NOAA HYSPLIT Model

November 19th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

I’ve been writing about our plans for future launches. Part of our group met this morning to look at a prototype of our winter solar panel package (think alien spacecraft). We’re looking at something that will face the sun at the lower elevation during the winter months. While we have two balloons currently in flight, in two different hemispheres, we’ll be able to see how our horizontal solar panels handle the different sun elevation.

We may also be bringing another editor into this daily post. I’ll be introducing her after she talks it over with her father, also a member of the NIBBB.

Now to our balloons……

Pico Balloon K9YO, while not receiving steadily, reported on November 19th at 02:20 UTC crossing the International Date Line at Grid AN31TQ and flying at an altitude of 12,720 meters, 41,722 feet.

K9YO at Grid AN31TQ, 41,722

The general direction of K9YO is east and our “Best Guess” using the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory model is South Dakota around November 22nd, 2022.

K9YO “Best Guess” November 22nd 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY has been enjoying the southern hemisphere and our first time over South America. AA6DY woke on November 19th at 11:24 UTC at Grid FH96CD, north central Bolivia, flying at an altitude of 14,480 meters, 47,495 feet.

AA6DY Grid FH96CD, altitude

Our “Best Guess” for Pico Balloon AA6DY is over the South Atlantic Ocean between South America and Africa around November 23rd, 2022.

AA6DY “Best Guess” for November 23rd 2022

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for both balloons with the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit models, Ventusky for wind speed and direction, APRS and Sondehub for tracking other Amateur Radio Pico Balloons around the world.

We’re expecting the Pico Balloon K9YO will be making its 3rd circumnavigation around the world in around 5 days.

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 18th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

Yes indeed, the skies are full of Pico Balloons and its not much that there are many balloons, but there are many balloons sharing the same programming code. So on our part we do a little extra work, look for more 1st packets which show our callsigns and deduce the rest.

K9YO has been seeing few reports, and did receive a 1st and 2nd packet in the same Grid Square on Novmber 18th at 03:10 UTC, at Grid QM27QX just past Japan. We were last heard over Mongolia, so this was a nice leg of the flight. K9YO is flying at an altitude of 12,780 meters, 41,918 feet. and heading northeast.

K9YO was lauched on October 10th 2022 from Libertyville, Illinois, and now on the 3rd lap around the world.

K9YO at Grid QM27QX, 41,918 feet

Our “Best Guess” for K9YO from the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Model on November 21st 2022

Best Guess For Novmber 21st 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY has been enjoying the part of the world with more sunlight, over South America. After traveling the West Coast of South America traveling down Peru, to Chile then starting to head east. AA6DY woke on November 18th 2022 at 12:34 UTC at Grid FH61RE, Challapata, Bolivia, South America flying at an altitude of 14,540 meters, 47,691 feet.

AA6DY at Grid FH61RE, Challapta, Bolivia, 47,691 feet

We are greatful for our followers around the world who look at our posts and then help us track our balloons. without them we’d be lost. We’d also like to welcome our newest follower, Pablo, LU7MT from Argentina who has been tracking other Pico Balloons for a while. While we have picked up Pablo recently, I should also note that we have picked up more reporting stations from Japan. I like to send an email to new stations, telling them about our project and invite them to become a follower. Visiting their QRZ page did not show an email address.

For anyone visiting our site and wishing to receive posts when published, we invite you to go to our website and click on “Contact Us” or click here Contact Us send me your email, name and location and ask to be a follower. Anyone visiting our website can scroll on the page and click on add WordPress to become a follower of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade. You would also create a username and password for this account.

You don’t need to have a license in Amateur Radio to be a follower, just having an interest in Pico Ballooning, wanting to learn about our project, or the science behind it, we’d love to have you.

Followers of the NIBBB can post comments and ask questions.

Our “Best Guess” for AA6DY from the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Model on November 22nd 2022

Best Guess for AA6DY on November 22nd 2022

Traveling over South America, has been a first for us. We still have 4 more days to enjoy this part of the trip.

Please visit our Locate and Track page for more information, viewing the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory, Ventusky wind speed and direction for both balloons. Sondehub and APRS may be delayed waiting for more data.

We wish to thank everyone for being a part of our hobby. 73, Cary KD9ITO

November 17th, 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

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Pico Balloon K9YO woke at 03:30 UTC at Grid ON23SC, Mongolia, flying at an altitude of 12,780 meters, 41,918 feet. Well, I’m hoping that’s K9YO. The skies have been pretty busy lately with Pico Balloons.

K9YO reported yesterday on November 16th at Grid MM58WP, Tajikistan. So, it’s logical to think that today’s report at Grid ON23SC over Mongolia would be ours. This is where it get’s a little confusing.

  • We’re in an area with few reporting stations
  • K9YO is sending the 1st packet on the 8’s which we know is ours with callsign K9YO
  • K9YO is sending the 2nd packet on the 0’s on Channel “O7” which can be any other balloon on the 0’s on the same channel.
  • I’m tracking two other balloons on the 0’s in different parts of the world
  • We only received one 2nd packet today on the 0’s and now K9YO is asleep

The other Grid Squares on the packets received on the 0’s were FF12SR just west of Argentina and LR21CJ over the Arctic Ocean, east of Greenland.

The other reasons to believe that this is our Grid Square, is that it was received 30 minutes earlier than yesterdays report and, the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Model also showed us traveling in this direction.

K9YO at Grid ON23SC, Mongolia, 41,918 feet

Our “Best Guess” for Pico Balloon K9YO on November 20th 2022

“Best Guess” K9YO on November 20th 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY woke up a little south of the report yesterday, at 11:42 UTC at Grid FH42LL southern Peru, South America. Our NOAA Hysplit Model from yesterday showed that we would move south before heading northeast. AA6DY is flying at an altitude of 14,420 meters, 47,298 feet.

AA6DY receives the 2nd packet on channel Q7 on the 4’s. Today we have only been receiving 1st packets on the 2’s which show our callsign in the packet received. For more information on how our trackers receive our packets please visit our Technical Page

It’s a little easier to track AA6DY, with most of the 2nd packets received today on Channel Q7 have been on the 2’s, clearly not ours. The other tracker we were receiving on the 4’s was a test tracker preparing for a launch from Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego California. We’d like to welcome Randy KQ6RS from San Diego as a new follower of the NIBBB and wish Mt. Carmel H.S. the best of luck with their balloon launch.

Pico Balloon AA6DY has been receiving spots over the last two days from one Amateur Radio station CE3QC in Chile, we’d like to thank Oscar for finding our balloon.

AA6DY at Grid FH42LL, Southern Peru, South America, 47,298 feet

Our “Best Guess” for Pico Balloon AA6DY on November 21st 2022

“Best Guess” AA6DY on November 21st 2022

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for Ventusky for wind speed and direction, 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Model. Sondehub and APRS will be updated when new data is received. To track our balloons on APRS add -15 after the callsign for APRS to recognize us as a balloon, AA6DY-15 and K9YO-15 or use use the link on our locate and track page for each balloon which will take you directly to that balloons last map location.

The NIBBB Design Team headed by Jim Janiak, KD9UQB is working on a prototype of a new solar panel package with an angular design for our winter launches.

Till tomorrow, 73, Cary KD9ITO

November 16th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

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Pico Balloon K9YO woke at 04:00 UTC at Grid MM58WP, Tajikistan, flying at an altitude of 12,660 meters, 41,525 feet. The general direction is east. Pico Balloon K9YO has been flying for 36 days and 10 hours as of November 16th and on the 3rd lap around the world.

K9YO at Grid MM58WP, 41,525 feet

Our “Best Guess” for K9YO on November 19th 2022, just south of Alaska

K9YO “Best Guess” November 19th 2022
Sondehub Float for K9YO as of November 16th 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY woke at 14:54 UTC at Grid FH24EH South of Peru, South America, flying at an altitude of 14,480 meters, 47,494 feet. The general direction is northeast. Pico Balloon AA6DY has been flying for 74 days and 1 hour as of November 16th 2022.

Our “Best Guess” for Pico Balloon AA6DY on November 20th

“Best Guess” for AA6DY on November 20th 2022

Sondehub Float for AA6DY as of Novmber 16th 2022

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for both our balloons for 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Trajectory, Ventusky for wind speed and direction, APRS, and Sondehub for tracking all Pico Balloons around the world.

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 15th 2022, K9YO Reports over the Black Sea, Georgia and AA6DY completes the Third Circumnavigation around the World.

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

Pico Balloon K9YO woke at 07:30 UTC at Grid LN02HT over the Black Sea near Georgia, flying at an altitude of 12,960 meters, 42,509 feet. Pico Balloon K9YO is flying in a quiet area of the world receiving only one, 2nd packet this reporting period.

K9YO at Grid LN02HT, 42,509 feet

Our “Best Guess” is that K9YO will be near the International Date Line on November 18th 2022. K9YO was near Norway just a few days ago, and is on a fast track working on the 3rd Circumnavigation around the World.

K9YO “Best Guess for November 18th 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY Launched on September 3rd 2022, Completes the Third Circumnavigation around the World on November 15th 2022 at 19:32 UTC, Grid EI93 after 73 days and 8 hours of Flight

Pico Balloon AA6DY was launched from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, IL (Longitude -87.80) on September 3rd 2022. Now after 73 days and 8 hours of flight, AA6DY has Circumnavigated the World, Three Times, Flying to Grid EI93 Northwest of Chicyalo, Peru, South America (Longitude -81.04) Pico Balloon AA6DY is flying at an altitude of 14,300 meters, 46,904 feet.

AA6DY at Grid EI93, 46,904 feet

Our “Best Guess” is that AA6DY will continue east towards Brazil on November 19th 2022

AA6DY “Best Guess” on Novemebr 19th 2022

Congratulations to the NIBBB Team for all their hard work on making all of this possible. Please click on our Locate and Track page for updated information on these Pico Balloons.

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 14th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

Pico Balloon K9YO woke at 08:50 UTC at Grid KO22QC, at the Belarus/Ukraine border, flying at an altitude of 13,300 meters, 43,624 feet.

K9YO at Grid KO22QC, 43,624 feet

Our “Best Guess” is that K9YO will be over western China around November 18th 2022

K9YO “Best Guess” Novemebr 18th 2022

Not too long ago, K9YO was near Norway. We’re looking forward to the 3rd Circumnavigation and hopefully fast flight across the North Pacific Ocean.

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for the 84 NOAA Hysplit Trajectory model, Ventusky for wind speed and direction, APRS and Sondehub for K9YO Float and for tracking other Pico Balloons around the world.

Pico Balloon AA6DY had a little quieter flight. We received one 1st packet at 22:32 UTC, at Grid EI26 just west of Ecuador, South America at an altitude of 14,300 meters, 46,904 feet.

AA6DY at Grid EI26, 14,300 meters, 46,904 feet

Our “Best Guess” has AA6DY traveling up the Coast of Mexico to just southwest of Guadalajara, Mexico around November 18th 2022.

AA6DY “Best Guess” November 18th 2022

We hope to receive some additional spots for AA6DY tomorrow to verify our “Best Guess” direction. Looking for AA6DY to start heading east around November 18th for our 3rd Circumnavigation around the world.

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 13th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / 1 Comment

We have both balloons reporting early today.

Pico Balloon K9YO was first to report at 11:30 UTC at Grid IO93PP, near Manchester, England. K9YO is flying at an altitude of 13,180 meters, 43,230 feet. K9YO transmitted for 30 minutes today from 11:30 UTC to 12:00 UTC going to sleep near Kelleythorpe, England Grid IO93TX

K9YO at Grid IO93PP, Manchester, England, 43,230 feet

We’re going to pose this question to the larger group.

There are 3 countries in the world that do not allow radio transmissions when flying over. Yemen, North Korea and …… the U.K. But here we are, waking up over Manchester, England. What’s the line between the U.K. and England. Where are transmissions allowed and not allowed. Please post your comments, and we’ll share tomorrow.

Yesterday we were predicting that K9YO would wake near the Caspian Sea on November 16th. Now we’re predicting as our “Best Guess” that K9YO will be over western China by November 17th.

K9YO “Best Guess” November 17th 2022

We’re still having some fun playing with the Sondehub Projected Float, here is Pico Balloon K9YO from November 13th. Our last Sondehub projection had K9YO going north or south depending on the altitude, now it looks like the general direction will be eastward.

K9YO Sondehub Projected Float from November 13th 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY woke at 16:22 UTC with the 6 Grid Maidehead at 17:04 UTC at Grid CJ40AK, near the North and South Pacific Oceans east of the International Date Line. AA6DY is flying at an altitude of 14,420 meters, 47,298 feet.

AA6DY at Grid CJ40AK, East of the International Date Line, altitude 47,298 feet

Pico Balloon AA6DY has continued to make progress going eastward with our “Best Guess” that AA6DY will be near the Country of Peru, South America on November 17th 2022. We’re getting closer to the 3rd Circumnavigation around the world.

AA6DY “Best Guess” November 17th 2022

Below is the Sondehub Projected Float from November 13th 2022.

AA6DY, Sondehub Projected Float from November 13th 2022

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for the 84 hour NOAA Hyplit projection, Ventusky for wind speed and direction. Both our Pico Balloons AA6DY and K9YO are working on the 3rd lap around the world.

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 12th and 13th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

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Pico Balloon K9YO woke on November 12th at 09:20 UTC at Grid JN83LC, near Bilbao, Spain, flying at an altitude of 13,060 meters, 42,837 feet

K9YO, at Grid JN83LC near Bilbao, Spain, altitude 42,837 feet

Pico Balloon K9YO is no stranger to this area having visited last on November 9th about 4 days ago, just a little further south of Bilbao. We had reported that we expected K9YO to travel back west and then north towards Norway. We still expect that to happen and then turn southeast towards the Caspian Sea by November 16th. Click on Locate and Track link for for the 84 hour NOAA Hysplit Model Trajectory projections for both our balloons.

Below is our “Best Guess” of K9YO on November 16th.

K9YO “Best Guess” on November 16th 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY woke on November 13th at 01:32 UTC at Grid BJ41KI, east of Kiribati in the Country of Oceania, flying at an altitude of 14,480 meters, 47,494 feet.

AA6DY received reports from two stations, KFS in California and KA7OEI in Utah, we’d like to thank them for finding our balloon before AA6DY went to sleep. We had received both 2 packet reports over a 10 minute period before going to sleep. Receiveing both packets gave us a 6 Grid Maidenhead and accurate altitude. For more information on how our balloons receive information, and pictures of our launch, please go to our Technicial Page

AA6DY at Grid BJ41KI, east of Kiribati in the Country of Oceania, altitude 47,494 feet

Based on our previous NOAA Hysplit and Sondehub Float models, we were predicting Pico Balloon AA6DY was heading east towards South America. Below is our “Best Guesss” on November 16th 2022

AA6DY “Best Guess” on November 16th 2022

Pico Balloon AA6DY was launched from Willow Hill Golf Course, Northbrook, IL on September 3rd 2022. We’ll be watching AA6DY as we approach our 3rd Circumnavigation around the world in the coming days.

Our Locate and Track page has been updated for K9YO, for NOAA Hysplit, APRS and Ventusky for wind speed and direction. AA6DY has been updated for the NOAA Hysplit Model. The Sondehub Float models from November 11th are still shown on our Locate and Track page.

Till Tomorrow, 73, Cary KD9ITO

November 11th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

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AA6DY finally reported with both packets and a 6 Grid Maidenhead. With all this new information, I’ll be able to share some of the very cool features we use to track our balloons.

First to report today was Pico Balloon K9YO at 09:00 UTC at Grid JM09WG just west of Palma Spain. K9YO had changed directions from our last report, heading back west but increasing the altitude to 13,060 meters, 42,837 feet. We had predicted yesterday that K9YO would head north to Norway. It loolks like it will head that way, and then turn back south to the Ukraine/Russia border.

Below is the Grid Map where K9YO woke.

K9YO at Grid JM09WG, 09:00 UTC, 42,837 feet

We use the NOAA Hysplit Model to determine the projected trajectory once we know the location and altitude. Sondehub is the program we use to track other Pico Balloons around the world. Sondehub also has an interesting feature called “Float” and this only works when the correct altitude is showing on their site. In the past we had some difficulty updating our 1st and 2nd packets. Today, we were able to get the Sondehub Float to work for us.

Below is the Projected direction of our Pico Balloon K9YO based on different altitudes. K9YO reported yesterday at an altitude of 12,960 meters, and today at 13,060 meters. Each color bubble represents a different altitude. Under 12,450 meters the balloon will stay south then head east, over 12,450 meters, K9YO will be taking the northerly route then going back southeast.

NOAA can accurately project our path because we enter the data. Sondehub takes all the possible variables and gives us the map of the Projected Float below. You can see our balloon K9YO-15 starting near Spain.

Sondehub Projected Float for K9YO at different altitudes

After spending many days around the North Pacific Ocean and the Marshall Islands, it looks like Pico Balloon AA6DY may be finding a new direction.

Pico Balloon AA6DY woke at 19:42 UTC at Grid AJ16NR, east of the Marshall Islands, flying at an altitude of 14,520 meters, 47,691 feet. Our “Best Guess” is that AA6DY general heading will be east towards South America.

AA6DY at Grid AJ16NR, 19:42 UTC, altitude 47,691 feet

Below is the Projected Float from Sondehub showing AA6DY-15 general direction using altitudes between 13,240 meters and 15,240 meters within the range of our current altitude 14,540 meters.

Sondehub Projected Float for AA6DY at different altitudes

The above images as well as the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory, Ventusky, APRS, Sondehub and the maps of our “Best Guess” wakeup on November 15th are available on our Locate and Track page. Clicking the highlighted link will bring you directly to that page. If you click on Sondehub at the top of our Locate and Track Page, you can use the search box by entering aa6dy or k9yo or any other balloon that’s flying. Our APRS link for each balloon will show the current location on APRS.fi and a 3 day path.

Pico Balloons AA6DY launched on September 3rd 2022 and K9YO launched on October 10th 2022 have circumnavigated the world twice and are on the 3rd lap.

73, Cary KD9ITO

November 10th and 11th, AA6DY and K9YO

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

Great News! both our balloons had reported

K9YO woke at 08:20 UTC at Grid JM29TK between Palma Spain and Cagliari Italy. Pico Balloon K9YO is flying at an altitude of 12,960 meters, 42,509 feet. Our “Best Guess” shows K9YO heading north towards Norway in 84 hours. Of course, weather and Jetstreams do change and we will update this information tomorrow. K9YO and AA6DY tracking information can be found on our Locate and Track page.

K9YO at Grid JM29TK, 42,509 feet

Pico Balloon AA6DY has been running silent since November 8th and finally received a report from station KFS from the San Francisco, California area, 4462 miles away from our balloon. KFS is a Maritime Receiving Station.

Pico Balloon AA6DY woke November 11th at 02:12 UTC at Grid RK51, Northeast of the Marshall Islands. AA6DY is flying at an altitude of 14,300 meters, 46,904 feet. Our “Best Guess” is that AA6DY will be traveling east, Northwest of Kiribati, in the Country of Oceania.

AA6DY at Grid RK51, 46,904 feet

Our Locate and Track page shows our “Best Guess” maps for both our balloons.

73, Cary KD9ITO