ke9lsi

NIBBB Update April 17th 2025

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We’ve added some followers here at the NIBBB and it’s time to share what’s new. We hope that you’ll head back to our website and check out our new page, Highlights of the NIBBB which are highlights from our Blog posts.

We will be celebrating our 4th year of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade on June 9th 2025. We have some pictures through the years on our home page https://nibbb.org/ that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

From our original group, Elizabeth Ziemer KD9ORR who wrote the Fram2Ham article will be graduating college next month. You can read about Fram2Ham on our Highlights page.

Pico Balloon KD9ORR was our 8th flight on December 22nd, 2021, which occurred when Elizabeth returned home from her Freshman year in college for winter break. Pico Balloon KD9ORR was our first long flight which can be viewed here https://nibbb.org/2021/12/24/flight-2021-12-22/

We’ve been trying to launch several balloons for quite some time. Due to some unforseen situations, a few little crashes here and there. We were only able to get one balloon up and reporting for longer than 24 hours, some reporting longer from their final destination. We have one balloon now flying for 55 days.

Before we get to that balloon, we have some other information to share.

Recently we’ve had three balloons report for one day then go silent. We also had a few break before or during the launch. While we can easily see a failure when the polycrystalline solar panels come crashing to the ground, we don’t know what happens after a launch until the balloon reports, or not.

While we figure out whether it’s a balloon or tracker issue, I’ll report on what we have flying.

For those in the Pico Balloon community, we’ve been flying the Yokohama valved and valveless balloons and the clear SAG balloon.

Although we used Hydrogen for some of our earlier flights, we’re back to Helium. No one objects to having a helium tank in their homes, we have two that are refillable.

We invite you to learn more about our hobby on flying Pico Balloons by visitng our Technical Page which include the FAA regulations, that we must follow. We also invite you to join the worldwide pico io.group at this link https://groups.io/g/picoballoon

There was a post today on the io.group asking if anyone was having issues with their balloons, which we found very interesting. Our last long flights of 5 days and 130 days were launched on April 13th 2024.

Cal Knowles KD9WNU and his Mom Janet Knowles KD9WVO had built and tested their trackers and solar panels with Ken Daniel K9YO over a two week period. Pico Balloon KD9WNU was flown with a valved Yokohama balloon and flew for 5 days to Ukraine, lost altitude and continued to report for several days. Pico Balloon KD9WVO was flown with a valveless Yokohama balloon flew for 130 days and seven times around the world.

We had purchased newer Yokohama balloons after those launches. We launched Pico Balloon KE9LSI and Pico Balloon KD9TVR with a Yokohama balloon that flew for one day from Northbrook, Illinois to Ohio where they landed in farm fields about 10 miles from each other. These balloons continued to transmit for about a week. Kelsi KE9LSI, and Gordie KD9TVR are sister and brother, and two of our younger members.

We’ve also had some failures with the clear SAG balloons. We still need more time to test all these balloons.

The Pico Balloon community often talk about how they pre-stretch their balloons. Stewart Spies KB9LM created a rig which he named “The Stretchinator”. Stewart invited our group into his home to show us how it works. We show these projects on our Highlights page but you can fast track it here. https://nibbb.org/2024/01/31/the-stretchinator-hasta-la-vista-balloon/

We report all daily activity on our Locate and Track page, feel free to bookmark this page.

We launched on April 8th and April 12th 2025 with one balloon reporting for one day KE9LSI on April 12th. Unfortunately we broke the solar panel package for KD9TVR which went back to the shop for a new panel. We’re now testing KD9TVR which is shown on our Locate and Track page. We’ll be launching their trackers again very soon.

Now, back to our current flight. Pico Balloon KD9ITO was launched on February 21st 2025 from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, Illinois.

Below is a slideshow from the launch on February 21st with Pico Balloons KD9ITO and KE9LSI with KD9ITO still flying.

We’re flying an in-house designed tracker and larger powerfilm solar panels. We’ve been having issues with the reporting of this tracker, so this is the first and last flight of this tracker. I suppose the good news is that we finally have a balloon circumnavigating the world since last year. We’re using a clear SAG Balloon and Helium.

