream of our balloon at altitude and where it may travel beyond 84 hours. This balloon has stayed pretty steady at around 11,000 meters. When it reports correctly on 4 different time slots, we’re able to receive the location within 15 square miles, the temperature and humidity at altitide.

This site Ventusky.com has been very helpful on following the Jetstream and weather near our balloon. Clicking on the link will show where our balloon is at todays report and the windspeed at altitude. On the bottom left hand corner you can click the play button and the map will move forward through the hours and days up to a couple of weeks ahead. This information is changed as the data changes. As the Jetstream moves, you can compare Ventusky to the NOAA Hysplit.

Feel free to play with the site, change the location, look at weather, radar, clouds, storms, cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes and of course wind and temperatures at different altitudes.

We can decide which addtional sensors we want to add to a tracker. More on that on future posts.

Amateur Radio stations on the ground receive and report our data on WSPR (Weak Signal Propogation Reporter) database and we decode the data that is reported. These stations don’t know we’re a balloon unless I send them an email thanking them for receiving and reporting our balloon, and some of them have joined here as followers. They receive a location and distance from their station to ours as if it were on a map at ground level.

We’ve highlighted the links in this post to various sites on our website and others that we use. We also track which links have been used from this email. We receive which countries visit our website and which links they click on, no information is received on any individual person.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please click unsubscribe at the bottom of the email.

Thank you for following the NIBBB. If you enjoy our project, feel free to share it with others. If you know someone who’d like to become a follower and receive these emails when posts are published, please send me an email at this link Contact Us with their email to be added. Feel free to send questions or comments.

73, (Best Wishes), Cary KD9ITO

fram2ham: Ham Radio in Polar Orbit!

January 11, 2025April 17, 2025 / Elizabeth Ziemer

Hello NIBBB friends and fans!

This is Elizabeth speaking! It’s been some time since I was last seen on the blog, so a very quick intro from me: I was a founding member of the NIBBB– I was a high school student then, and now I’m getting ready to graduate undergrad this year. Time flies! The balloon that flew with my call, KD9ORR, was the first successful launch and long flight of the NIBBB project.

Today, I’m extremely excited to share something I was very privileged to play a small part in this past summer: fram2ham!

NET this spring, the fram2 mission will launch 4 astronauts into polar orbit for the first time ever aboard Crew Dragon. Rabea Rogge, mission specialist and German amateur radio operator, will be operating amateur radio equipment from Dragon to send SSTV signals to earth!

On the ground, students in eligible regions ages 16-25 can form teams between schools across the country and internationally. Through working together, teams will assemble SSTV images representing regions important to polar history. By correctly identifying the locations in the SSTV photographs, teams can win QSL cards with flown mission stickers!

I’m so unbelievably excited that Dragon will be supporting not just an amateur radio payload but a payload that will be contributing to STEM education worldwide! If you are a student enrolled in school at the moment, I highly encourage you to check out the website and consider involving yourself and your peers in the competition! If you’re a non-student faculty member or a non-student with connections to a student community, it would also be super cool to see the amateur radio community help spread the word and encourage the creation of teams.

fram2ham is providing a ‘manual’ providing not only competition details but also the recommended hardware and signal chain for participating. There’s a Discord server available that provides Q&A and is facilitating the creation of teams. (Please direct your questions and inquiries there– I’m not a rep for this project, just excited to share the news!)

By the way, this is the first in a series of future blog posts from members of the NIBBB focused on their own projects and exploits! There’s more cool updates to come from our members on the horizon, so please stay tuned. 🚀✨

‘Til next time,
Elizabeth

June 28th, 2024, Pico Balloon KD9WVO

June 28, 2024January 11, 2025 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

Our Pico Balloon KD9WVO was launched on April 13th, 2024 from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook Illinois. Our balloon circumnavigated the world 4 times in 65 days, flying at just over 43,000 feet, steadily traveling east. We are now on our 76th day of flight.

After completing the 4th circumnavigation, our balloon traveled up the Atlantic Ocean between Greenland and Iceland and started heading west over Greenland.

Reaching the 81st parallel north, over the Arctic Ocean around the Arctic Circle. The 81st parallel north also known as 81 degrees north latitude, is 621 nautical miles south of the North Pole.

