December 16th 2023, A Follower’s Dream

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

On a previous post I mentioned one of our NIBBB Follower’s, Perry Moore of Hardin, Illinois who launched his own Pico Balloon KD9NGV-15 on November 28th 2023.

Today, we’d like to congratulate Perry for his 1st Circumnavigation today, December 16th 2023. Pico Balloon KD9NGV-15 has been flying pretty consistently near 39,000 feet for the entire flight. We had been a little worried when the balloon went missing traveling north of the day/night change line twice, only to power back up and continue the flight. 

Pico Balloon KD9NGV-15, 1st Circumnvigation December 16th 2023 after 17 days and 22 hours of flight

While at the NIBBB team breakfast last week, I had shown Perry’s Pico Tracker Package. The group had asked, had any of our other follower’s gone on to build and launch their own Pico balloons? That question I couldn’t answer, because Perry was the only one who shared his build and launch information. 

Besides our daily visitors, we now have 169 subscribers to these posts. We’d like to hear from you. Have you launched a Pico Balloon since becoming a follower? Please send your responses to me by using this link Cary AT NIBBB and I’ll share in a post.

Perry’s build; his solar panel designed based on our Low Sun Angle High Power solar panel, used a triangular design, with smaller panels which were able to power up with the sun’s elevation as low as 3 Degrees, quite a feat. Perry, used the QRP Labs U4B tracker which we also use on some of our flights. The tracker was programmed on the 10 meter band for a smaller antenna which can also be used by Technician level licensecees. And lastly, Perry used the silver SAG Balloon with Helium.

KD9NGV Pico Ballloon package

For our licensed followers, you can help Perry by tuning your radios to 10 meter WSPR and point your atennas to help us track this Pico Balloon.

You can follow the flight of Pico Balloon KD9NGV-15 at our Locate and Track page

What a great hobby!  73, Cary KD9ITO

November 28th, 2023, naming a Balloon is like naming a Star

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

Our team member Ken Daniel, K9YO visited his Granddaughter and her 5th grade class on Friday November 10th 2023, at the First Presbyterian Academy for Greenville and Simpsonville in South Carolina. 

After a presentation on Pico Balloons, the class decided on a name for their balloon, the “Happy Cone”

The Happy Cone 1, flying as K9YO-16 using a QRP Labs U4B and our Standard Solar Array was launched on November 19th 2023, at 8:00 a.m. CDT.

Ken Daniel, K9YO with the “Happy Cone 1” November 19th 2023

We had a few days of reporting before the Happy Cone went missing.

This is the message Ken sent to the class.

Happy Cone 1 was launched on Nov 19th at 8:00 AM.  It rose quickly to 12,500 m (41,000 ft, over 7 miles).  As it rose, the speed increased to 100 kph (60 miles per hour – speed of a car on a highway).  During the first day, the balloon reported its position every 10 minutes as shown on the map by each circle. The direction of travel followed the Jetstream as shown in the figure. 

“Happy Cone 1” reported spots from November 19th through November 23rd 2023
Jetstream for “Happy Cone 1” launched from Grayslake, Illinois, north of Chicago November 19th 2023

The balloon went to sleep at the expected time before sunset, when the sun was too low in the sky to produce power.  After a great first day, things went badly.  The next day we received only one transmission early in the morning and the next day we received only three transmissions.

These were short transmissions that did not contain all the normal data.  We think that one of the cells of the solar panel may have cracked.  Consequently, there is not sufficient power to transmit. 

Happy Cone 1 may still be flying, but it is not telling us where it is.  We will be working to put up another balloon soon.  The launch may be delayed due to the low sun angle (low power) during the month of Jan.

Ken Daniel

This wouldn’t be the first time that our balloons had gone missing. It’s very possible that the balloon is traveling north of the Day/Night Change line and not receiving sunlight to power the solar panels.

We’re calling this balloon Happy Cone 1, because we’re preparing for Happy Cone 2. You can follow the Happy Cone on our Locate and Track page and click “Traquito (by Douglas Malnati) tracking K9YO-16”.

On another note… we received an email from one of our followers, Perry Moore, KD9NGV who launched his Pico Balloon This morning. I spoke to Perry who was very grateful for the information we provided to help him build and launch Pico Balloons.

