W5KUB-112

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

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

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

For those that have been following from our launch on September 3rd 2022, we are flying a Yokohama 32″ sphere balloon that had been pre stretched to an almost 100 inch circumference, by our team member Stewart Spies KB9LM. It also took a special consultation from one of our newer members, Ken Daniel K9YO who has been very successful in long haul flights.

So here we are again, near Yokohama, Japan flying a Yokohama Balloon.

One of the members of our Pico Balloon Community, Tom Medlin, W5KUB is also flying a Yokohama balloon, currently flying 114 days, you can follow Tom’s flight here W5KUB-112

We’re in a Jetstream that’s going to loop up around, I hope we can get back to an easterly direction. Below is the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory model for the next 48 hours.

It’ll take a little while to update APRS and Sondehub, the Ventusky Jetstream has been updated on our website Locate and Track

Till tomorrow, 73, Cary KD9ITO

September 30th, 2022, Day 28, Near Catania Italy, Over the Ionian Sea. Near Italy, Greece, and Albania

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

AA6DY woke at Grid JM87ck at 7:02 UTC, 2:02 am CDT, at 13,960 meters, 45,800 feet. The General direction is Northeast, then East. We’re traveling in a Jetstream traveling around 80 miles an hour.

NOAA Hysplit Model October 1st through October 2nd Traveling over the Caspian Sea late October 1st.

Still early to tell, but I see us heading towards Uzbekistan in 48 hours.

The Links to Locate and Track have been updated, if you wish to follow our balloon or other Pico Balloons around the world, Jetstream, Sondehub, NOAA.

Take notes, pretty soon we’ll be taking bets, when we’ll be returning back our way.

We’d like to congratulate Tom Medlin who’s flying W5KUB-112 after 110 days in flight went to sleet over Ninivak Island over the Bering Sea. W5KUB launched on June 11th is now 110 days of flight and still flying. You can follow Tom’s flight at W5KUB-112

June 21st 2022, 3rd Day and miles apart

/ Cary Willis, KD9ITO / Leave a comment

We launched two balloons, W9BLN and KB9LM on June 19th, different trackers, same balloons and solar panel arrays and just around 30 minutes apart from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, IL. We initially had some issues finding KB9LM but that tracker came alive the morning of June 20th.

For those that have been following, this has been a slow travel. Starting in Northbrook, IL a northern suburb of Chicago. Both balloons took a southerly track, and then diverged.

We track our balloons using a receive and send signal with a GPS chip and signal packets sent on two timeslots within a 10 minute slot. From these two packets we are able to receive a Maidenhead gridsquare. The two time slots 2 minutes apart gets us a 6 point gridsquare of 2 letters, 2 numbers and 2 letters which will show the balloon in a 3 mile by 5 mile rectangle on a map. If we only receive one packet we will only receive a 4 point gridsquare of 2 letters and 2 numbers which show the balloon in a 70 mile by 100 mile rectangle on a map. So we can be as accurate as 15 square miles or 7,000 square miles.

We’ve been tracking these balloons using different programs, WSPR.Rocks, QRP-Labs/U4B, and Ventusky for wind speed and wind direction. These programs together gives us different pieces of the puzzle. These links are available on our website under “Links to Track and Locate”.

W9BLN is flying the QRP-Labs U4B tracker. From that program we see the last information received was at 23:38 UTC which is 6:38pm CDT at gridsquare EM55rb. This is just north of the Mississippi border into Tennessee near where Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee come together. W9BLN is just east of Collierville, TN the home of W5KUB, Tom Medlin who is currently flying W5KUB-112, Hey Tom.

For the KB9LM tracker we are currently receiving one packet in a 10 minute timeslot for a 4 point Maidenhead. So we’re giving a general area of the KB9LM balloon. The last received signal was at 22:02 UTC or 5:02 p.m. in the general area of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The map below is from wspr.rocks That specific point just east of Baton Rouge is in the middle of gridsquare EM40

So, we have 2 balloons, launched at close to the same time, one hovering over southern Tennessee and the other in the general area of Baton Rouge, Louisisana.

As far as we can tell, W9BLN is flying at an altitude of 9,000 meters, pretty steady from the beginning of the launch. KB9LM is somewhere close to 8400 meters, best guess.

You can follow both these balloons at wspr.rocks. Under TX call put in the callsign, list 500 spots and the last 24 hours, click on table to see the Amateur Radio operators that have heard the balloon and the distance their station is to the balloon. If you click on map, you’ll get the location or general location of our balloons. I’ve added another link from habhub which shows all the balloons flying from around the world registed on APRS. Click there and track, W5KUB-112, us and all the others, please enjoy.

Until tomorrow, 73, Cary KD9ITO