Crossing the International Date Line and reaching just north of Russia, our balloon started to head back east crossing the International Date Line again on June 26th 2024.

Being so far north, our Pico Balloon has been in constant sunlight since June 20th 2024.

To receive our data, we rely on Amateur Radio Stations to report our signals on the WSPR Spot Database, KD9WVO on WSPR To understand how we calculate altitude from the WSPR data, other information on our project and regulations for Pico Balloons, please visit our Technical Page

From this data, we receive our location, altitude and any other data we may be transmitting such as temperature, humidity and pressure at altitude.

During our travels up north between Greenland and our current location, we’ve been relying on several stations reports.

The Research Vessel Polarstern amateur radio callsign DP0POL is now over the Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Iceland exploring the deep Arctic Ocean. Clicking on the highlighted link above, opens their app showing the world view in 3D, and the Blog of their current journey. Below is today’s post “Life under pressure”

For more information, please visit their website, https://www.awi.de/en/expedition/research-vessel-and-cutter/polarstern.html

We’d like to also recognize two of our newest followers of the NIBBB who have been able to track our recent travels, “Flo” KL7L from Wasilla, Alaska and Halldor, TF3HZ from Raykjavik, Iceland.

We hope that our other followers here at the NIBBB will see our current location and help us track our balloon.

We update our Locate and Track page daily for current location and 84 hour projected trajectory provided by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA is one of our government agencies that provide the tools we rely on for scientific and research groups like ours to track and report our data.

Below is the NOAA Hyplit Model for June 28th 2024 thru July 2nd 2024, which we update daily.

We’re still in the process of testing two trackers before launch for our team members Kelsi Mulley, KE9LSI and Gordie Mulley KD9TVR

We’re expecting to receive our newest Pico Tracker in mid July for testing, with more information to follow.

Please visit our home page for updates to our project as well as the slideshow of Pico Balloon launch KD9WVO https://nibbb.org/

Thank you for following,

73, (Best Wishes) Cary KD9ITO

May 27th 2024 Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade update

May 27, 2024June 28, 2024 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We started the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade on June 9^th 2021

Without any previous knowledge of this project. We spent the summer researching, and began launching Pico Balloons, 3 months later.

We will be celebrating our 3^rd Anniversary in a couple of weeks on June 9^th 2024. In our 3 years we launched over 35 Pico balloons.

In our early months we were launching on a regular basis, sometimes two or three times a month. With some successes along the way. We had our 1^st long flight in December of 2021, of Pico Balloon KD9ORR that flew 19 days, crossing the International Date Line twice in the same day. Once going east, dropping out of the Jetstream and then going back west and spending 8 days around the Marshall Islands. It was fun watching and reporting on that balloon. We started our website during the flight of KD9ORR. Click here to follow our 8^th launch of Pico Balloon KD9ORR

We had three flights in 2022 that made multiple circumnavigations. Pico Balloon AA6DY launched in September, for 83 days of flight and three times around the world, Pico Balloon K9YO launched in October for 123 days of flight and seven times around the world and Pico Balloon KD9UQB launched from Antarctica in November for 100 days of flight and seven times around the world.

Our Antarctica launch was conducted by Todd McKinney, KN4TPG a student with the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Our other partner on this launch was Tom Medlin, W5KUB who we continue to consult with on our launches.

We launched two Pico Balloons on April 13^th 2024 for Calvin Knowles KD9WNU and his Mom Janet Knowles KD9WVO. Below is our group who participated in this launch. The slideshow of our launch is on our home page https://nibbb.org/

Both balloons stayed pretty close to each other for their flight, but we lost Calvin’s balloon over Ukraine after 5 days of flight. We believe it was a weather that brought the balloon down. Calvin likes to tell his friends that it was shot down.

Janet’s Balloon KD9WVO-11 has been doing very well, now over 43 days of flight and preparing for its 3^rd circumnavigation very soon.

Since our last launch on April 13^th 2024, we also lost communication with Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 that was carrying a weather sensor built by Todd McKinney, KN4TPG with the University of Alabama in Huntsville. NE9JJ transmitted for 44 days, and 4 times around the world gathering weather data that Todd found very useful. NE9JJ is Jim Janiak who’s callsign was KD9UQB for the Antarctica launch and some others.