Perry designed a vertical triangular shaped solar panel to catch the lower sun angles during our winter months in the Northern Hemisphere. (Perry’s information below)

Attaching a pic of the payload.  Wt. is 11.62 grams.   I put it through a 30 hour test last weekend and it is activating at about 15 degrees. Three MPT 3.6-75s.  I’ll be on 10 meters again.  Planning on 5 grams of Free Lift using Helium

Pico Balloon KD9NGV Package, using a 3 panel Triangular shaped vertical Solar Panel, with a QRP Labs U4B tracker

Pico Balloon KD9NGV-15, last reported on November 28th at 21:50 UTC at an altitude of 12,350 meters, 40,551 feet, with the sun’s elevation at 3.6 degrees. Congratulations to Perry, KD9NGV for a great build. According to Perry, Pico Balloon KD9NGV-15 should awake near Newfoundland tomorrow morning.

Pico Balloon KD9NGV launched November 28th 2023 near Hardin, Illinois

You can follow Perry’s balloon on our Locate and Track page by clicking “SondeHub Balloon Tracker” and follow KD9NGV-15 as well as all Pico Balloons flying around the world.

You can learn more about Pico Balloons starting at our Home Page https://nibbb.org/ at Ken’s Home Page https://sites.google.com/view/picoballoonsbyk9yo/home and one of our earlier teachers, Pico Balloons by Doug and Mark and their new Traquito Tracker.

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 6th 2023, Update

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We’ve been pretty busy preparing for our upcoming launches, if only the weather would cooperate (there’s actually a little more to it than just the weather). We now have 5 of our members in Queue for launch, Gordie Mulley, KD9TVR; Kelsi Mulley, KE9LSI; Mikaela Streicher, KD9VIW; Cal Knowles, KD9WNU; and Janet Knowles, KD9WVO.

Gordie and Cal are the youngest members of the NIBBB, both in 7th grade, Kelsi is a Junior in High School, Mikaela is in her Freshman year in college, and Janet is Cal’s Mom. Since we transmit on the 20 meter band, all are licensed as a General or above. We’re not only tied to the weather and Jetstream for launch, but also to the kid’s school schedule and other activities.

We’ve updated our home page with more current information. Slideshows of preparations for upcoming launches, build sessions, a little bit about our members, and the history of the NIBBB. You can find it at this link NIBBB Home Page

We hope that you’ll bookmark this page, visit often, and feel free to share.

73, Cary KD9ITO

July 12th 2023  Prep for Launch

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

Last Saturday, July 8th 2023, our three youngest Generals, Gordie Mulley; KD9TVR, Kelsi Mulley; KE9LSI, and Mikaela Streicher; KD9VIW met with Ken Daniel; K9YO and learned how to put the Pico Balloon package together. The package consists of a 7 cell solar panel, Pico tracker, antennas, monofilament line and balloon. Doug Mulley; KD9TPM was there to assist with the build.

The group found that many of the solar panels that were built on September 10th 2022 had cracked cells, thanks to Jim Janiak KD9UQB, everyone in the group knows how to fix those.

Below are images from our September 10th 2022 Solar Panel Build Session

September 10th 2022, learning how to build the 7 cell solar panel
  • Jim KD9UQB teaches the group how to build our 7 cell solar panel
  • Gordie KD9TVR and Mikaela KD9VIW
  • Mikaela KD9VIW testing the solar panel
  • Mikaela KD9VIW
  • Doug KD9TPM and Gordie KD9TVR testing the solar panel
  • Gordie KD9TVR

Stretching the balloon

I met with Ken a week before his build session where he was in the process of stretching the 4th SAG Balloon. After the Pico Tracker and Solar Panel are built, the antennas are soldered to the tracker and the balloons are stretched prior to filling with either Helium or Hydrogen. The stretching of the balloon gets all the wrinkles out allowing for the balloon to reach its maximum altitude for the duration of the flight. Depending on the weight of the total package, we can expect an altitude of between 40,000 and 50,000 feet. The heavier Low Sun Angle – High Power Solar Array for winter flights would get around 40,000 feet. The Standard Solar Array shown above would get closer to 50,000 feet.

We have 10 Yokohama balloons and 6 SAG balloons ready for stretching. The SAG Balloon and Yokohama balloon are both 32” rounds that can be stretched to a 100 inch circumference.  Ken wrote a program that slowly stretches the balloon over a 10 hour period using an aquarium pump and an arduino

Ken Daniel, K9YO has created a website “Everything About Flying a Pico Balloon” With a video on stretching and filling a balloon.