  • Tracker and Solar Panels, a 3D printed cylinder holds the antennas and line to launch site
  • Stewart Spies KB9LM holding tracker package
  • Stewart releasing balloon
  • Jim Janiak, NE9JJ holding the tracker
  • and releasing the tracker
  • the launch

Pico Balloon KD9ITO made it’s first circumnavigation on March 8th 2025 after 15 days of flight, the 2nd circumnavigation on March 25th 2025 after 31 days of flight, and the 3rd circumnavigation today on April 17th 2025 after 55 days of flight. Our balloon went missing for a short time while visiting the North Pole. Our balloon is now asleep over Hudson Bay, Canada in a slow moving pattern heading east.

Below is the location of Pico Balloon KD9ITO on April 17th 2025 at 20:22 UTC.

Once we have the latitude, longitude and altitude of the balloon, we can plug that information into the NOAA Balloon Trajectory software that will give us a projected trajectory for 84 hours.

Below is the projected trajectory for KD9ITO from April 17th 2025 to April 21st 2025 flying at 11,340 meters, just over 37,000 feet altitude. From Hudson Bay, Canada to along the Newfoundland and Labrador coast.

We also track the Jetstream of our balloon at altitude and where it may travel beyond 84 hours. This balloon has stayed pretty steady at around 11,000 meters. When it reports correctly on 4 different time slots, we’re able to receive the location within 15 square miles, the temperature and humidity at altitide.

This site Ventusky.com has been very helpful on following the Jetstream and weather near our balloon. Clicking on the link will show where our balloon is at todays report and the windspeed at altitude. On the bottom left hand corner you can click the play button and the map will move forward through the hours and days up to a couple of weeks ahead. This information is changed as the data changes. As the Jetstream moves, you can compare Ventusky to the NOAA Hysplit.

Feel free to play with the site, change the location, look at weather, radar, clouds, storms, cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes and of course wind and temperatures at different altitudes.

We can decide which addtional sensors we want to add to a tracker. More on that on future posts.

Amateur Radio stations on the ground receive and report our data on WSPR (Weak Signal Propogation Reporter) database and we decode the data that is reported. These stations don’t know we’re a balloon unless I send them an email thanking them for receiving and reporting our balloon, and some of them have joined here as followers. They receive a location and distance from their station to ours as if it were on a map at ground level.

We’ve highlighted the links in this post to various sites on our website and others that we use. We also track which links have been used from this email. We receive which countries visit our website and which links they click on, no information is received on any individual person.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please click unsubscribe at the bottom of the email.

Thank you for following the NIBBB. If you enjoy our project, feel free to share it with others. If you know someone who’d like to become a follower and receive these emails when posts are published, please send me an email at this link Contact Us with their email to be added. Feel free to send questions or comments.

73, (Best Wishes), Cary KD9ITO

May 27th 2024 Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade update

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO

We started the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade on June 9th 2021

Without any previous knowledge of this project. We spent the summer researching, and began launching Pico Balloons, 3 months later.

We will be celebrating our 3rd Anniversary in a couple of weeks on June 9th 2024.  In our 3 years we launched over 35 Pico balloons.

In our early months we were launching on a regular basis, sometimes two or three times a month.  With some successes along the way.   We had our 1st long flight in December of 2021, of Pico Balloon KD9ORR that flew 19 days, crossing the International Date Line twice in the same day.  Once going east, dropping out of the Jetstream and then going back west and spending 8 days around the Marshall Islands.  It was fun watching and reporting on that balloon.  We started our website during the flight of KD9ORR.  Click here to follow our 8th launch of Pico Balloon KD9ORR

We had three flights in 2022 that made multiple circumnavigations. Pico Balloon AA6DY launched in September, for 83 days of flight and three times around the world, Pico Balloon K9YO launched in October for 123 days of flight and seven times around the world and Pico Balloon KD9UQB launched from Antarctica in November for 100 days of flight and seven times around the world.  

Our Antarctica launch was conducted by Todd McKinney, KN4TPG a student with the University of Alabama in Huntsville.  Our other partner on this launch was Tom Medlin, W5KUB who we continue to consult with on our launches.

We launched two Pico Balloons on April 13th 2024 for Calvin Knowles KD9WNU and his Mom Janet Knowles KD9WVO.  Below is our group who participated in this launch. The slideshow of our launch is on our home page https://nibbb.org/

Both balloons stayed pretty close to each other for their flight, but we lost Calvin’s balloon over Ukraine after 5 days of flight.  We believe it was a weather that brought the balloon down.  Calvin likes to tell his friends that it was shot down.  

Janet’s Balloon KD9WVO-11 has been doing very well, now over 43 days of flight and preparing for its 3rd circumnavigation very soon.

Since our last launch on April 13th 2024, we also lost communication with Pico Balloon NE9JJ-2 that was carrying a weather sensor built by Todd McKinney, KN4TPG with the University of Alabama in Huntsville.  NE9JJ transmitted for 44 days, and 4 times around the world gathering weather data that Todd found very useful.  NE9JJ is Jim Janiak who’s callsign was KD9UQB for the Antarctica launch and some others.

Although I haven’t written here in over a month, you can follow our balloons in flight which are updated daily at our Locate and Track page at this link https://nibbb.org/links-to-locate-and-track/ 

Our website header shows our balloons sharing the skies with other Pico Balloons flying around the world. It’s a big world and a small part of the hobby of Amateur Radio.  

Tracking worldwide Pico Balloons is provided by Sondehub which is the 1st link on our Locate and Track page.

All the pictures from our last launch and group projects have been moved to our home page https://nibbb.org/  Our home page also has group pictures of our NIBBB members through the years, and slideshows of our launches and build projects that I hope you’ll visit and share with others.

We have close to 190 followers here at the NIBBB that receive emails when posts are published.  Our most recent followers are from Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany. 

We look to our worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators, to help track our balloons, receiving our packets and report the data.  If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t know where we were, wouldn’t receive important data of our location, and altitude, additional data such as temperature, humidity and pressure at altitude, and how our trackers are behaving during the flight. 

Our followers can point their antennas where we’re projected to be, by going to our Locate and Track page for our reported location and the forward trajectory NOAA Hysplit Model, as shown below for Pico Balloon KD9WVO. NOAA provides us with an 84 hour projected trajectory that we update daily.

I’d like to also thank our members of the NIBBB for their dedication, and time.  

We’re looking forward to our launches in June for Gordie Mulley KD9TVR and Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI, who’ve been waiting a long time for their launch.  Mikaela Streicher, KD9VIW will be launching sometime after June.

Calvin Knowles KD9WNU and Gordie Mulley KD9TVR are finishing the 7th grade in a week or two.  Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI just completed her junior year in high school.  Mikaela Streicher KD9VIW just finished her freshman year in college. Elizabeth Ziemer KD9ORR with our original group just finished her junior year in college.  Henry Fiely KD9SRZ from our original group is finishing his freshman year in high school and Noah Berg, KD9RDT from our original group is finishing his sophomore year in high school.  Congratulations to our younger members of the NIBBB.

We’ll be sharing information very soon on our new tracker which we hope to start launching in July. For now, the group is working on a development board testing the chips and software.

Thank you to everyone around the world who have shared our project with us.

73,  Cary  KD9ITO

The Stretchinator – Hasta La Vista, Balloon

/ Janet Knowles / 2 Comments

This past Sunday the group gathered at the home of the industrious (and illustrious) Stewart Spies, KB9LM to do some brainstorming, run some tests, and most importantly to enjoy some delicious grub together.  Oh, and gadgets.  Always new and fun gadgets!

Stage 1: Behold! The Stretchinator Demo

We started the session with Stewart demonstrating The Stretchinator™, his aptly named and turns out, reliably accurate, invention for stretching balloons.

Stewart KB9LM explaining the inner workings of his invention. The gravitational acceleration sensor is attached to the arm as indicated in this image.

The Stretchinator is an assemblage of custom software, hardware and physical infrastructure all built and devised by Stewart Spies, KB9LM. The frame is primarily constructed with PVC pipe and wood. It acts in part as a frame to keep the balloon stable and largely immobile, but also serves as a mount for the gravitational acceleration sensor. This sensor arm, which allows for pitch rotation, is attached to one of the PVC pipes that stands perpendicular to the ground. Simply put, when the arm is parallel to the ground, the sensor’s gravitational acceleration reading will equal 0.

An Arduino controls the input of the hardware with an aquarium pump, the trusty inflator. As the balloon is filled with air, the sensor arm will slowly rotate upwards. When gravitational acceleration reaches zero, the Arduino will then shut the aquarium pump off and no further inflation can occur.

Left to right: Jim Janiak NE9JJ, Cary Willis KD9ITO, Cal Knowles KD9WNU, Ken Daniel K9YO, Stewart Spies KB9LM, Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI, Gordie Mulley KD9TVR, and Doug Mulley KD9TPM (not pictured Janet Knowles KD9WVO)

Stage 2: OMNOMNOM

With The Stretchinator doing its stretchinating best, we took a break to feast on some yummy subs and sides courtesy of Cary and homemade guac by Stewart. We finished off with a few plates of homemade and store bought cookies that somehow traversed to the end of the table where our younger NIBBBers were sitting. Hmmmmm… anyways, back to stretching!

Stage 1.5: Behold! The Stretchinator Demo… CONTINUES!!

Stewart uses a laser range finder to confirm The Stretchinator’s calculation of the diameter of the balloon, which in this case should be just about 32 inches. The transparent Yokohama balloons are at an advantage over the mylar SAG balloons in this sense, as the LRF can cast a laser from through the Yokohama to check The Stretchinator’s accuracy.

The results:

LRF : 31.875 inches
Diameter: 31.83 inches
Circumference: 99.996 inches

Say whaaaaaaat!? Nice work Stewart! Fortunately we were able to spare a few moments to congratulate Stewart on the success of The Stretchinator.

-4.75 m/s2
0.01 m/s2
Before and after. Note the gravitation acceleration went from -4.75 to 0.01 before the pump shut off. The fully inflated balloon was more spherical, rather than a sphere, like a planet. Note that the sensor arm at the top of the image has raised to be roughly parallel to the ground.

Stage 3: Testing makes Besting

The third item on our agenda, after The Stretchinator Demo and the all-important Eating of Cookies, was to test out sealing mechanisms for the balloons. For this step we used an Impulse Heat Sealer that, while purchased new, resembled a giant office stapler from the 50s. Typically, used to seal polyethylene and polypropylene bags, we had more diabolical plans for it: to try to achieve a secure seal at our balloons’ inflation points.

The SAG balloons and Yokohama valved balloons are self-sealing, meaning that when at full altitude, they will automatically seal themselves. Because we launch the pre-stretched balloons, partially inflated, below full altitude, sealing them before they go up is mission critical to ensure no gas escapes. This is where the heat sealer comes in.

Gordie, practicing with the sealer by making tiny and adorable plastic bags.

Our objective was to test if the sealer could adequately seal the balloons. If the heat sealer is set at too high a temperature, the seal could destroy the material and create a hole. If the sealer is set too low, then a seal cannot be made. We were trying to determine what the goldilocks zone was, and if one was even in existence.

We started off by testing sealing balloon material alone using scraps cut from each type of balloon. The sealer made quick work of both mylar and polyethylene. Then we tried to seal the actual balloon’s valves. The SAG balloons have a problematic paint lining on the interior on the valve, which we determined was unsealable. A few potential solutions were thrown around, such as removing the paint with acetone, aka nail polish remover, or just leaving them unsealed, as Stewart pointed out that those balloons had performed quite well. After filling the balloons and before launch, we had been placing a small piece of either Kapton or 3M Shipping tape over the valve to prevent the gas from leaking. The Yokohama requires a nylon washer at the end of the valve opening held by tape to secure the tracker solar panel package.

Pesky valve

Deflating doesn’t have to be bad

Somewhere during the testing, Ken had to leave so he and Stewart deflated the pre-stretched and ready-for-launch SAG balloon (thank you, The Stretchinator!). Using a Dyson hand vacuum and a weak seal with tubing inserted into the valve, Stewart literally vacuumed the air out of the balloon so it could be safely transported to Ken’s home. The process had a watching-the-paint-dry quality.

We all wish this was how long it actually took to deflate.

Wrapping up

With a few minutes left before everyone needed to leave, Jim revealed the new solar panel that he is developing. He also unveiled the new weather sensor package developed by Todd McKinney KN4TPG from the University of Alabama in Huntsville https://www.picoballoonarchive.org/home. We’ll post more on the weather sensor in a future post, so Stay Tuned!

Jim Janiak, NE9JJ new solar panel with a green mock-up of Ken Daniel, K9YO tracker (left). Todd McKinney, KN4TPG’s weather sensor package (right).

Cary sent each of us home with new and very attractive rose gold-colored mylar SAG orb balloons for us to practice on so we didn’t have to leave empty-handed.

For more information – please visit us at NIBBB.org!

Until next time – happy Pico-ing!

73,
Janet KD9WVO & Cal KD9WNU

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

January 2nd 2023, Pico Balloon KD9UQB completes Third Cicumnavigation around the world

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

Happy New Year to all and congratulations to the NIBBB Team for another feat, our 3rd Pico Balloon to Cirumnavigate the world at least three times.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB was launched on November 24th 2022, from Neumayer Station III, Antarctica as part of a larger group effort. For this launch we were testing a new tracker that would provide consistent reporting and a new solar panel package that would power up near sunsrise and stay awake at the lower sun’s elevation.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB has made it around the world three times in 39 days on January 2nd 2023.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB, 3rd Circumnavigation at Grid ID88QP, 34,178 feet

Using the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Trajectory model, we are predicting that Pico Balloon KD9UQB will be near Grid MC50AA around January 6th 2023 at 06:00 UTC

Best Guess for KD9UQB around January 6th 2023 06:00 UTC

Our two solar panel systems we have been using are a mulitple polycrystilline package which is horizontal, fragile, thin and light and the film solar panel which is a vertical cylinder, sturdy and heavier.

We are also testing a pyramid shaped polycystalline solar panel package for a future launch.

The horizontal polycrystilline panel weighs around 4.2 grams, the film cylinder panel weighs about 18 grams.

Gordi Mulley, KD9TVR holding the Polycrystillne Solar Panel 4.2 grams
The Film Solar Panel designed and built by Jim Janiak, KD9UQB for the Antarctica Flight, 18 grams
From our Breakfast meeting December 17th 2022, showing the Fim solar panel package for Gordie KD9TVR and Kelsi KE9LSI launch in early 2023

The Polycrystilline package similar to the one shown by Gordie, KD9TVR was used for Pico Balloon AA6DY reaching an altitude of over 47,000 feet, and circumnavigating three times around the world in 82 days.

The Film Solar Panel was made for the Antarctica flight and testing winter launches for the lower sun’s elevation reaching an altitude of around 34,000 feet.

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for Pico Balloon KD9UQB with the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit model. Ventusky for wind speed and direction, APRS tracking and Sondehub for tracking all Pico Balloons in flight around the world.

Our next test for KD9UQB is how long the Film solar panels last with the UV coating. While this is an ongoing test, we are working on our next launches for January 2023 from Northern Illinois, stay tuned.

73, Cary KD9ITO

December 23rd 2022, Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade Update

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

We are waiting to hear from our Pico Balloons K9YO and KD9UQB. K9YO was last heard on December 20th over Russia after missing for 5 days. We believe K9YO had traveled north away from sunlight. We’re looking forward to K9YO coming back into the sun and around for the 5th Circumnavigation.