Although I haven’t written here in over a month, you can follow our balloons in flight which are updated daily at our Locate and Track page at this link https://nibbb.org/links-to-locate-and-track/

Our website header shows our balloons sharing the skies with other Pico Balloons flying around the world. It’s a big world and a small part of the hobby of Amateur Radio.

Tracking worldwide Pico Balloons is provided by Sondehub which is the 1^st link on our Locate and Track page.

All the pictures from our last launch and group projects have been moved to our home page https://nibbb.org/ Our home page also has group pictures of our NIBBB members through the years, and slideshows of our launches and build projects that I hope you’ll visit and share with others.

We have close to 190 followers here at the NIBBB that receive emails when posts are published. Our most recent followers are from Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany.

We look to our worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators, to help track our balloons, receiving our packets and report the data. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t know where we were, wouldn’t receive important data of our location, and altitude, additional data such as temperature, humidity and pressure at altitude, and how our trackers are behaving during the flight.

Our followers can point their antennas where we’re projected to be, by going to our Locate and Track page for our reported location and the forward trajectory NOAA Hysplit Model, as shown below for Pico Balloon KD9WVO. NOAA provides us with an 84 hour projected trajectory that we update daily.

I’d like to also thank our members of the NIBBB for their dedication, and time.

We’re looking forward to our launches in June for Gordie Mulley KD9TVR and Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI, who’ve been waiting a long time for their launch. Mikaela Streicher, KD9VIW will be launching sometime after June.

Calvin Knowles KD9WNU and Gordie Mulley KD9TVR are finishing the 7^th grade in a week or two. Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI just completed her junior year in high school. Mikaela Streicher KD9VIW just finished her freshman year in college. Elizabeth Ziemer KD9ORR with our original group just finished her junior year in college. Henry Fiely KD9SRZ from our original group is finishing his freshman year in high school and Noah Berg, KD9RDT from our original group is finishing his sophomore year in high school. Congratulations to our younger members of the NIBBB.

We’ll be sharing information very soon on our new tracker which we hope to start launching in July. For now, the group is working on a development board testing the chips and software.

Thank you to everyone around the world who have shared our project with us.

73, Cary KD9ITO

April 13th 2023, Launching Pico Balloons KD9WNU and KD9WVO and update for NE9JJ-2

April 14, 2024May 27, 2024 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We launched two balloons on Saturday April 13th 2024 from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, IL, for our two newest team members, Janet Knowles, KD9WVO and her son Calvin, KD9WNU. Calvin is a 7th grader and member of the Central School Amateur Radio Club in Glencoe, Illinois.

Janet and Cal have been active in the NIBBB since February of 2023 and together wrote our Blog Post https://nibbb.org/2024/01/31/the-stretchinator-hasta-la-vista-balloon/ The Stretchinator session was taught by our team member Stewart Spies, KB9LM also an Elmer to Calvin.

For these launches we used the Zachtek trackers which Janet and Cal built in two sessions with Ken Daniel, K9YO at their October 14th and 28th 2023 build sessions pictured on our Home page https://nibbb.org/

After the build, the trackers were then sent to Stewart KB9LM for testing. For this launch we are testing a new balloon from the Yokohama Balloon company in Yokohama, Japan. Yokohama is a favorite among the Pico Balloon community and recently they started selling a valveless balloon. When we fill a balloon for launch, we use just enough gas to lift the package plus a little more for free lift.

The partially filled balloon’s valve doesn’t close fully until the balloon reaches full altitude. To make sure the gas doesn’t escape prior to launch, we used Kapton tape over the valve opening. With a valveless balloon we’re able to heat seal the balloon after filling and then Kapton tape to secure the package to the balloon.

For this flight, Pico Balloon KD9WVO we used a valveless Yokohama balloon stretched to a circumference of 102 inches. Pico Balloon KD9WNU we used a valved Yokohama Balloon stretched to a circumference of 100 inches. During the flight, we’ll be able to see the difference in altitude.

Pictured below is the group assisting in our launch

Back Row left to right; Jim Janiak NE9JJ, Michael Seedman AA6DY, Cary Willis KD9ITO, Douglas Mulley KD9TPM and Stewart Spies KB9LM. Front Row, left to right; Janet Knowles KD9WVO, Leeloo Knowles, Calvin Knowles KD9WNU, Gordie Mulley KD9TVR, Kyli Mulley and Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI.

