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.
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.
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.
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.
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
