K9YO

November 7th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

We now have two balloons that have Circumnavigated twice around the World.

While we were waiting for AA6DY to report from the Marshall Islands, I sent an email to the Marshall Islands Public School System to tell them we were back visiting the area. We last communicated during our 8th Launch when we spent 8 days around the Marshall Islands, Below is Erbiland’s reponse.

Iakwe Cary,

Greetings from the Marshall Islands.  This is good to hear.  We wish you and the team best of luck on the project and look forward to hearing updates on how the flight went.  Thank you for updating us on this project.

Kind regards,

Erbiland Mandira

Public Relations Officer

RMI Public School System


The NOAA Hysplit Model showed AA6DY staying around the Marshall Islands till tomorrow. As of this post, AA6DY would still be flying during daylight hours.

We have an update for our November 8th NOAA Hysplit Model and “Best Guess” for AA6DY, Below.

AA6DY “Best Guess” by November 8th 2022

K9YO woke on November 7th at 13:08 UTC at Grid GO26QR Northeast of Makkovic, Labrador, Eastern Canada, fyling at an altitude of 12,300 meters, 40,344 feet.

K9YO at Grid GO26QR, 13:08 UTC, 40,344 feet

Our “Best Guess” for Pico Balloon K9YO wake up on November 11th is Algiers, Algeria

K9YO “Best Guess” on November 1tth 2022

Our Locate and Track Page has been updated for NOAA Hysplit Models, Ventusky and Sondehub

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 6th 2022, K9YO, Completes 2nd Circumnavigation around the World

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

Pico Balloon K9YO woke on November 6th 2022 at 15:38 UTC at Grid EN55NK, northeast of Greenbay, Wisconsin and now at 16:58 UTC at Grid EN66LC north of Escanaba, Michigan, Upper Peninsula, completing its Second Circumnavigation around the World.

K9YO 2nd Circumnavigation, November 6th 2022, 16:58 UTC Grid EN66LC 12,480 meters, 40,934 feet

Pico Balloon K9YO was launched on October 10th 2022 from Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville, Illinois, and made the First Circumnavigation around the World on October 23rd 2022.

After 27 days of flight, K9YO has made the Second Circumnavigation around the World on November 6th 2022.

Our “Best Guess” from our 84 hour NOAA Hysplit model is that K9YO will be near Barcelona, Spain around November 10th 2022.

Please click on our Locate and Track page for our current tracking information for Pico Balloon AA6DY and Pico Balloon K9YO in flight for Ventusky wind direction and speed and the NOAA Hysplit Models

We now have two balloons in flight that have made it twice around the world.

November 5th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

We finally received a report for AA6DY and it wasn’t San Diego. The previous NOAA Hysplit Model had shown AA6DY heading to the Marshall Islands by November 7th, Pico Balloon AA6DY made it there a little earlier. The current NOAA Hysplit Model shows AA6DY heading west towards the Philippines by November 8th.

AA6DY woke on November 5th 2022 at 02:52 UTC at Grid RK78HF, north of the Marshall Islands flying at an altitude of 14,360 meters, 47,100 feet.

AA6DY at Grid RK78HF, 03:34 UTC, North of the Marshall Islands, 47,100 feet.

K9YO woke at 18:28 UTC at Grid CN17KR just west of Seattle, Washington. Pico Balloon K9YO is flying at an altitude of 12,660 meters, 41,525 feet.

K9YO at Grid CN17KR west of Seattle Washington, 18:28 UTC, 41,525 feet

The NOAA Hyplit Model shows K9YO general direction east, reaching around Madrid, Spain on November 9th.

Our Locate and Track page is now updated for the NOAA Hysplit 84 hour Model, and Ventusky for wind speed and direction, as well as our “Best Guess” locations for November 8th and November 9th wake up. Any updates to our projected NOAA Hysplit models, current map locations or Best Guesses will be made to our Locate and Track page until the next published post.

November 4th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

We’re still waiting for AA6DY to wake this evening (morning for some stations) Our 2nd packet for AA6DY are set for coding on Q7, and on the 4’s. The only way we can confirm the location of our balloon, is if it were close to our last reporting station. We received a Q7 on the 4’s for way east of our expected wake up near San Diego, California. We may have to wait till tomorrow to verify our Pico Balloon AA6DY location. The explantion of the software coding for our balloons are found on our Technical Page

K9YO woke on November 4th, 20:48 UTC at Grid AN14AE, just east of the International Date Line, over the North Pacific Ocean. K9YO is flying at an altitude of 12,780 meters, 41,918 feet. Pico Balloon K9YO general direction is heading East

K9YO at Grid AN14AE, 20:48 UTC, 41,918 feet

The Locate and Track page has been updated for K9YO. I run the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Model after receving the 6 Grid Maidenhead and correct altitude. I had to run this twice to make sure the “Best Guess” on November 8th was the same. This is where I have K9YO waking up on November 8th 2022

Best Guess for K9YO on November 8th 2022

If this information is accurate, K9YO will be crossing the North Pacific Ocean, the United States and the North Atlantic Ocean, arriving near Portugal in 84 hours. The NOAA Hysplit Model, Ventusky for wind speed and direction is on our Locate and Track page. When looking at Ventusky, scroll out to see the wind speed across the United States. The date can be changed on the lower left hand corner and time change at the bottom of the page on Ventusky.

Stay tuned till tomorrow for our updates, 73, Cary KD9ITO

November 4th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

What was lost, is now found. I reported yesterday that Pico Balloon AA6DY was MIA, Missing in Action. We had last heard from AA6DY on November 1st, and going by our NOAA Hysplit Model, we thought AA6DY would be near Shanghai, China for wake up today.

AA6DY came back from the missing, reporting on November 4th, 00:02 UTC at Grid PM75. At 00:24 UTC we received Grid PM75MP, North of Osaka, Japan with an altitude of 14,900 meters, 48,872 feet.

AA6DY at Grid PM75MP, North of Osaka, Japan, 48,872 feet

The altitude of 14,900 meters, may be a new record for us. The reports we’re receiving are showing a range of altitude from 14,900 meters to 13,840 meters. While trying to get an explanation of the wide swings of altitude, I went to Ventusky and found that AA6DY is traveling in a Jetstream at 180 miles per hour. 180 mph is probably the fastest I’ve seen our balloons travel. One of the pages on our website is called Locate and Track, here is the hyperlink Locate and Track

Locate and Track has the NOAA Hysplit Model for 84 hours, Ventusky for wind speed and direction, APRS for both balloons and Sondehub for tracking other Pico Balloons around the world in flight. Ventusky is best seen on a computer screen, hovering the mouse or pointer in the area will show the wind speed at the balloons reported altitude.

Looking at the NOAA Hysplit Model will show the Longitude and Latitude. Pluging that in to Gridmapper (also on our Locate and Track page) will give you a map of our projected location at a given date and time and our “Best Guess”

We’re excited to be tracking AA6DY, now after 61 days and 13 hours of flight and two times around the World. The NOAA Hysplit Model shows AA6DY heading east and then hooking around to the Marshall Islands around November 7th, our “Best Guess”. We’ve been around the Marshall Islands many times before including AA6DY’s last trip around the World.

K9YO woke on November 3rd 2022 at 22:20 UTC at Grid RN50FB, Northeast of Tokyo, Japan over the North Pacific Ocean, traveling at an altitude of 12,660 meters, 41,525 feet.

K9YO at Grid RN50MP, Northeast of Tokyo, Japan, altitude 41,525 feet

K9YO is on a fast track with the general direction heading east. Our “Best Guess” is that K9YO will be making the 2nd lap around the World around November 5th and be south of Greenland around November 7th. Pico Balloon K9YO is now on 24 days and 9 hours of flight.

The NOAA Hysplit Model link seems to have a short life span of one day. As long as our balloons are reporting, we’ll be updating these links.

As our balloons are heading east, we will be seeing earlier wakeups, till tomorrow. 73, Cary KD9ITO

November 3rd 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

Pico Balloon AA6DY has gone missing, last heard from on November 1st. It’s not uncommon for us to not hear from a balloon for several days, or longer and it’s only been a couple of days. Based on the last NOAA Hysplit Model, AA6DY would be waking up today over eastern China, near Shanghai. For now we’re calling AA6DY Missing in Action.

K9YO received it’s first signal on November 2nd at 23:48 UTC at Grid QN12 near Hiroo, Japan. Our 1st receving station was from Hisami, 7L4IOU, 796 Km from our balloon. Hisami is an NIBBB Follower. We’d like to thank all the receiving stations for tracking our balloons, we like to say here at the NIBBB, to be successful, it takes a Village.

Thanking these stations for finding us;

KA7OEI-1, JP1AAZ, 7L4IOU, KFS, KL7L, JA5FFO, JA1KPF, and JI1UDB

K9YO first 6 Grid Maidenhead came in on November 3rd at 00:40 UTC Grid QN22GP, Southeast of Kushiro, Japan, flying at an altitude of 12,600 meters, 41,328 feet.

K9YO at Grid QN22GP November 3rd, 00:40 UTC Southeast of Kushiro, Japan, Altitude 41,328 feet

Based on the NOAA Hysplit Model, we believe K9YO will be over Wisconsin in the United States by November 6th 2022 and ready for the 2nd Circumnavigation around the World.

Please visit our Locate and Track page for tracking our balloons.

November 2nd 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

We are still waiting to hear from AA6DY, last know location yesterday over Egypt. We’ll be looking for AA6DY to wake near India later this evening. I updated the NOAA Hysplit model viewable for today on our Locate and Track page.

K9YO reported at 04:18 UTC at Grid ON12LK bordering Mongolia and China flying at an altitude of 12.600 meters, 41,328 feet. Based on the NOAA Hysplit Model, we are expecting K9YO to reach near Alaska on November 5th as shown on our Locate and Track page.

As of November 1st, AA6DY has flown for 58 days, and 17 hours on the 3rd lap around the world. As of November 2nd, K9YO has flown for 22 days and 12 hours on the 2nd lap around the world.

If you’re receiving this by email, please visit our home page with header for the Sodehub view of AA6DY-15 and K9YO-15 Balloons flying with other Pico Balloons around the world https://nibbb.org/

November 1st 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

We received one good report of a 1st and 2nd packet from AA6DY and K9YO. All we really need is one good report to know where we are and we’re still flying.

Pico Balloon AA6DY reported at Grid KL56OP at 06:54 UTC, over Egypt, Northeast Africa, flying at an altitutde of 14,120 meters, 46,314 feet. Our “Best Guess” is that AA6DY will be east of Tokyo, Japan by November 4th.

K9YO was located at Grid MN91TL, near the Aksu Prefecture, China at 09:48 UTC, flying at an altitude of 12,780 meters, 41,918 feet. Our “Best Guess” is that K9YO will be near the International Date Line, over the North Pacific Ocean on November 4th.

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for current images, projected “Best Guess” images, NOAA Hysplit Trajectory Model and Ventusky for windspeed and direction. Some balloons are showing the correct location for APRS and Sondehub.

Ventusky is best viewed on a computer screen, hovering the mouse (pointer) over the map will show the wind speed of the area traveled.

October 31st 2022, AA6DY and K9YO spotty travel

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

We have mentioned that depending on where we are in the world, we may not always hear from our balloons. K9YO went silent for a day and just reported a 2nd packet at Grid LN62IT on October 31st at 06:00 UTC at 780 meters (The second packet only gives us a partial altitude)

Because the 2nd packet is only a hint of being our balloon, we need to go back and look at the projected path and verify if indeed this is our balloon.

K9YO last reported at Grid JO27sk on October 29th at 10:40 UTC

K9YO last reported October 29th Grid, JO27sk

The NOAA Hysplit model has K9YO going over the Caspian Sea on October 31st

K9YO at Grid LN62IT on October 31st at 06:00 UTC, Altitude 12,780 meters, 41,918 feet Just east of the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan

AA6DY was last reported on October 29th at Grid HL90ii.

The NOAA Hysplit Model below for AA6DY from October 29th thru November 2nd 2022

AA6DY did receive some 1st packets on October 30th between Grid IK70 and IJ89.

While writing this post, we just received from AA6DY, Grid JK57MJ at 13:44 UTC as the NOAA Hysplit Model has projected. (two large red triangles and 2 red small triangles representing October 31st 12:00 UTC AA6DY is flying at an altitude of 14,240 meters, 46.707 feet.

AA6DY at Grid JK57MJ at 13:44 UTC on October 31st 2022, altitude 14,240 meters 46,707 feet

We are still only receiving intermittent 1st or 2nd packets for both our balloons, our altitudes have remained fairly constant. As our balloons continue to move east, we hope that our regular followers will find our locations and report.

We’re showing with the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory models that K9YO will be over the North Pacific Ocean on November 3rd and AA6DY will be near Japan on November 4th. These models are now updated on our Locate and Track page. The Ventusky wind direction and speed are also updated for October 31st at 15:00 UTC

I noticed that the NOAA models on our website have a limited life span,of a day or two, after that, you’ll see a note page not found. We create these models based on data received from the Gridmapper for Longitude and Lattitude, and altitude from WSPR Net and WSPR Rocks.

We use this link from NOAA Balloon Optimization Calculation

We hope to update the Sondehub and APRS links once we start receving more spotters.

October 29th 2022, K9YO and AA6DY

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

AA6DY was able to reset and is tracking well

K9YO woke at 10:40 UTC at Grid JO27SK over the North Sea near Norway and Denmark, flying at an altititude of 12,720 meters, 41,722 feet. The general direction of K9YO will be east over China in 84 hours by November 2nd.

K9YO at Grid JO27SK, 10:40 UTC, Altitude 41,918 feet

AA6DY woke at 9:14 UTC at Grid HL90ii, just west of Nouachott, West African Atlantic Coast, flying at an altitude of 14,360 meters, 47,101 feet. The general direction of AA6DY is east towards Sudan in 84 hours on November 2nd.

AA6DY at Grid HL90ii, 9:14 UTC, Altitude 47,101 feet

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for APRS Tracking, NOAA Hysplit model for 84 hours, Ventusky, and Sondehub for tracking Pico Balloons around the world. We also have a WSPR Spot Database for our balloons which is updated automatically. The WSPR Spot Database is our 1st packet reporting system, and an easy way to track our balloons by time reported, the reporting station, a 4 Grid Maidenhead, altitude and distance from balloon to the reporting station.

In our 1st packet we receive the larger of the two altitudes received in dBm. AA6DY has consistently reported 47 dBm power rating which gives us a 14,000 meter altitude. K9YO has consistenly given us a 40 dBm power rating which us 12,000 meters.

The 2nd packet would give us a 6 Grid Maidenhead, and finer altitude in 60 meter increments starting at 3 dBm and rising in 4 and 3 blocks. 3, 7, 10, 13, 17, 20, 23, 27, 30, 33, 37, 40, 43, 47, 50, 53, 57 and 60.

These same blocks when received in the 1st packet provide increments of 1,000 meters per block. 40 is 12,000 meters and 47 is 14,000 meters.

Today, AA6DY reported 47dBm for the 1st packet and 20dBm for the 2nd packet, giving us an altitude of 14,360 meters.

K9YO reported 40dBM for the 1st packet and 40dBm for the 2nd packet, giving us an altitude of 12,720 meters.

If you visit APRS or Sondehub you may only see the altitude from the 1st or 2nd packets. If you do happen to see an altitude of 720 meters, you would know that we’re not on the way down. (What a relief)

AA6DY is now reporting for 56 days of flight, and K9YO is reporting for 18 days and 18 hours of flight.

The Header on our Web pages are showing part of the Pico Balloons around the world, also shown below. This map is provided by Sondehub.