Pico Balloon KD9WVO, launched at 15:43 UTC, slideshows below

Michael Seedman, and Stewart Spies, preparing the balloon
In the group Gordie and Cal both 7th graders, Janet holding the balloon assisted by Jim Janiak
Michael, and Stewart unrolling the antenna, and monofilament line, Doug holding the tracker and lower antenna
Janet releasing the balloon
Nice easy lift
Balloon and tracker released
Balloon and Tracker Launched

Pico Balloon KD9WNU, launched at 16:00 UTC, slideshow below

In the group Cal holding the balloon, from the left, Jim, Doug, Stewart, Cal, Leeloo, Janet and Gordie
Cal preparing to release his balloon
Balloon is released
Tracker is released
Balloon and Tracker is flying

Below, Pico Balloon KD9WVO launched at 15:43 UTC, is now asleep at Grid EM98ua at 22:54 UTC, West Virginia, flying for 7 hours and and 11 minutes, at an altitude of 41,535 feet. For this launch we used a valveless Yokohama balloon, stretched to 102 inches.

Below, Pico Balloon KD9WNU launched at 16:00 UTC, is now asleep at Grid EM99CB, at 22:24 UTC, West Virginia, for 6 hours and 24 minutes of flying at an altitude of 40,485 feet. For this launch we used a valved Yokohama balloon stretched to 100 inches.

Pico Balloon KD9WVO on day 2 awake on April 14th 2024 at Grid FM75aa, flying at an altitude of 41,141 feet, after flying for 20 hours and 21 minutes

Pico Balloon KD9WNU on day 2 awake on April 14th 2024 at Grid FM75cl, flying at an altitude of 40,485 feet, after flying for 20 hours and 4 minutes

Below is the NOAA Hysplit for Pico Balloon KD9WVO and Pico Balloon KD9WNU for April 15th 2024 thru April 18th 2024 projection to Krakow, Poland April 18th 2024

Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 which was launched on March 2nd 2024 is awake at Grid DK47fr, flying for 42 days and 19 hours, preparing for the 4th Circumnavigation around the world on April 16th 2024.

Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 at Grid DK47fr after 42 days and 19 hours of flight

Below is the Hysplit for Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 from April 15th 2024 thru April 18th 2024, heading towards The Gambia, West Africa

Please bookmark for updates to our website of our home page https://nibbb.org/ and daily updates for current balloons in flight on our Locate and Track page

We are tracking all our balloons together on APRS as seen below from our Locate and Track page or click here; Pico Balloons; NE9JJ-2, KD9WVO-11 and KD9WNU-11 on APRS

Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 approaching Mexico. Pico Balloon KD9WVO and Pico Balloon KD9WNU launched 15 minutes apart are flying close together over the North Atlantic Ocean.

73, Cary KD9ITO

March 23rd 2024, Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 with Weather Sensor makes 2nd circumnavigation

March 23, 2024April 13, 2024 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 was launched on March 2nd 2024 from Grayslake, IL. Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2, makes its 2nd circumnavigation around the world today, after 20 days and 18 hours of flight. Information on this flight, launch pictures, location and 84 hour forward trajectory is updated daily on our Locate and Track page.

This launch was conducted in partnership with Todd McKinney, KN4TPG with the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The tracker designed by Ken Daniel, K9YO, 3 panel 12 cell solar package designed by Jim Janiak, NE9JJ to hold the new tracker and weather sensor by Todd McKinney, KN4TPG completes the tracker package weighing approx. 19.3 grams.

As our tracker transmits, amateur radio stations on the ground receive and report our callsign, altitude and location in 2 transmissions 2 minutes apart, the 3rd transmission sends temperature, humidity and pressure at altitide using the weather sensor designed by Todd McKinney weighing 1.6 grams, seen in more detail below.

Weather Sensor by Todd McKinney, KN4TPG from the University of Alabama in Huntsville

Todd had launched our Pico Balloon KD9UQB also flying as W5KUB-115 with Tom Medlin, from Antarctica on November 23rd 2022 which flew for 100 days and 7 times around the world. Jim Janiak formerly KD9UQB, now NE9JJ designed both solar panels, the Low Sun Angle, High Power solar array used for the Antarctica flight and the one above for our current flight.