Pico Balloon KD9UQB which was launched on November 24th from Antarctica has circumnavigated twice and is now believed to be circling the South Pole at 5 miles per hour. It may be another week before KD9UQB finds a faster moving wind and direction east.

The NIBBB met last Saturday for our occassional breakfast meeting. Jim, KD9UQB shared the two solar panel packages he built based on the design for the Antarctica launch. During this show and tell, Jim also shared another solar panel design that looks like a 6 panel pyramid or spaceship that would catch more sunlight for the winter months. Jim KD9UQB and John W9BLN will be testing these panels.

We also discussed whether we needed to seal the balloon valve with glue. All the balloons we use have an internal valve that closes once the balloon is at full volume. Full volume occurs when we pre-stretch the balloon or when it reaches its steady high altitude. We have also experienced a loss of Hydrogen from the time the balloon is filled and sealed till it’s launched, usually the next morning. The delay in launching was needed to allow for the glue to dry.

Michael Seedman, AA6DY and Stewart Spies, KB9LM, earlier tested the effectiveness of all glues, and different tapes at -67 degrees Fahrenheit using a Laboratory Oven at MHub in Chicago.

At our meeting, we went on to discuss if a condiment such as mayonnaise or mustard would be as effective as glue.

Listening intently on the science of sealing and the discussion were the Mulley Family, Doug, KD9TPM, Kelsi, KE9LSI, Gordie, KD9TVR, and Kyli. John Walsh, W9BLN, Jim Janiak, KD9UQB, Michael Seedman, AA6DY, Stewart Spies KB9LM, and Cary Willis, KD9ITO.

A future experiment we may be testing through actual flights, and answering the question, Which is better? glue, no glue, mustard/mayonnainse with and without Kapton tape and/or heat sealed.

As we work through these various questions, and test our new trackers we are getting ready to launch our next Pico Balloons early in the new year.

Below are pictured with their Dad Doug Mulley KD9TPM, two of our younger members, Gordie KD9TVR and Kelsi KE9LSI, brother and sister who received their General license together last summer in preparation for this upcoming launch.

  • Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI, Doug Mulley KD9TPM and Gordie Mulley KD9TVR testing the voltage of our new solar panel package
  • Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI and her brother Gordie Mulley KD9TVR with their new General license

We mentioned that one of our followers, Hisami 7L4IOU had wrote an article for CQ Magazine Japan that was published in the November 2022 issue. I asked some friends of mine, Mina and Kyogi Nakano to translate this article.

Below, from Hisami, 7L4IOU

On 9/3, high altitude balloon AA6DY was released in Illinois. By 9/14, it reached Japan and by 10/4 it has circled around Japan for the second time. This Balloon is managed by the group called “Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade” and this was their 24th launch to date.

The balloon is powered by a tiny and ultra light solar panels, GPS, One Chip Microcomputer Si5351A Clock Oscillation IC.

14.0956 MHz WSPR transmitter is attached to a party balloon and it continues to fly while the transmitter is exposed to the sunlight.

Since it is a good “On The Job” skill training for electronic circuit, programming, gas and pressure management, radiowave propagation and upper air charts

the group has gained wide popularity especially among young people.

By the way, the group blog and email conversations often mention the phrase “Yokohama Balloon.”

We were curious so when we asked, the group replied by saying the balloons manufactured by Yokohama Balloon Co. are highly regarded by the balloon enthusiasts.

We are very honored to learn about the Japanese toy makers’ meticulous effort being recognized. At the same time, we are also frustrated and very envious of the American balloon enthusiasts because in order for Japanese people to launch such a project, we must acquire licensing and legal system clearance! Sigh! 

We wish to thank Hisami and all our followers of the NIBBB.

We have since lost Pico Balloon AA6DY, last heard on November 24th 2022, after circling the world three times. Pico Balloon AA6DY had traveled for 82 days, spending most of the flight time around the Pacific Ocean. Reminiscing back in time, below is from our Blog dated October 3rd 2022.