While Gordie, Kelsi and Mikaela are finishing their builds, they’ll be teaching the rest of us on how to put the package together.   

Stay tuned for the launch of Pico Balloons KD9TVR, KE9LSI and KD9VIW

73,   Cary  KD9ITO

Surface-Mount Soldering Session, June 17th 2023

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

This was a beautiful Saturday morning. Some of our NIBBB members gathered at the Northbrook Library’s Makerspace and learned how to solder surface-mount chips to prepare for more launches this year.

Our teacher today was Michael Seedman, AA6DY one of the Co-Founders of the NIBBB. Our Pico Balloon tracker pictured below is a 2 sided surface-mount soldered tracker weighing 1.6 grams. All the chips are soldered to pads on the board. The 6 pin connector used for programming the board are through-hole soldered with the small pins soldered on the oppposite side of the board. Once the tracker is programmed with a callsign and tracking code, the 6 pin connector can be broken off.

Our two hour session was with practice printed circuit boards and digital microscopes. Below is a 2 picture slideshow of the 103 Resistor (103 is for 10 and 3 zero’s after), 10,000 Ohms next to a dime shown on a digital microscope. It takes a steady hand and a lot of patience to get these chips in the right place on the board.

  • A roll of 1,000 10k resistors cost $10. Which is a good thing because they’re easy to lose
  • 103 Surface-Mount Resistor up close

Michael demonstrated how to solder using a Flux pen for smooth flow of the solder. Below is the digital microscope and practice printed circuit boards. With today’s practice session and our home sessions, we’ll be more comfortable soldering our actual trackers.

  • Digital Microscope
  • Blank practice circuit board

We then broke into groups and practiced our newly learned skills

  • Calvin and Janet Knowles, Kyli, Kelsi and Gordie Mulley
  • Cal Knowles, Doug Mulley, Stewart Spies, Jim Janiak and Loren Pollack
  • Gordie Mulley KD9TVR with his Dad, Doug Mulley KD9TPM
  • Loren Pollack, AD9AY came by today to try his hand at soldering with our members Stewart Spies, KB9LM and Jim Janiak KD9UQB
  • Michael Seedman, AA6DY helping Cal Knowles KD9WNU and Janet Knowles KD9WVO, Doug Mulley KD9TPM working with his son Gordie Mulley KD9TVR with Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI and Kyli Mulley
  • Kyli, Kelsi, Gordie and Doug Mulley
  • Stewart Spies, KB9LM, Jim Janiak KD9UQB, Michael Seedman AA6DY, with our guests Loren Pollack AD9AY and David Auerbach W9KRP

Cal Knowles KD9WNU and Gordie Mulley KD9TVR are the youngest members of the NIBBB, who will be entering the 7th grade. Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI will be starting her Junior year in High School. Not pictured are Mikaela Streicher KD9VIW who just graduated High School and will be attending the Colorado School of Mines, Noah Berg KD9RDT starting his Sophomore year in High School and Henry Fiely, KD9SRZ starting his Freshman year in High School.

Cal Knowles, KD9WNU with his new radio, the Yaesu FTDX10. Cal passed his Amateur Extra license and his Mom, Janet KD9WVO passed her General license on June 3rd 2023.
Almost 1 year ago, Kelsi and Gordie Mulley received their Official FCC General license on August 23rd 2022. We’ve been planning their Pico Balloon launches since last January. Now that summer vacation has started and the weather is more favorable, we hope to launch soon

Our next sessions will be programming our Pico Balloon tracker and pre-stretching the balloons.

73, Cary KD9ITO

News you can use, Hamvention May 19th to 21st 2023

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

Hamvention is the World’s largest Amateur Radio gathering, attracting hams from around the globe. Hamvention is taking place this weekend May 19th, 20th and 21st 2023 in Xenia, Ohio.