Here’s the article from the University of Alabama which was written on Todd’s Antarctica project https://www.uah.edu/news/news/uah-graduate-student-transforms-balloon-hobby-into-successful-antarctic-experiment

We’re excited to be part of Todd’s new project, receiving weather reports at altitude for longer flights. Please click on this link for more information on The Pico Balloon Archive by Todd McKinney

Below is today’s location for Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 at Grid EL69TA flying at an altitude of 40,387 feet after 20 days and 18 hours of flight.

Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 making its 2nd circumnavigation on March 23rd 2024 after 20 days and 18 hours of flight.

Below is the 84 hour projected trajectory for Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2, from March 23rd thru March 27th 2024

Waiting for good weather for our upcoming balloon launches for Gordie; KD9TVR, Kelsi; KE9LSI, Cal; KD9WNU, Janet; KD9WVO, and our other members. So many balloons, not so great weather here in Chicago.

Standing from left to right, Ken K9YO, Stewart KB9LM, Gordie KD9TVR, Jim NE9JJ, Cary KD9ITO, Doug KD9TPM, and kneeling, from left to right, Janet KD9WVO and Cal KD9WNU from our Stretchinator session

73, Cary KD9ITO

March 1st 2024, Pico Balloon K9YO-1 “Happy Cone 3”

March 1, 2024March 23, 2024 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We’ve been busy watching this balloon now preparing for its 3rd circumnavigation on March 5th 2024. Pico Balloon K9YO-1 has been named “Happy Cone 3” by Ken Daniel’s Granddaughter’s 5th grade class. Happy Cone 3, had reported crossing the International Date Line for a 3rd time last night.

Today’s report, March 1st 2024, is at Grid AN73PW at 22:04 UTC flying at an altitude of 43,832 feet, now for 26 days and 4 hours of flight. This Pico Balloon has been in a very fast Jetstream, 10 days for each time around the world. Pretty amazing for a 32″ diameter balloon and a package that weighs less than an ounce.

If Happy Cone 3 stays on the projected path (NOAA Hysplit below) , it will make its 3rd circumnavigation near the home of Superman, Metropolis, Illinois near the Illinois/Kentucky border on March 5th 2024.

The NOAA Hysplit Model is a program that allows those flying larger balloons as well as our Pico Balloons, the ability to project a forward trajectory which is normally accurate. The NOAA Hysplit Model uses NOAA’s and worldwide weather balloons to project the windspeed and direction at a given altitude. The chart may show a drop in altitude which is not accurate, but it has been fairly accurate for identifying where our balloons are going.

NOAA Hysplit Model for Pico Balloon K9YO-1 “Happy Cone 3” March 2nd 2024 thru March 5th 2024

To follow the daily travel of this and our other balloons in flight, please bookmark this link to our Locate and Track page. Updates to our new projects will be mentioned on our NIBBB Home Page and please visit our other pages for building solar panels, technical information and following our past flights.

We’d like to also welcome our new followers to the NIBBB, with a special shout out to the Belleview Amateur Radio Club and their young Hams, in Belleview, Missouri.

73, Cary KD9ITO

What’s New… Two Balloons launched in February 2024

February 21, 2024March 1, 2024 / Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We’d like to welcome our new followers, here at the NIBBB. Since our last Stretchinator session we’ve launched two Pico Balloons. Ken Daniel, K9YO visited his Granddaughter’s 5th grade class at the First Presbyterian Academy in Greenville, South Carolina and presented our Pico Balloon project. It was at that session that the kids named their future balloon launch “Happy Cone”

We now have two Happy Cones. Pico Balloon K9YO-1 was launched on February 4th 2024 from Grayslake, Illinois using Ken’s newest tracker and a SAG balloon. This test tracker was transmitting on two different amateur radio frequencies with two different antennas, a first for us. The 20 meter WSPR band was using a 33 ft. Dipole antenna with the tracker package in the middle. The tracker was also transmitting on 2 meter APRS with a 40 inch guitar “G” string as the antenna horizontal from the tracker.

Pictured below is the tracker, solar panel and both antennas.

