We are now in our 6th day and 9th hour of flight. Sorry to say we lost KB9LM last reporting at DL79 over Mexico. Good news is W9BLN is alive and well. W9BLN left the Gulf of Mexico and is now heading towards Dallas/Fort Worth area. W9BLN is now reporting at Grid EM11WP just east of Waco Texas.
I’ve updated our Links to Locate and Track for tomorrow June 26th at 7am
Looking forward to our trip around the world
Till tomorrow 73, Cary KD9ITO
W9BLN has reported awake and ready to start the day at 12:28 UTC 7:28 am CDT at Grid EL39MR near Creole, Louisiana between Layfayette, LA and Beaumont, TX fyling around 29,000 feet at 14 knots.
Looks like W9BLN is heading Northwest. The Links to Locate and Track tab for Jetstream has been updated for tomorrow, June 26th at 7 am
Just getting an email from an Amateur Radio station following our balloon, this is so cool. Ted, KG5TED/h from Lake Charles, Louisiana is reporting that W9BLN is flying over his station. Ted is also reporting that he is a fellow Pico Ballooner also flying a QRP-Labs U4B, had it’s first Circumnavigation on June 16th and currently flying north of Greenland. Congratulations Ted.
We have 2 balloons in different time zones, still waiting for KB9LM to report, I’ll be watching and update
73, Cary
We are now 5 days and 10 hours into our flight.
Before I get into our report, I’d like to introduce one of our members of the NIBBB. One of the balloons we’re flying is W9BLN, which is John Walsh’s callsign, who is a member of our Technical Team. John, who recently upgraded to General, changed his callsign from KD9THB to W9BLN for Balloon. I met John at his VE session when he received his Techncian license and told me of a project he was involved in. John is also volunteering with the Adler Planetarium’s Far Horizons GoNet Project in Chicago, IL.
That evening after his exam I followed the Far Horizons High Altitude Balloon Launched from Lebanon Indiana to fly over Indianapolis Indiana looking at Light Pollution from 60,000 feet. I followed their launch till I had to go to sleep to get to our 2nd Launch on October 2nd 2021 at Central School in Glencoe IL, where John was able to join us. Far Horizons plans far ahead to make sure the Jetstream goes where the balloon needs to go, to be able to recover the payload with thousands of dollars of equipment and of course the pictures of the flight.
We are very excited to finally be able to fly W9BLN representing two balloon projects, Far Horizons and us. please click on this link to learn more about Far Horizons
Now to our report
We receive our balloons’ location in part from the Amateur Radio stations around the world that are able to receive our signal. KB9LM has stayed at the same 7,000 square mile Grid DL79 since yesterday. KB9LM was last heard at 21:52 UTC 3:52pm CDT from a station in West Jordan Utah, about 1800 Km from the DL79 Grid. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s wake up in hope to get another Grid location to determine the balloons direction.
W9BLN last transmitted at 23:58 UTC 6:58 pm CDT at Grid EL47JT
After circling over the Gulf of Mexico, we were looking for W9BLN to find some direction and pick up some speed. Looks like we did just that. We’re now heading north at between 25Km and 30Km an hour. We’re using different programs to track and map out our balloon. W9BLN is flying the new U4B from QRP-Labs. They have their own tracking program which shows the locations 6 character Gridsquare which gives us a 15 square mile grid, the altitude in meters, speed in knots and battery in voltage. The battery in voltage is so important telling us how well our solar panel package is doing. One of the stations that has been regulary receiving W9BLN is VK4CT around 14,000 Km away in Australia, helps having an antenna 30,000 feet up.
W9BLN flying at 29,000 feet and 14 knots heading north
I’ve updated the Ventusky Jetstream link for tomorrow at 7am at 29,000 feet.
Sometime after I wakeup and before I head to Field Day, I’ll update our Balloons.
Till tomorrow, 73, Cary
We just ended our 5th day of flight now at 5 days and 38 minutes and just over 29,000 feet.
I was waiting for KB9LM to receive a report, which just came in at 14:02 UTC 9:02 am CDT. KB9LM is in the same grid as last night DL79, but because this is a wide grid of 70 miles by 100 miles, this balloon can go Northeast or Southwest. If we’re on the north end of Grid DL79, we’ll start heading northeast to Albuquerque NM and near Chicago. If we wind up on the south end the the Grid DL79 KB9LM will head towards Los Mochis and the Gulf of California and a longer journey southwest over the Pacific until we find a faster Jetstream going Northeast.
