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

November 15, 2022November 16, 2022 / 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.

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.

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.

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 13th 2022, AA6DY and K9YO

November 13, 2022November 14, 2022 / 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.

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.

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

November 12, 2022November 13, 2022 / kd9ito / Leave a comment

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.

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

October 24th 2022, AA6DY, Second Circumnavigation around the World

October 24, 2022October 25, 2022 / kd9ito / 1 Comment

Pico Balloon AA6DY was launched on September 3rd 2022 from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, Illinois. AA6DY made its first Circumnavigation around the World on September 24th 2022 after 21 days and 7 hours of flight. Now after 51 days and 7 hours of flight, AA6DY has Circumnavigated the World the second time, going to sleep over Grid EM52 near the Alabama border at 21:22 UTC.

AA6DY woke at 14:52 UTC at Grid EL11ic just north of Austin, Texas, at an altitude of 14,300 meters, 46,904 feet.

AA6DY woke at 14:52 UTC, Grid EL11ic, north of Austin, Texas, altitude 46,904 feet

Our NOAA “Best Guess” shows AA6DY heading east of Puerto Rico on October 28th 2022. Our Locate and Track page has been updated for 84 hour NOAA Trajectory model, Ventusky and Sondehub.

K9YO woke at 11:48 UTC at Grid HO35PN between Greenland and Iceland, flying at an altitude at 12,180 meters, 39,950 feet. Our NOAA “Best Guess” shows that K9YO will be near France on October 28th. The Locate and Track page has been updated for the 84 hour NOAA Trajectory model, Ventusky, and Sondehub. K9YO is on the 2nd lap around the world.

K9YO at Grid HO35PN between Greenland and Iceland at an altitude of 39,950 feet

K9YO after 13 days and 22 hours is on the 2nd lap around the world and AA6DY after 51 days and 7 hours is on the 3rd lap around the world. 73, Cary KD9ITO

September 28th 2022, Day 26, Lap 2, North Altlantic Ocean,

September 28, 2022September 29, 2022 / kd9ito / 1 Comment

AA6DY woke at 9:22 UTC, 4:22 am CDT at Grid HM71om over the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Marrakesh, Morocco. Our wake altitude was 14,120 meters or 46,300 feet. Our general direction is northeast, then east towards Morocco.

Below are three images, 1) Grid Map of our location on wakeup, 2) NOAA Hyslit Trajectory model by altitude and time for 48 hours and 3) Amateur.Sondehub our current location and projected direction with a wide variety of possible altitudes, through October 1st. The orange color is our altitude

Septeber 28th 2022 at Grid HM71OM, at 46,300 feet altitude heading east

NOAA Hysplit Model September 28th through September 30th, 48 hours

From Amateur.Sondehub, our projected path by altitude through October 1st 2022

By the time of this writing we have a new reading at 12:22 UTC, Grid HM82RT at 14,180 meters, 46,500 feet in altitude. We expect minor changes in altitude throught the day.

The Links to Locate and Track tab have been updated for today showing Ventusky Jetstream, NOAA Hysplit, APRS.fi and Sondehub and will be updated throughout the day.

September 27th, Day 25, lap 2, North Altlantic Ocean

September 27, 2022September 28, 2022 / kd9ito / Leave a comment

AA6DY woke at 10:42 UTC, 5:42 am CDT in the same general area where we went to sleep at Grid HM02BO. Our altitude is 14,000 meters or 45,920 feet. Our general direction will be southeast then east towards Casablanca, Morocco. We were in a lull yesterday, but will be picking up some speed today and tomorrow.

A feature of Sondehub is to track the projected path by altitude called Float. Going to our Links to Locate and Track tab, clicking on tracking Pico Balloons around the World, on the left side click our balloon AA6DY-15, then the float tab. The different colors represent different altitudes and are still pointing to the general direction of Morocco. In Sondehub you can search for a specific balloon, upper left hand corner in the search box type AA6DY-15.

Our Links to Locate and Track tab has been updated for Ventusky Jetstream, NOAA Trajectory, Sondehub and APRS.fi I’ll update this link throughout the day.

September 24th, Around the World in 22 Days

September 24, 2022September 25, 2022 / kd9ito / Leave a comment

We have made our first Circumnavigation after 21 Days, 7 hours and 32 minutes. AA6DY at Grid EM67KM at 21:12 UTC, 4:12 pm CDT just southeast of Evansville, Indiana.

We launched AA6DY from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, IL on September 3rd 2022.

As we begin our 2nd lap, we would like to thank all those that have made this possible.

Grid EM67KM Southeast of Evansville, Indiana

AA6DY First Circumnavigation from Northbrook, IL September 3rd 2022 to Evansville Indiana September 24th 2022

Locate and Track have been updated with Jestream, our location and other Pico Balloons around the World.

September 24th, 22nd Day of Flight

September 24, 2022September 24, 2022 / kd9ito / Leave a comment

Good morning all. AA6DY woke at Grid EM18 at 14:52 UTC, 9:52 am CDT Between Withita and Topeka Kansas. It took us some time to receive our 2nd packet. At 15:44 UTC we received Grid, EM28FI and a 48 hour projection from NOAA for direction. Our current altitude is 14,160 meters, 46,400 feet. Let’s start celebrating our 1st circumnavigation over Southern Illinois around 2:30 p.m today

September 23rd, 21st Day, Near Willits, California and another milestone.

September 23, 2022September 23, 2022 / kd9ito / 2 Comments

AA6DY woke at Grid CM89IL at 16:02 UTC, 11:02 am CDT. Our altitude is 13,900 meters or about 45,600 feet. A little about Willits, is about 20 miles north, northwest of Ukiah at an elevation of 1391 feet.

Though I don’t expect to be here long, as we’re traveling in a Jetstream of about 60 mph. For those sticking around, there will be a North Coast Comedy’s Fall Comedy Series at the Coyote Valley Casino at 7:30 p.m. local time.

While we’re enjoying the flight of AA6DY, having broken our record of our longest flight in duration, altitude and distance and still flying, we’d like to wish Roberta Seedman a Happy Birthday.

From the NOAA Hysplit 48 hour Trajectory below shows us moving quickly across the United States. The model shows a sudden drop in altitude and rising higher then when we started.

All we can say is a balloon is gonna do what a balloon is gonna do, and we’re happy to enjoy the ride.

Our Links to Locate and Track tab has been updated for Ventusky Jestream, NOAA Hysplit, Sondehub World Wide Balloon Tracking and APRS tracking for AA6DY.

For this 24th Flight and for all our future launches, we’d like to thank all those that have made us what we are today, as we prepare to circumnavigate our first Pico Balloon. What better place to be as we fly our Co-Founder’s balloon, Michael Seedman, AA6DY.

We offer special thanks to our friends and mentors, especially, Tom Medlin, W5KUB and Ken Daniel K9YO and the group we follow Pico Balloon.io and a very special thanks to Kari and Kent Knebelkamp of the Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, IL who have given us a wonderful launch location high on a hill.

Look for part 2 of today’s flight where we go to sleep

73, Cary, KD9ITO

September 22nd, 20th Day, Nearing California

September 22, 2022September 23, 2022 / kd9ito / Leave a comment

AA6DY woke at Grid CM10HH at 16:52 UTC, 11:52 am CDT at 13,960 meters, 45,788 feet in altitude. Our first packet received at 16:52 UTC showed a 43 dBm power giving us 12,900 meters in altitude. Our 2nd packet received at 17:04 UTC showed 53 dBm power giving us an additional 1,060 meters for just under 46,000 feet.

Our general direction is now northeast towards California.

Below are three images, 1) from QRZ Gridmapper, showing our location CM10HH at 16:52 UTC, 2) the NOAA Hysplit Trajectory model over 48 hours and 3) is from our new site listed on on Links to Locate and Track tab from Sondehub for Amateur Radio showing our projected float path and the other balloons around our location. Sondehub for Amateur Radio shows all the current Pico Balloons that we track.

If you happen to negotiate around our website, please visit Links to Locate and Track All the external links will open a new tab making it easier to come back to our site.

NOAA Hysplit for 48 hours, September 22nd through September 24th 2022

Sondehub for Amateur Radio Projected Float Path

Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade

We Build and Launch Pico Balloons

Willow Hill Golf Course