Pico Balloon package for K9YO-1, Happy Cone 1

Happy Cone 1, Pico Balloon K9YO-1, made it’s first circumnavigation on February 14th after flying for 10 days. Today, February 21st 2024, Pico Balloon K9YO-1 has crossed the International Date Line for a 2nd time after 17 days and 2 hours of flight. This balloon was last flying at 44,422 feet and is expected to make its 2nd circumnavigation around February 24th.

Pico Balloon K9YO-1 Happy Cone, February 21st 2024 at Grid AM54II 20:34 UTC

Happy Cone 2, Pico Balloon KD9ITO-1, was launched on February 18th 2024 from Grayslake Illinois. For this tracker, we were using the ICT tracker and SAG balloon. Assisting in this launch were Ken Daniel K9YO, Gordie Mulley KD9TVR, Doug Mulley KD9TPM, Jim Janiak NE9JJ and Cary Willis KD9ITO. A 9 picture slide show of the launch is below

ICT tracker, 7 cell polycystalline solar panel and 33 ft Dipole Antenna
Ken Daniel K9YO and Doug Mulley KD9TPM preparing the package and balloon
32 inch partially filled SAG balloon waiting for launch
Gordie, Jim, Ken and Doug preparing for launch
Doug holding the balloon in place, Gordie holding the middle of the monofilament line and upper antenna
Jim holding the lower antenna
Doug releasing the balloon and Gordie releasing the line
Ken running with the tracker package so it doesn’t touch the ground
The Pico Balloon is launched

Pico Balloon KD9ITO-1 was launched late February 18th and didn’t report until the next morning, February 19th at Grid FN84, 12:02 UTC near Nova Scotia, Canada. Pico Balloon KD9ITO-1 was flying at an altitude of 12,850 meters, 42,148 feet.

Pico Balloon KD9ITO-1 went to sleep on February 19th 2024 at Grid GN86ET at 18:22 UTC just east of St Pierre and Miquelon and south of Greenland. Below is the projected trajectory over 84 hours. While we’re waiting for Pico Balloon KD9ITO-1 to report, for now its Missing in Action.

To track our balloons, please go to our Locate and Track page. This page will be updated with current locations and projected trajectories. You’ll also find links for APRS and Sondehub for tracking all Pico Balloons flying around the world.

We invite you to visit our home page for current NIBBB projects NIBBB Home Page and our Blog as well as our other pages for builds on the menus at the top of our webpage. Our new webpage Header shows both Pico Balloon KD9ITO-1 and Pico Balloon K9YO-1 with other balloons around the world.

We’re also preparing for our other member’s launches and new tracker with a weather sensor so stay tuned.

73, Cary KD9ITO

The Stretchinator – Hasta La Vista, Balloon

January 31, 2024March 1, 2024 / Janet Knowles / 2 Comments

This past Sunday the group gathered at the home of the industrious (and illustrious) Stewart Spies, KB9LM to do some brainstorming, run some tests, and most importantly to enjoy some delicious grub together. Oh, and gadgets. Always new and fun gadgets!

Stage 1: Behold! The Stretchinator Demo

We started the session with Stewart demonstrating The Stretchinator™, his aptly named and turns out, reliably accurate, invention for stretching balloons.

Stewart KB9LM explaining the inner workings of his invention. The gravitational acceleration sensor is attached to the arm as indicated in this image.

The Stretchinator is an assemblage of custom software, hardware and physical infrastructure all built and devised by Stewart Spies, KB9LM. The frame is primarily constructed with PVC pipe and wood. It acts in part as a frame to keep the balloon stable and largely immobile, but also serves as a mount for the gravitational acceleration sensor. This sensor arm, which allows for pitch rotation, is attached to one of the PVC pipes that stands perpendicular to the ground. Simply put, when the arm is parallel to the ground, the sensor’s gravitational acceleration reading will equal 0.

An Arduino controls the input of the hardware with an aquarium pump, the trusty inflator. As the balloon is filled with air, the sensor arm will slowly rotate upwards. When gravitational acceleration reaches zero, the Arduino will then shut the aquarium pump off and no further inflation can occur.

Left to right: Jim NE9JJ, Cary KD9ITO, Cal KD9WNU, Ken K9YO, Stewart KB9LM, Kelsi KE9LSI, Gordie KD9TVR, and Doug KD9TPM — Left to right: Jim Janiak NE9JJ, Cary Willis KD9ITO, Cal Knowles KD9WNU, Ken Daniel K9YO, Stewart Spies KB9LM, Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI, Gordie Mulley KD9TVR, and Doug Mulley KD9TPM (not pictured Janet Knowles KD9WVO)

Stage 2: OMNOMNOM

With The Stretchinator doing its stretchinating best, we took a break to feast on some yummy subs and sides courtesy of Cary and homemade guac by Stewart. We finished off with a few plates of homemade and store bought cookies that somehow traversed to the end of the table where our younger NIBBBers were sitting. Hmmmmm… anyways, back to stretching!

Stage 1.5: Behold! The Stretchinator Demo… CONTINUES!!

Stewart uses a laser range finder to confirm The Stretchinator’s calculation of the diameter of the balloon, which in this case should be just about 32 inches. The transparent Yokohama balloons are at an advantage over the mylar SAG balloons in this sense, as the LRF can cast a laser from through the Yokohama to check The Stretchinator’s accuracy.

The results:

LRF : 31.875 inches
Diameter: 31.83 inches
Circumference: 99.996 inches

Say whaaaaaaat!? Nice work Stewart! Fortunately we were able to spare a few moments to congratulate Stewart on the success of The Stretchinator.

Stage 3: Testing makes Besting

The third item on our agenda, after The Stretchinator Demo and the all-important Eating of Cookies, was to test out sealing mechanisms for the balloons. For this step we used an Impulse Heat Sealer that, while purchased new, resembled a giant office stapler from the 50s. Typically, used to seal polyethylene and polypropylene bags, we had more diabolical plans for it: to try to achieve a secure seal at our balloons’ inflation points.

The SAG balloons and Yokohama valved balloons are self-sealing, meaning that when at full altitude, they will automatically seal themselves. Because we launch the pre-stretched balloons, partially inflated, below full altitude, sealing them before they go up is mission critical to ensure no gas escapes. This is where the heat sealer comes in.

Gordie, practicing with the sealer by making tiny and adorable plastic bags.

Our objective was to test if the sealer could adequately seal the balloons. If the heat sealer is set at too high a temperature, the seal could destroy the material and create a hole. If the sealer is set too low, then a seal cannot be made. We were trying to determine what the goldilocks zone was, and if one was even in existence.

We started off by testing sealing balloon material alone using scraps cut from each type of balloon. The sealer made quick work of both mylar and polyethylene. Then we tried to seal the actual balloon’s valves. The SAG balloons have a problematic paint lining on the interior on the valve, which we determined was unsealable. A few potential solutions were thrown around, such as removing the paint with acetone, aka nail polish remover, or just leaving them unsealed, as Stewart pointed out that those balloons had performed quite well. After filling the balloons and before launch, we had been placing a small piece of either Kapton or 3M Shipping tape over the valve to prevent the gas from leaking. The Yokohama requires a nylon washer at the end of the valve opening held by tape to secure the tracker solar panel package.

Deflating doesn’t have to be bad

Somewhere during the testing, Ken had to leave so he and Stewart deflated the pre-stretched and ready-for-launch SAG balloon (thank you, The Stretchinator!). Using a Dyson hand vacuum and a weak seal with tubing inserted into the valve, Stewart literally vacuumed the air out of the balloon so it could be safely transported to Ken’s home. The process had a watching-the-paint-dry quality.

We all wish this was how long it actually took to deflate.

Wrapping up

With a few minutes left before everyone needed to leave, Jim revealed the new solar panel that he is developing. He also unveiled the new weather sensor package developed by Todd McKinney KN4TPG from the University of Alabama in Huntsville https://www.picoballoonarchive.org/home. We’ll post more on the weather sensor in a future post, so Stay Tuned!

Jim Janiak, NE9JJ new solar panel with a green mock-up of Ken Daniel, K9YO tracker (left). Todd McKinney, KN4TPG’s weather sensor package (right).

Cary sent each of us home with new and very attractive rose gold-colored mylar SAG orb balloons for us to practice on so we didn’t have to leave empty-handed.

For more information – please visit us at NIBBB.org!

Until next time – happy Pico-ing!

73,
Janet KD9WVO & Cal KD9WNU