KD9TPM was launched on July 30th from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, Illinois and came alive on July 31st over Canada. We last heard from our balloon on August 10th over the North Pacific Ocean. KD9TPM had flown 10 days and 16 hours and we now declare it Missing In Action.
KD9TPM travel map from July 30th 2022 to August 10th 2022 courtesy of WSPR.Rocks
We are in our planning stages for our next launch and will keep an eye out for KD9TPM
Our Technical Team is working on building our Solar Panel and Antenna packages and look forward to many future launches.
KD9TPM went to sleep at Grid RN36bb heading south over the North Pacific Ocean. We have flown 10 days, 16 hours and 32 minutes while awake. Sometimes we get our reports quickly and are able to determine locations and altitude, and sometimes it’s well, really spotty. When it’s spotty like this it takes some patience and some quick math to add the two timeslots, we’re around 9900 meters, 32,400 feet.
Where we go from here? We can wind up towards many different locations, Northeast, Southwest, We can loop around and head towards Canada head back to China or take a more southerly route. I’ve updated our links to Locate and track here is our current Jetstream to see where we may be headed Ventusky North Pacific Ocean
In case you happen to find out where we wake up before I report, please send me an email.
We received one spot at 20:42 UTC over an hour ago. While I was waiting for our 2nd packet, which would give us a 6 Grid Maidenhead and correct altitude. I thought I should just report what we have. We fell asleep at 8:12 UTC over the Sea of Okhtosk, Russia and our first reading awake is Grid RO20 at 20:42 UTC North Pacific Ocean south of the Bering Sea.
We receive our location from the Amateur Radio Stations around the world that receive our signal. The interesting part about our single reporter is that it’s callsign AI6VN/KH6. AI6VN is in Half Bay Moon California. The actual reporting station AI6VN/KH6 is in Grid BL10rx which is near Maui, Hawaii, 3,000 miles away. His QRZ page says his primary residense is in Northern California and has a small lot on the Winward (Northeast) side of Maui. We’d like to thank Robert, AI6VN for receiving us.
Will we continue east towards Alaska, or turn back over Russia? I’ll be watching
KD9TPM has gone to sleep travelling over China and Japan and going to sleep just East of the Sea of Okhotsk, August 9th 2022, 08:12 UTC. We’re still around 31,000 feet and travelling at a speed around 120 mph.
Where we go from here? we’ll still watching closely. The below NOAA Hysplit shows a possible direction towards Alaska in 48 hours. The Jetstream shows us possibly circling around.
KD9TPM reported just south of Sankeshu, China at Grid PN04ta, 22:42 UTC having travelled 9 days and 9 hours and moving fast. We now moved into a Jestream travelling 120 mph. Our reported altitude is 9670 meters, 31,700 feet.
Our Links to Locate and Track tab have been updated with our current Jetstream so click away and enjoy. Locate and Track
KD9TPM woke at 02:32 UTC on August 8th, Deer Park, Kazakhstan near the borders of Kazakstan, Russia, Mongolia and China. We’re showing 9050 meters, just over 29,600 feet.
Now in our 9th day of flight currently 8 days and 13 hours
North of Deer Park, Kazakhstan
I’ve updated our Links to Locate Page with tomorrows Jetstream.
Good morning, When KD9TPM first reported it was on August 7th 2:54 UTC at 9:54 pm August 6th. I say first reporting but it wasn’t a complete report. For us to see all the data, we must receive informtion on 2 sets of packets, on the 2’s and on the 4’s in a 10 minute time slot. For the first hour or so, we were only receiving the second packet on the 4’s which gave an a Grid but not an altitude. It wasn’t until 4:12 UTC that we recieved our first packet, which gave us an altitutde. We were getting such few spots on this leg of our trip, it was difficut to verify where we were.
With that information, I was able to generate a map but decided to wait till morning to see what else we could get. The next two images are from Gridmapper. The location of our balloon after reporting 2 packets was a 4:14 UTC MN31bi, just north of Aydar Lake, Uzbekistan, at 9,960 meters or 32,600 feet. The 2nd image is for one of our contenstants on Guessing the Gid Square
Below is the Guess from Wendy Berg, KD9RDV Grid MN31e over Aydar Lake, Wendy is our winner for Guessing the Grid Square on awakening
Our first images of our location and complete data came a few hours later.
Though our spots are very few, what we do know is we’re now heading Northeast from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan and in a much faster Jetstream Uzbekistan towards Kazkhstan and still around 33,000 feet
With the Jetstream picking up, we can travel a great distance from here. The active link above Uzbekistan towards Kazkhstan is a link to Ventusky for our current altitude and Jetstream. Which is also updated on our Links to Locate and Track tab, just click Ventusky.
We’re still making great progress with this little balloon package, below is our last 5 days
It’s easy to play, Guess the Grid Square, either send me an email and I’ll help you sort it out, or for those seasoned players, please go to our links to Loacate and Track tab at the top of our website.
We woke up over the Black Sea and now asleep over the Caspian Sea. We are now in our 8th day of flight having flown 7 days, 1 hour and 2 minutes. We’re showing an altitude 32,500 feet with passing storms. We’d like to congratulate Jim Janiak KD9UQB for getting closest to Guessing the Grid Square just 146Km from the target.
Over the Caspian Sea, asleep 9:52am CDT
As we’re moving East, wake-up is coming earlier. Those participating in Guess the Grid Square, please get those in by 6pm. For information on our contest and how to track, please go to Links to Locate and Track
Even if you’re not participating in our contest, please visit our tracking link above to view APRS.fi, Habhub for other balloons around the world and Ventusky to see wind speed and direction from our altitude.
KD9TPM woke at Grid KN74uh just south of Feodosia, Crimea over the Black Sea. We’ve picked up a faster Jetstream heading East. Our altitude is close to 33,000 feet
at KN84ad 4:14 UTC moving East
The winner for tonight’s Guess the Grid Square is Jim Janiak, KD9UQB for his guess Grid KN64ob, 146 Km from KN74uh. Jim is a new first time winner. Another close group, the others were less than 300 Km from KN74uh.
I’ll give an update in the morning, off to bed. 73, Cary
KD9TPM is now asleep at Grid KN47si near the city of Carmonova, Moldolva sharing the border with Ukraine. Our current altitude is 10,180 meters around 33,400 feet. We are now 6 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes of flight. Below is the image of where we went to sleep.
The Jetstream is starting to move Southeast. I’ve updated our Links to Locate and Track to show the Ventusky Jestream at our current location and altitude. Using the WSPR.Rocks site, last 24 hours and clicking on map is a great tool for finding our next location. Please read the bottom of the page on our Links to Locate and Track.
Our balloon should be waking up in about 10 hours, so if you’re competing in Guess the Grid Square, please get them in no later than 9pm this evening.
Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade 