KD9TPM was launched on July 30th from Willow Hill Golf Course in Northbrook, Illinois and came alive on July 31st over Canada. We last heard from our balloon on August 10th over the North Pacific Ocean. KD9TPM had flown 10 days and 16 hours and we now declare it Missing In Action.
KD9TPM travel map from July 30th 2022 to August 10th 2022 courtesy of WSPR.Rocks
We are in our planning stages for our next launch and will keep an eye out for KD9TPM
Our Technical Team is working on building our Solar Panel and Antenna packages and look forward to many future launches.
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.
I should start off with the good news so you can keep on reading. We’re still flying!!
We’re now at 10 days and 7 hours of flight, and what a day. We started out this morning over the Atlantic Ocean, about 700 Km due east of Delaware. W9BLN now asleep at Grid GN01AT just south of Nova Scotia.
I’ve been following the balloon most of the day and found a big sudden drop in altitude starting at 2:15 pm. We were dropping 1,000 meters every 10 minutes down to 5100 meters. After texting with Michael and John, we discovered there was a storm in the area. We did eventually pass the storm and have last reported at 6900 meters. It’s still pretty chilly up there, and with a wet and drying balloon, we’ll hopefully be back at our regular altitude tomorrow morning.
I’m guessing we travelled around 500 Km today, slowed down a little by the storm. Below is our track for today.
W9BLN 500 Km South of Glace Bay Nova Scotia. Some may be asking how I know that? there’s map tools in the WSPR Rocks program with a ruler that measures distance from one point to another.
During our last two long balloon flights, we were participating in a Guess the Grid Square contest. Though it was fun to watch how close some of the participants came to the Grid Square on wakening, not many actually participated. To make it easier for everyone to try this out, I added information on how to play the game on our Links to Locate and Track tab on the menu tabs on our website. Several programs have to used to be able to get closest to the Grid Square. Ventusky gives us the speed and direction of the Jetstream at a certain altitude by date and time. WSPR Rocks gives us the tools to measure distance travelled using a ruler from map tools that is opened when you click the balloon. The tools are available in the maps section, and there are instructions how to get there. I use the Grid Mapper program to get an idea the geography of the area, and a variety of weather programs to follow clouds and storms. Guessing where it may wake up, finding out when sunrise is at that area and when the tracker package will have enough sunlight to power it up. Seems easy enough. If you feel more comfortable, you can play as a team,
This is the Ventusky link for tomorrows travels based on where we are now Jetstream near Nova Scotia June 30th 6am The other links you would need are on our Links to Locate and Track.
If you have any questions on the instructions on playing the game, just send me a note.
I expect wake up around 6am, but it may be ealier, or it may be later.
Get your 6 Character Grid Square in to me by 10:00pm this evening to particpate in tomorrows Guess the Grid Square. Either send me an email or click on Contact Us at the top of the website page, make sure you tell me who you are.