W9BLN first reported at 12:08 UTC, 7:08 am CDT near the same location as last night in Grid EL55 now back to EL45WT at 14:18 UTC. If W9BLN could find a direction, North, South, East or West this balloon will find the same Jetstream taking it towards the Southeastern Coast of Mexico. This time tomorrow the location where W9BLN is will find the Jetstream moving Northwest towards Houston and then Chicago.
Links to Locate and Track have been updated so you can see what I see on the Jetstream. I’ll be back here later this evening for an update.
73, Cary
We are now 4 days and 9 hours into our flight and haven’t seen a lot of movement of our balloons, but we are moving and still 9,000 meters around 29,000 feet.
KB9LM has last reported at Grid DL79, moving 2 left and one up just like a chess board. W9BLN is still over the Gulf of Mexico last tracking at Grid EL45xo at 23:38 UTC June 23rd the speed of 2 knots. Have you ever watched paint dry? We’re not really moving in these square blocks, just looks that way.
We expect KB9LM to start heading southwest towards the Pacific Ocean and W9BLN to slowly make it’s way west.
I updated the Links to Locate tab on our home page to show Jetsream tomorrow morning at 8am. You can get an idea where W9BLN and KB9LM will be heading. The Jetstream will continue slow over the Gulf and KB9LM should pick up some speed and direction. I’m really hope that we reach that Jetstream over the Pacific Northwest.
We really miss those flights when we travelled 1500km a day
Till tomorrow, 73, Cary
W9BLN had awaken south of Pensacola over the Gulf of Mexico at 11:58 UTC 6:58 am CDT at Grid EL66ln and now is heading west about 270 km south of New Orleans. W9BLN will be flying over the Gulf for most of the day heading towards Monterey Mexico. The wind speed is close to 18 knots or 20 miles per hour.
I’ve updated our Links to tracking for Jestream over the Gulf of Mexico for today at 9,000 meters
While I was writing this, we received a Maidenhead for KB9LM, Grid DL88 in the General area of San Miguel, Mexico first reporting at 13:42 UTC 8:42 am CDT. KB9LM will be travelling over Mexico for most of the day at 18 mph, looking to travel near Baja, California, this evening.
We are seeing both of our balloons, they’re about 1400 Km apart. One of the great tools on WSPR.Rocks is the map and ruler tools. Click on the map in the menu bar, right click on the balloon and a menu pops up, click on show ruler and place spot A on one map point and spot B on another map point and play away. Send me a note if you need assistance setting up the WSPR.Rocks program. This is one of the tools we use when we play the “Guess the Grid Square on Awakening” hope to get that started soon.
Clicking on our Links to Locate and Track will bring up WSPR.Rocks for KB9LM.
Until this evening, 73, Cary
We’re around 3 days and 10 hours of flight. I reported this morning how far away our balloons are from each other. From what we’re seeing, W9BLN is now south of the Florida Panhandle and over the Gulf of Mexico just southwest of Panama City Beach, Florida, reporting at Gridsquare EL69sx. W9BLN is still around 9,000 meters just over 29,000 feet and traveling close to 20 mph. The balloon is expected to travel a little more south before heading west. Wakeup should be around the area south of New Orleans and over the Gulf of Mexico.
KB9LM is reporting at Maidenhead EL17 which is in the general area of Corpus Christi, Texas. Because we are looking at a wider geographic area for KB9LM, the wake up can be anywhere from near San Antonio, Texas to Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
We expect both balloons to travel over Mexico towards the eastern Pacific towards Baja, California where we will come close to Tropical Storm Celia over the Eastern Pacific.
I’ve updated the Links to Locate and Track tab to include the Ventusky Jetream at 9,000 meters for today at 7pm and tomorrow at 8 am. If you hover your mouse over the area of the jetstream you’ll see the speed in mph and wind direction. You can change the calendar at the bottom left hand corner and change the time at the bottom to see where we may be headed.
I’ve also changed our website menu tab from “Flight Log” to “Earlier Flights”. All of our current information is under the tab “Blog” which will include flights, future plans and anything we may want to share.
It’s truly amazing what our little trackers and $2 balloons can do.
