AA6DY woke at 21:12 UTC, 4:12 pm CDT at Grid RM00LQ over the North Pacific Ocean Between Japan and Midway Atoll at 14,240 meters, 46,700 feet. We’re not receiving many spots at this time, but are happy that we have received both packets.
Below is the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory 48 hour Model shows us heading east then south between Midway Atoll and Wake Island west of Hawaii and maintaining our current altitude.
NOAA Hysplit Trajectory 48 hour Model
The best place to track our balloon is at WSPR Spots for the 4 Grid Maidenhead, and power level which shows our altitude, currently 47dBm (multiply power x 300= 14,100 meters) our 2nd packet would give us an additional altitude currently 7dBm (mutiply power x 20= 140 meters) 14,240 meters x 3.28 = 46,707 feet.
We should be hearing from our balloon around 4pm tomorrow. Click on the WSPR Spots link above to get the Grid, and click on the Links to Locate and Track tab on our website to find a Maidenhead Grid map. The Ventusky Jetstream link is also updated to see where we may be headed.
We’re getting our first reports, AA6DY woke at Grid QM44KE at 21:52 UTC, 4:52 pm CDT. We’re over the North Pacific Ocean east of Yokohama, Japan at an altitude of 14,240 meters, 46,700 feet.
We are flying a Yokohama balloon, pretty amazing!
AA6DY at Grid QM44KE North Pacific Ocean, altitude 46,700 feet
I’ll be updating our Links to Locate and Track tab after we get some more information.
After being quiet for a couple of days, we finally heard from AA6DY with 2 packets of data. AA6DY woke at 23:42 UTC, 6:42 pm CDT at Grid ON90TP east of Beijing, China. We’re now receiving both packets on the 2’s and 4’s and are able to see a 6 Grid Maidenhead and an accurate altitude now at 14,180 meters, 46,500 feet.
Grid ON90TP East of Beijing, China
Looks like our general heading is Northeast, so we may continue to track as we approach North Korea, with several hours of sunlight ahead of us, and in a Jetstream over 100 mph. Below is an image from WSPR.Rocks which shows our travels from September 3rd and the active spots received. It was very quiet from the Caspian Sea until we woke up this evening.
AA6DY from September 3rd through September 14th 3:02 UTC at 46,500 feet and still flying
Our Links to Locate and Track tab on our website have been updated for APRS, Pico Balloons flying around the World, and the Jetstream via Ventusky.
Today’s location information was more difficult to decode. When things are going well, we get two packets of information – message 1 and message 2 every 10 minutes. We think of the two different packets as the main packet and the supplemental packet. Today we received only one packet the entire day – and it was a supplemental message 2 packet. It was received on 05:14 UTC at Grid NN36QW North China, Kazakhstan to the west, Mongolia to the east and Russia to the north. We went to sleep on September 11th just east of the Caspian Sea near Uzbekstan on the bottom left of the map.
Our tracker sends out one message on the 2’s (02, 12, 22, 32, 42, 52 after the hour), and one on the 4’s. Any ham station that hears our signal will post the message to a database over the internet. To be able to piece together all the information to accurately locate the balloon, we need both messages. If we just receive the message sent on the 2’s (first packet), we can estimate our balloons location somewhere within a 7,000 square mile grid, and an altitude within 1,200 meters. If we also receive the message sent on the 4’s, we can locate our balloon to a 15 square mile grid and an altitude within 320 feet. The first message has a ham call included in the packet, but to save space in the packet, the second only has a hint of its sender.
Today we received only a single packet – and it was a message 2, meaning we received one packet that has only a hint of the identity of its sender. Based on its location and two ID characters we purposefully encode in message 2, we think it’s ours.
We’ve been getting regular reports on the 1st packet at 13,000 meters. The 2nd packet has been giving us around 670-910 additional meters. When I report our altitude at 13,910 or 13,670 meters that’s with both packets received. If you happen to be monitoring the APRS site you may only see an altitude of 2,197 feet, we’re not on our way down, that’s just the 2nd packet.
We’re still meeting, and building while AA6DY is flying.