Congratulations to our team member, Ken Daniel, K9YO who has been chosen as one of the speakers. The Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloons Forum will take place on Friday May 19th 2023. at 11:45 am in Room 3. Hamvention Forums Schedule 2023

There will be four presentations for this session, “Introduction to long duration amateur radio balloon flights”, “Build your own Arduino – based WSPR Pico Balloon tracker”, “Launching Amateur Radio Pico Balloons from Antarctica” and “The QRP-Labs U4B Pico Balloon tracker”

The moderator of this Forum will be Bill Brown WB8ELK, and the speakers, Ken Daniel, K9YO; Todd McKinney, KN4TPG; Hans Summers, G0UPL; and Dave Beverstein, VE3KCL

We owe our long duration flight successes to the expertise of Ken Daniel. Ken has created a website Pico Balloons by K9YO, Everything about Flying a Pico Balloon. Ken has provided the information on how to build his three part Arduino based tracker, for the PDF instructions, please visit Pico Balloons by K9YO-Transmitter

Todd McKinney, KN4TPG is the research gradulate student that lauched our Pico Balloon KD9UQB for our team member, Jim Janiak. Jim designed the Low Sun Angle – High Power solar array for Pico Balloon KD9UQB launched from Neumayer Station III, Antarctica on November 24th 2021.

If you’re attending this year’s Hamvention, we hope you can drop by and see the Amateur Radio High Altitude Forum, and say Hi to Ken.

73, Cary KD9ITO

April 15th 2023

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We’ve been a little quiet here, and still working. This morning, several of our members met at the Lake County Makers Faire at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. Enjoing the Makers Faire were Doug, Kelsi, Kyli and Gordie Mulley, Ken Daniel, Cary Willis, Janet and Calvin (Cal) Knowles and Michael Seedman.

We added a few members to our NIBBB group, and continue to meet and plan. Next up in our launch Queue are two of our younger Generals; Gordie Mulley KD9TVR and his sister Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI. Gordie is 12 years old, in the 6th grade, and until today was our youngest General. Kelsi is 16 years old and a Sophomore in High School. Gordie and Kelsi received their General license in August of 2022 and have have been waiting patiently for their launch date. Pictures of of the NIBBB members from September of 2022 are on our home page along with slide shows of the launch of Pico Balloon AA6DY and our solar panel build session at the bottom of the page https://nibbb.org/

Here at the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) we’re always looking at “What’s Next” What our next project will be, either an improvement in our Pico Balloon project or a new project.

The NIBBB members are all licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as Amateur Radio operators. These exams are conferred by Volunteer Examiners also known as VE’s. We now have our own exam team, the NIBBB exam team. The NIBBB is made up of 18 members, five of whom are volunteer examiners. We have two Lead Examiners, Doug Mulley KD9TPM, and Cary Willis KD9ITO, the rest of the NIBBB VE team are Jim Janiak KD9UQB, Ken Daniel K9YO and Michael Seedman AA6DY.

Our exams are conducted using the exam tools electronic testing program. Candidates take their exams on laptops or tablets that they provide. They get their results as soon as they click submit and three of our examiners will sign off on their exam. The results of the exam are uploaded to our national organization the ARRL the same day as the exam. There’s another step for newly licensed hams requiring an additional fee paid to the FCC.

Today we conducted our first examination for our youngest member Calvin (Cal) Knowles KD9WNU. Cal is 11 years old, a 6th grader at Central School in Glencoe, Illinois and a member of their Ham Club. Cal received his Technician license on February 11th 2023 and soon after joined the NIBBB along with his mom Janet. Janet KD9WVO received her Technician license on March 22nd 2023.

Today Cal upgraded his license to General and is now our youngest General, (he’s actually an Acting General until his callsign is updated on the FCC website which should happen Monday). I think Gordie is actually relieved that he no longer has the youngest General title. For those licensed hams around the world please visit Cal’s QRZ site at https://www.qrz.com/db/KD9WNU

Pictured below is Cal taking his exam. We don’t normally mention how well someone does on their exam, but we’re so proud of Cal having received a perfect score of 35 questions correct out of 35 questions. He took his time taking his exam and reviewed his exam before submitting, Well Done!

And the proud parents, mom, Janet Knowles KD9WVO and dad, Alex Knowles pictured below with Cal KD9WNU in the middle

The NIBBB is looking forward to more youth getting licensed in Amateur Radio. It’s easier than ever to learn with online programs like https://hamstudy.org/ Ham Study is the same organization that gives us our exam tools testing program. Janet informed me that she bought Cal an ARRL General textbook before his exam that he got through in 2 days. Cal used Ham Study to prepare for the exam and the ARRL Handbook for a better understanding of Amateur Radio.

We’re still checking the weather for our next launch. Here in the Chicago area we’ve been experiencing wild weather patterns. We’ll have a nice sunny day but very windy or rain and snow. Today it was in the 80’s, sunny and windy in the morning and rain in the afternoon, Monday we’re exepecting snow. For launch weather we look for sunny or partly sunny days, very mild winds at ground level and mild wind gusts.

We have had very succesful launches at 5 degrees below zero. We can launch in very cold or hot days as long as the winds are mild at ground level. Once the balloon reaches maximum altitude it will follow the speed and direction of the Jetstream or weather pattern at that altitude. The balloon can travel at 2 miles per hour or 200 miles per hour, visiting the world at a snails pace or around the world in 10 days, it’s pretty amazing following our balloons in flight. At the ground we look for mild winds, with less of a chance of the tracker package hitting a tree or bouncing on the ground.

Stay tuned for Gordie and Kelsi’s Pico Balloon launch

Congratulations to our NIBBB team, to Cal Knowles on passing his General license, his family and the Central School Ham Club for their support.

73, Cary KD9ITO

March 4th 2023; We’re Back, with updates

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We have a few more followers to the NIBBB. We met this morning and decided it was time to bring back our site. We will be updating our website with posts from members of our group, so stay tuned.

We want everyone to know we discuss Pico Balloons here. We share what we know so others can do what we do. We’re licensed as Amateur Radio Operators by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and follow the FAA regulations relating to balloons.

We welcome your comments, however, we may choose not to accept your comments or delete them. We are taught as Amateur Radio Operators that a 5 year old could be listening, so please be civil.

We believe Pico Balloon K9YO is now lost, and we’re ok with that. Pico Balloon K9YO was launched on October 10th 2022, having flown 123 days and 7 circumnavigations around the world.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB reported March 4th, 2023, at Grid DH05ld, at 02:02 zulu, just after 8pm our local time on March 3rd 2023, at an altitude of 38,585 feet. Pico Balloon KD9UQB had been traveling in a circle over the South Pacific Ocean east of Peru, South America

Pico Balloon KD9UQB, March 4th 02:02 zulu, Grid DH05ld, altitude 38,585 feet

While we were at our breakfast meeting on March 4th, Pico Balloon KD9UQB reported at Grid CG86tt, 14:52 zulu, just after 9am our time at an altitude of 6,431 feet. At 9:22 am our time, Pico Balloon KD9UQB was at an altitude of 2,822 feet. The WSPR Spot Database shows Pico Balloon KD9UQB losing altitude.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB was launched on November 24th 2022 from Neumayer Station III, Antarctica as part of a special project. Pico Balloon KD9UQB last reported on March 4th, 2023 at Grid CG86ts at 15:12 zulu having flown for 100 days, 9 hours and 12 minutes, and having completed 7 circumnavigations around the world.

Flight of KD9UQB launched November 24th 2022, to March 4th 2023, 100 days, 9 hours and 12 minutes

We’d like to thank the new followers of NIBBB and those that have asked to financially support our group. We are a very small group of 18 members, our youngest is 11 years old. We rely on the expertise and team approach of our group, and all our members assist in making our launches a success. We thank you for your offer. For very little money, we get so much enjoyment, and are not accepting donations at this time.

For those that are interested in building and flying Pico Balloons, the 1st step is getting a license in Amateur Radio. I recommend this site which provides free learning (Study Mode) and practice tests. You can find an exam session remote by zoom or in person at “Find a Session” https://hamstudy.org/ It takes about 10 hours of study time to pass the Technician license, a little more to get a perfect score. The real learning takes place after you get a license, we call this a license to learn. There are 3 classes of licenses; Technician, General and Amateur Extra. Our youngest General is 12 years old.

Once licensed, we urge you to join a Ham Club in your area, volunteer and get involved.

We end our messages with “73” which means, Best Wishes.

73, Cary KD9ITO

A statement from the NIBBB on current events

/ KD9TPM

We at the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade are excited to see the recent interest in our hobby. The goal of our group is to share factual and technically correct information about pico balloons and the flights of those that we launch. Our desire is to continue pursuing that goal in the midst of all this.

There has been particular interest in one of our pico balloons, one that transmits call sign K9YO. As noted on our “Locate and Track” page and blog, the last transmission from that balloon received and reported to the WSPR system was on February 11, 2023, and indicated that balloon was near Hagemeister Island, off the southwest corner of Alaska. Since we have not found a transmission from that balloon since that time, we have declared it “Missing In Action”, as we have with previous flights. At that time, K9YO had circumnavigated the globe 6 times and was nearing the completion of a 7th lap. Unfortunately, that’s where the factual information on its location ends.

