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
Till tomorrow, 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.
73, Cary KD9ITO
We had a good travel overnight going from the Northern border of Belarus and Russia, and travelling to the southern part of Belarus waking up near Mazyr, Belarus at Grid KO42na. We’re holding steady at 33,500 feet in altitude.
And first to our contenstants to Guess the Grid Square. We had 3, Jim, KD9UQB with Grid KO44gi, Doug, KD9TPM with Grid KO43lm and Tami, KD9IXB with Grid KD43qw. All three contestants were less than 100 Km from each other. The closest to KO42na was Doug, KD9TPM at 165 Km away.
Congratualtions to Doug as our 2nd winner for the KD9TPM contest. Wendy Berg KD9RDV was the winner yesterday.
As I mentioned we had a good flight overnight now flying over Ukraine.
Below is an image of yesterday’s flight leaving Estonia, traveling over Russia, going to sleep at the Belarus-Russia border as see on the top of the page. We woke up in southern Belarus over Mazyr Belarus and are now over Ukraine.
And now on August 5th at 13:52 UTC we are approaching Moldova at KN48og. We are now 6 days and 32 minutes into our flight
With the Jetstream starting to turn south and east, we should be catching a faster Jetstream traveling east. I’ve update our Jetstream link on Ventusky for today.
For those intersesting in Guessing the Grid Square on Awakening, please go to Links to Locate and Track and follow the instructions on the bottom of the page. Please send me your Grid Square guess by 9:00pm CDT this evening August 5th.
73, Cary, KD9ITO
KD9TPM is now flying at 10,240 meters, just over 33,500 feet for 4 days and 3 hours. We’ve been awake and transmitting for about 13 hours today. We are now just south of Rapla, Estonia at Grid KO28ht asleep at 16:42 UTC, 11:42am CDT traveling due East.
Pico Balloon KD9TPM is receiving 2 packets of data, 2 minutes apart on the 2’s and 4’s of a 10 minute timeslot. It’s the 2nd packet on the 4’s that gets us among other data, our altitude in meters and 6 Grid Maidenhead (MH) Gridsquare. This 6 Grid MH will give us a location in a 3 mile by 5 mile rectangle grid or area of 15 square miles.
To receive our location, we rely on our onboard GPS chip and the Amateur Radio stations around the World that receive our signal. Without a receive signal, we won’t know our location. In some parts of the World we may not receive a signal, which could delay a report for several days.
Keeping that in mind, we’re expecting to wakeup this evening around 10pm CDT, so if your participating in “Guess the Gridsquare”, please get them to me by 6pm CDT August 3rd. For information on finding our location, please go to the tab on our website “Links to Locate and Track”
Till this evening, 73 Cary
We are now at 3 days and 4 hours into our flight and have made it over Rathnavogue, Ireland. Still flying around 33,000 feet and moving in a faster Jetstream. Our wakeup may be delayed. There are 3 countries that don’t allow us to transmit while flying over their country, Can you name them? I’ll report on that tomorrow. Wakeup for our balloon may be around midnight our time. Where will we be? Who Knows… Who doesn’t like Schnitzel? I Love it!
Actually, the Jetstream tomorrow is getting a little trickier. I changed the Ventusky link on our “Links to Locate and Track” tab for tomorrow’s Jetstream at 1:00 am CDT
I’ll just wait till tomorrow morning to report, 73, Cary
We’re now 7 days and 10 hours into our flight for W9BLN. This morning we woke up near Ada, Oklahoma and now at 00:48 UTC June 27th which is 7:48 pm CDT on June 26th, W9BLN is now alseep for night at Grid EM25FS near Muskogee, Oklahoma. We’re leaving Oklahoma soon and heading towards Branson Missouri at close to 40 mph. The Jetstream will be faster the further north we go, though looking at Ventusky we may be heading directly east overnight.
I’ve updated the Ventusky Jetream for tomorrow June 27th at 7:00 am CDT 12:00 UTC which shows the direction we’ll be heading. Please go to Links to Locate and Track at the top right of our website.
Till tomorrow,
73, Cary