Some of our members were able to gather on Saturday September 10th at the home of the Berg’s, who hosted our build session.
One of the most difficult parts of our Pico Balloon Project is building the solar panel package. The Polycystalline solar panels are so fragile, that a sudden touch can break a panel. Jim Janiak, KD9UQB designed a template to hold a single solar panel in place for ease of soldering. Once one side is soldered, it’s then glued to the plate, then soldered and repeated.
Each solar panel is glued to the styrofoam plate and soldered in series. The wires from negative to positive are stripped before soldering. After working on several renditions of this package, Jim KD9UQB had designed our current board. Jim was our Elmer and Guide who patiently worked with each of us.
Joining us for this session were, The Berg’s; Noah KD9RDT, Bob KD9RDU, and Wendy KD9RDV, Ken Daniel K9YO, Cary Willis KD9ITO, Mikaela Streicher KD9VIW, The Mulley’s; Doug KD9TPM, Kelsi KE9LSI, and Gordie KD9TVR. We also had the support of Winston close at hand.
Jim started out with an introduction to the tools, parts and a step by step instruction. We then broke into groups and started cutting out the styrofoam template. We had four soldering stations spread around five tables.
We ended with 3 complete solar panel packages weiging around 4.7 grams each, tested and ready to fly. This session added to the two other solar panel packages that Jim had completed
We’re looking forward to flying Pico Balloons for our three younger Generals, Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI, Gordie Mulley KD9TVR and Mikaela Streicher KD9VIW.
We’ll be updating our Technical page which will provide instructions on how to build and launch Pico Balloons, hosted by Ken Daniel K9YO. You’ll also be able to read and follow Ken’s future Pico Balloon launches here at the NIBBB.
Please enjoy this slideshow from yesterday’s session
Jim KD9UQB, Gordie KD9TVR, Doug, KD9TPM, Kelsi KE9LSI, and Mikaela KD9VIW
Cary and Bob in the back
Up front, Noah KD9RDV cutting out the template and some ot the others
The Mulley’s on the left, Kelsi, Gordie and Doug and Mikaela on the right and Winston under the table
Gordie KD9TVR and Mikaela KD9VIW working on their respective packages
Noah KD9RDV soldering his solar panel assited by Cary KD9ITO
Gordie KD9TVR and Doug KD9TPM working together
Mikaela KD9VIW and the finished product
Mikaela testing the voltage assisted by Doug KD9TPM
Mikaela, Doug, Gordie and Kelsi
Kelsi KE9LSI, Doug KD9TPM and Gordie KD9TVR
Gordie with the panel and Doug testing with the Multimeter
AA6DY woke at Grid LN35PA near the Caspian Sean at 5:04 UTC 12:04am CDT at 13,780 meters. This area is southwest of Astrakhan, and east of Artezian, Russia. Yesterday, AA6DY went to sleep near the Romania/Moldova borders. Though we’re not getting regular reports at this leg of our trip, we did receive a 4 Grid Maidenhead at 12:12 UTC of LN82 The images are below.
From Romania/Moldova Border East of Artezian, Russia bordering Caspian Sea
Asleep 12:12 UTC at Grid LN82 just west of Uzbekistan east of the Caspian Sea
NOAA Hysplit for Sept 12th and Sept 13th from Grid LN35PA
The Links to Locate and Track tab have been updated with the Jestream for tomorrow, we’ll wait for tomorrw to get the more current APRS.fi location and altitude.
The way we’re traveling, I’m expecting wakeup around 11:00 pm CDT this evening.
AA6DY woke at 6:52 UTC, 1:52 am CDT at Grid JN84rc near Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina at 13,850 meters just over 45,000 feet.
Yesterday we went to sleep off the coast of France, woke up today over Bosnia Herzegovina and are now over Romania at 12:42 UTC. With the Sun at 40 degrees, we still have some sunlight left.
Below is today’s Jestream over Romania
At 11:22 UTC we are near Targa Mures, Romania traveling at 90 mph.