Until tomorrow morning, 73, Cary
Good morning, W9BLN had awaken at 12:08 UTC, 7:08am CDT over Birmingham Alabama at Grid EM63rf. While we were in this low pressure system, we came around nearly where we were yesterday. KB9LM woke at 12:42 UTC, 7:42 am CDT over the Gulf of Mexico Grid EL38. Our balloons and trackers are powered by polycrystalline solar panels. The sun powers the GPS chip and board, and when we’re heard from another Amateur Radio Station our tracker registers the time and our location.
We’re looking at the wind speed at 9,000 meters altitude, and find the general direction our balloons will be travelling today, KB9LM towards Mexico/Texas border and W9BLN following behind. With the wind speed picking up, we should be close to the Pacific Ocean by this evening, (fingers crossed)
This is from Ventusky looking at wind direction from Birmingham Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico as of now. As the day progressees we’ll get a handle on what may change. If you open up the link to Ventusky on our Links to Locate and Track, hover your mouse over the map, you will see the wind speed for that area.
To follow our balloons, please click on Links to Locate and Track at the menu tabs on our website.
73, Cary
We launched two balloons, W9BLN and KB9LM on June 19th, different trackers, same balloons and solar panel arrays and just around 30 minutes apart from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, IL. We initially had some issues finding KB9LM but that tracker came alive the morning of June 20th.
For those that have been following, this has been a slow travel. Starting in Northbrook, IL a northern suburb of Chicago. Both balloons took a southerly track, and then diverged.
We track our balloons using a receive and send signal with a GPS chip and signal packets sent on two timeslots within a 10 minute slot. From these two packets we are able to receive a Maidenhead gridsquare. The two time slots 2 minutes apart gets us a 6 point gridsquare of 2 letters, 2 numbers and 2 letters which will show the balloon in a 3 mile by 5 mile rectangle on a map. If we only receive one packet we will only receive a 4 point gridsquare of 2 letters and 2 numbers which show the balloon in a 70 mile by 100 mile rectangle on a map. So we can be as accurate as 15 square miles or 7,000 square miles.
We’ve been tracking these balloons using different programs, WSPR.Rocks, QRP-Labs/U4B, and Ventusky for wind speed and wind direction. These programs together gives us different pieces of the puzzle. These links are available on our website under “Links to Track and Locate”.
W9BLN is flying the QRP-Labs U4B tracker. From that program we see the last information received was at 23:38 UTC which is 6:38pm CDT at gridsquare EM55rb. This is just north of the Mississippi border into Tennessee near where Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee come together. W9BLN is just east of Collierville, TN the home of W5KUB, Tom Medlin who is currently flying W5KUB-112, Hey Tom.
For the KB9LM tracker we are currently receiving one packet in a 10 minute timeslot for a 4 point Maidenhead. So we’re giving a general area of the KB9LM balloon. The last received signal was at 22:02 UTC or 5:02 p.m. in the general area of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The map below is from wspr.rocks That specific point just east of Baton Rouge is in the middle of gridsquare EM40
So, we have 2 balloons, launched at close to the same time, one hovering over southern Tennessee and the other in the general area of Baton Rouge, Louisisana.
As far as we can tell, W9BLN is flying at an altitude of 9,000 meters, pretty steady from the beginning of the launch. KB9LM is somewhere close to 8400 meters, best guess.
You can follow both these balloons at wspr.rocks. Under TX call put in the callsign, list 500 spots and the last 24 hours, click on table to see the Amateur Radio operators that have heard the balloon and the distance their station is to the balloon. If you click on map, you’ll get the location or general location of our balloons. I’ve added another link from habhub which shows all the balloons flying from around the world registed on APRS. Click there and track, W5KUB-112, us and all the others, please enjoy.
Until tomorrow, 73, Cary KD9ITO
We now have 2 balloons transmitting from different locations. W9BLN is awake and reporting from Gridsquare EM54lv over Near Booneville Mississippi heading north towards Tennessee at 4 knots.
Ventusky shows winds for W9BLN will be travelling west at about 4 mph then north towards Tennessee
KB9LM who just started reporting yesterday morning has taken a different route now reporting near Biloxi Mississippi Gridsquare EM50ll General Direction West Northwest towards Louisiana and Arkansas. We’ll be watching storms this afternoon in southern Mississippi.
Our balloons may try to meet up heading north. You can follow these balloons easily on WSPR.Rocks at on our website “Links to Track and Locate”
I’ll give an update later this evening.