October 3rd 2022, Day 32, 22:32 UTC, East of Yokohama, Japan, North Pacific Ocean

It’s Deja Vu all over again. AA6DY woke at 22:32 UTC, 5:32 pm CDT at Grid QM14MJ just east of Yokohama, Japan over the North Pacific Ocean. Our altitude is 14,420 meters, 47,298 feet.

QM14MJ, east of Yokohama Japan

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made all this possible. Wishing you and your families, Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year.

We will continue to update our Locate and Track page throughout our flights.

73, Cary KD9ITO

September 1st 2022, Artemis and NIBBB, what we have in common

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

As we reported in our last post, we were ready to launch two balloons last Saturday, August 27th. After completing the Board and getting ready for launch, Michael started testing the tracker and discovered it wasn’t working properly. The night before, we discovered our tracker was only transmitting one packet. We need both packets sent two minutes apart to receive the 6 Grid Maidenhead location, altitude and other data. Not having all the data we needed for a successful launch, we decided to scrub the launch until we could find the trouble.

On our last post we had shown our 3rd party manufactured tracker minus a few chips. Because of the chip shortage, it’s necessary for us to add some our own sourced chips. After spending time looking at the software as a possible issue, we suspected the problem to be a hardware issue. One of the substituted chips was the MS5351 Clock Generator. On our previous trackers, we were using the Skyworks Si5351, however, due to supply chain issues, we ordered the MS5351, thinking it was a plug-in replacement for the Skyworks chip. We found that the MS5351’s didn’t always work. After finding a board that failed consistently, we removed the MS5351 and replaced it with an original Skyworks chip, we retested, and we’re now back in business. We now have two working trackers for our next launch. We also ordered the Skyworks Si5351A-B-GT chips from Digikey to make sure our future trackers will work properly.

We also discovered during this down period, that the two Yokohama balloons that were prepared for last Saturday, were found to be leaking a small amount of gas – about 1g of lift per day. We were planning on using these pre-stretched and filled with the proper free lift gas for this Saturday’s launch. I suppose it was pure luck to discover the balloons had a small leak which would have lead to a failed launch, if we hadn’t scrubbed the launch.

After we discovered these failed balloons, Michael AA6DY and Stewart KB9LM of our Technical team had conference calls with Ken Daniel K9YO and with Tom Medlin W5KUB on our different balloons. Ken has been successful flying the SAG balloons and Tom, the Yokohama’s. While Stewart was able to get the process of pre-stretching and sealing from Ken, Tom shared that the failure rate of a Yokohama balloon was about 70%. While we’re not sure if that’s a failure from launch or cutting short the journey, Tom’s flight 112 has just circumnavigated the world and is currently flying on day 82 with a Yokohama balloon over Canada heading to the north pole.

We have several groups working together to prepare for a launch. After the Balloons, Tracker, Solar Panels and Antenna package are prepared, the last step before launch is to look at the weather and the Jetstream. It is now up to our Meteorological committee to determine whether we are good to go, which we now have.

Our Meteorological committee of Kelsi Mulley KE9LSI (our new General) and her Dad Doug Mulley KD9TPM are providing daily weather reports leading up to the launch. NOAA (National Oceanic and Athmospheric Administration) provides all our models from balloon location for all weather and trajectory. NOAA gives us updates on Hurricanes and Cyclones which may impact our launch as well as a Hysplit trajectory, which shows our projection of travel from a given altitude and location. We start with our launch location and projected altitude and create a model showing the projected path over a 48 or 84 hour period. The NOAA Hysplit Trajectory model takes into account the weather, pressure, and Jetstream, and adjusts the altitude and direction. During the flight this committee will update the Hysplit models.

We are now planning our next launch on Saturday September 3rd 2022 at Willow Hill Golf Course, 1350 Willow Rd. in Northbrook, IL. We will be launching two balloons, KD9UQB for Jim Janiak, and AA6DY for Michael Seedman, and now with the Go Ahead from our committee, we will be meeting at 8:30 am Saturday September 3rd.

So, what do we have in common with Artemis? We research, prepare and test, up to and throughout our launch.