Our Links to Locate and Track tab have been updated for tomorrow’s Jestream, to track aa6dy in flight click the APRS.fi AA6DY tab. The NOAA Hysplit model has been updated for September 11th and 12th with some wild swings in altitude on September 12th. We’ll update NOAA tomorrow.
AA6DY woke at 8:22 UTC 3:22am CDT on September 9th at Grid IN47QD just west of France. Our altitude is 13,910 meters, 45,600 feet.
We’re moving into a Jetsream over 100 mph, below is the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory showing our projected path over 48 hours.
Looking back one year
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade started on June 9th 2021. After spending the summer researching Pico Balloons.
We launched our first Pico Balloon on September 25th 2021 in Glencoe Illinois, our first failure, Earlier Flights 2021 We came back one week later for our 2nd launch, Michael’s first balloon AA6DY on October 2nd 2021 which flew 376 Km from Central School in Glencoe Illinois to just northeast of Ionia Michigan having flown 7 hours and 45 minutes, our first successful flight.
And now one year later, our 24th Launch
AA6DY launched on September 3rd 2022, and now just west of France on September 9th 2022
We launched AA6DY for Michael Seedman on September 3rd 2022 at 13:30 UTC from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, Illinois. After several attempts, we’re finally successful flying a Yokohama Balloon, pre-stretched to 99 inches circumference by Stewart Spies KB9LM, we are now at 13,910 meters altitude.
And today, on September 9th 2022, we celebrate Michael’s birthday, AA6DY, our first balloon to reach 46,000 feet, survive a Hurricane, is on it’s way to France and around the world.
AA6DY woke at Grid HN48ph at 9:52 UTC, 4:52 am CDT over the North Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of 13,910 meters. Danielle is now a Tropical Storm with sustained winds at only 70 mph and traveling at 14 mph.
Grid HN48ph at 9:52 UTC
The real good news is that we’re now in a faster Jetstream and will be flying towards land. The three images below, 1) Ventusky Jetstream showing easterly direction at 80 mph and higher towards France. 2) Windy.com showing cloud tops at 9Km starting September 10th at 5 am over France. 3) NOAA Hysplit Trajectory Model showing our balloon’s direction over 48 hours at 13.9Km
Ventusky.com Jetstream from September 9th 2022 81 mph towards France
From Windy.com showing Cloud Tops at 10Km over France September 10th 5am
48 hours NOAA Hysplit Model
The Links to Locate and Track tab has been updated for tomorrow’s Jetstream on Ventusky. APRS.fi for AA6DY will updated throughout the day and HabHub will show other balloons around the world, Enjoy!
AA6DY woke at 10:34 UTC 5:34 am CDT at Grid GN81LB over the North Atlantic Ocean, now at 14,000 meters 45,920 feet traveling northeast at 30 mph. We’re still close to Hurricane Danielle. Noah KD9RDT tells me we need more pictures. In the five images below, 1st is our Grid Location, 2nd is our track on our 5th day launched September 3rd. The 3rd is the Jetstream from Ventusky showing AA6DY just west of Hurricane Danielle. 4th is the projected Hysplit Trajectory by NOAA showing us staying steady at 14,000 meters and our path from Septmeber 7th thru Thursday September 9th over 48 hours. The last image shows the path of Hurricane Danielle becoming a Tropical Storm later on Thursday.
We hope you’ll scroll down to the bottom with a special recognition for today’s flight.
AA6DY at Grid GN81LB 10:34 UTC
Sept 7th 2022 AA6DY is traveling at 30 mph heading Northeast
From Ventusky.com Hurricane Danielle in the center, AA6DY just west
NOAA Hysplit porjected path over 48 hours, AA6DY at 41.77 North and 41.88 West on September 7th (Updated by Doug Mulley KD9TPM and Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI 9:35 am)
Hurricane Danielle center at 43 North and 38 West traveling Northeast at 14 mph
We are flying Pico Balloon AA6DY for Michael Seedman, one of our founders of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade. As we are also flying near Hurricane Danielle, I’d like to recognize Michael’s daughter Danielle Seedman KD9PAP who is celebrating her birthday today.