At that time and as we often do, we used NOAA’s HYSPLIT model to predict where the balloon may go from there. (The graphical output of that model can also be seen on the “Locate and Track”.) It’s important to note that this is a model, the output of which is dependent on the quality of the inputs we provide and predicted weather information. There are plenty of instances in our own experience where the model inaccurately predicted the path. Therefore, using that model output as a sole means of asserting the balloon’s position at a point in time is not supported.

Additionally, it is not unusual for significant periods of time to elapse between received transmissions. This is due to a variety of factors. At the latitude of K9YO’s flight, available sunlight to illuminate the solar panels is a big one. To account for this factor, we’ve experimented with a variety of solar panel configurations. Since it was launched on October 10, 2022, there have been several periods, one as long as 30 days, in which we did not receive a transmission from pico balloon K9YO.

As has been widely reported, no part of the object shot down by the US Air Force jet over the Yukon territory has been recovered. Until that happens and that object is confirmed to be an identifiable pico balloon, any assertions or claims that our balloon was involved in that incident are not supported by facts.

Please note that we construct and launch our balloons in accordance with applicable regulations, as described in this blog post. This includes compliance with FCC regulation regarding radio transmission from the balloons. The call signs used in these transmissions are assigned to General or Amateur Extra class licensees within our group who have passed the requisite exams and are registered with the FCC. (If you’re interested in amateur radio, we’d encourage you to check out HamStudy.org for more information about the hobby and how to get licensed.)

We track all of our balloons daily. We have systems to notify us when new transmissions are received and reported. We regularly post to the blog on the progress of those flights, including our pico balloon currently in flight around Antarctica. We invite anyone to follow our blog to receive notification of those posts, including any updates on the flight of pico balloon K9YO.

At this time, no members of our group are giving or are planning to give interviews.

We have temporarily disabled comments on our site. The volume was overwhelming for our small group.

— The members of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade

February 14th, 2023, K9YO, Missing in Action, KD9UQB, 7th Circumnavigation.

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 9 Comments

Pico Balloon K9YO last reported on February 11th at 00:48 zulu near Hagemeister Island after 123 days and 18 hours of flight.

Hagemeister Island is an uninhabited island in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the north shore of Bristol Bay at the entrance to Togiak Bay. The island is 16 miles long, has a land area of 115.9 square miles, and its highest point is 604 feet. It has no permanent population at the 2000 census. Wikipedia

The 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Trajectory showed Pico Balloon K9YO making the 7th circumnavigation on February 13th around 18:00 zulu, and then traveling north of the Day/Night Change Line.

Below is a screen shot from Ventusky from February 11th showing the possible wind speed and direction. The darker colors near Hagemeister are 63 mph, the green color further north is 24 mph.

Ventusky is interactive, you can change the date at the lower left hand corner and slide the time at the bottom. This is a nice site to play with, search a location, and change the parameters on the left. Clicking on any location on the map will open a screen with information for that location.

The links for Ventusky and NOAA are on our Locate and Track page for each balloon.

Two of the several programs we follow to track our balloons are NOAA and lu7aa.org NOAA showed us going in a general eastward direction, lu7aa showed us going northeast. Pico Balloon K9YO on lu7aa

lu7aa shows a projected location using Ventusky. Projection seen below for February 15th 2023, 03:58 zulu, Grid DQ14er, 4 days and 3 hours from our last official report.

For now we are calling Pico Balloon K9YO Missing in Action.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB was launched from Neumayer Station III in Antarctica on November 24th 2022, completing the 7th Circumnavigation, on February 14th 2023 at 18:12 zulu at Grid ID52vd.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB last reported flying at an altitude of 11,560 meters, 37,928 feet, completing the 7th time around the world in 82 days and 12 hours of flight.

The 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Model shows Pico Balloon KD9UQB heading north also by Ventusky for February 14th 18:00 zulu

We update the NOAA Hysplit Model and Ventusky every day our balloons report. The WSPR Spot Database is updated automatically everytime our balloons receive a report.

Though you may not be seeing regular posts here, we update our Locate and Track page daily when our balloons are reporting. The WSPR Spot Database is updated automatically everytime our balloons receive a report. Pico Balloon K9YO and Pico Balloon KD9UQB have their own WSPR Spot Database link on our site and the easiest way to see when our balloons report. The WSPR Spot Database shows the reporting station and the distance to our balloon in Km and miles.

Thank you for following the NIBBB. 73, Cary KD9ITO