Author Archives: andy

PS-48 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-48 was released at 7:30am 8/8/2015 AEST

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
TX WSPR, JT9 on 30m and 20m

Dial frequency 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequencies) for WSPR, JT9.
JT9 will be at 1800Hz offset.

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-48 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3YT http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3yt

Update:

Communication from PS-48 stopped after the first night, until it appeared briefly again in South America a week later, and hasn’t been heard from since.

NewImageNewImage

PS-46 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-46 was released at 7am 23/5/2015 AEST

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
TX WSPR, JT9 on 30m and 20m

Dial frequency 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequencies) for WSPR, JT9.
JT9 will be at 1800Hz offset.

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-46 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3YT http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3yt

Update #1 11pm 24/5/2015

PS-46 is just crossing the international dateline.

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #2 6pm 1/6/2015 AEST
PS-46 made it to inland South Africa

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #3 6pm 3/6/2015 AEST

PS-46 is on the way home. Expected time to cross the starting longitude of 144.894 degree East is around tomorrow afternoon AEST (06:00 4/6/2015 UTC)

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #4 9pm 5/6/2015 AEST

PS-46 completed its circumnavigation at 11am 4/6/2015 AEST, and has been heading East towards South America. It crossed the International Dateline late today.

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Thanks to the following stations for assistance with tracking on WSPR and JT9:

JQ2WDO K1BZ KI7CI LLU5VV LU1KCQ LU3VA LU4EME LU5VV N2NOM N2NXZ ND6P NH7SR OZ1RDP OZ7IT VA7MM VK1KW VK2AAF VK2AJF VK2DDI VK2DX VK2EFM VK2FAK VK2GOM VK2JIW VK2LX VK2NP VK2PR VK2QQ VK2XTC VK3DXE VK3KCX VK3PD VK4ACN VK4ADC VK4FLR VK4MIL VK4QG VK4RV VK4ZBV VK5CV VK5EI VK5MR VK5PP VK5RM VK5ZRL VK6MT VK6NI VK6XT VK7BO VK7TW VK8KMD W0AY W9HLY ZL1BOE ZL1RS ZL1SIX ZL2AHB ZL3DMH ZL3LSD ZS4TX ZS5J ZS6BMN ZS6BTY ZS6GC ZS6KN ZS6VOL

And many others for trying!

Update #5 9am 13/6/2015 AEST

PS-46 has been pushing East at various paces. It got to South America the second time on 9/6/2015, and is currently over the South Atlantic Ocean, just before South Africa.
Total distance travelled so far is 58,270 kms (36,207 miles).

NewImage

Prediction:
NewImage

Update #6 12am 17/6/2015 AEST

PS-46 has been doing loops at extremely slow pace in the last few days.

NewImage

Prediction shows a leisurely tour of Africa in the next few days:
NewImage

Update #7 6pm 21/6/2015 AEST

It’s been a slow few days, with PS-46 sitting in pocket of low wind most of the time, going up and down the East coast of Africa.

Finally it made an Easterly turn today, starting the trip home.

The flight time now is over four weeks, covering over 65,900km.

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #8 9am 28/6/2015 AEST

A week later and PS-46 is still over the Indian Ocean. It was within 660km off Jakarta before turning West on a loop back to Africa.
Total distance : 73,615km, flight time: 5 week 1 day.

NewImage

Prediction over Indian Ocean has not been very accurate
NewImage

Update #9 10pm 29/6/2015 AEST

PS-46 is heading east again, after completing an interesting drawing over Indian Ocean 🙂

NewImage

Update #10 9pm 30/6/2015 AEST

Finally, PS-46 is over Australia land again

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #11 9pm 1/7/2015

At last, PS-46 will make its second pass over the starting longitude of 144.894 tomorrow, between 00:00 UTC and 05:00 UTC.

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #12 6pm 4/7/2015

The prediction didn’t anticipate a last minute loop that took PS-46 2 days to complete. It finally crossed the starting longitude just before 12:30pm AEST today.

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Thanks again to everyone that helped with tracking!

Update #13 6pm 18/7/2015 AEST

Wow time flies, it has been two weeks since the last update.

Since crossing the line, PS-46 spent the last two weeks passing Chile, Peru, Bovilia, Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and just about to head home when it went down at a weather front over the Indian Ocean this morning, marking the end of the flight.

PastedGraphic 3

Our sincere thanks to everyone that helped with tracking, including new trackers, veterans, and
those that tried but did not show up on the map.

JT9 RX
AK4AT CA3MRD E50W K4COD K5XL KN8DMK LU1KCQ LU4EME LU5VV OA4AI SA6BSS VK1KW VK2DDI VK2DX VK2EIK VK2FAK VK2GOM VK2PR VK2QQ VK2XGJ VK3ATQ VK3DNH VK3DXE VK3KCX VK4ADC VK4JAM VK4RV VK5EI VK5KDK VK5PP VK5RM VK5ZK VK5ZRL VK6JI VK6MT VK6NI VK6XT VK6YS VK7TW VK7XX W3BH W4HBK WA5DJJ ZL1RS ZL2AHB ZL3LSD ZS4TX ZS5J ZS5LT ZS6BMN ZS6BTY ZS6EHG ZS6GC ZS6KN ZS6V

WSPR RX
3B8CW 9H3KC AE2EA AK4AT DJ5JD DK6UG E50W FR1GZ JH1GYE JH3APN JQ2WDO K1BZ K3XR K4COD K4EH K5XL K9AN KC4GO KD6EKQ KD6RF KI7CI KK1D KK4MBI KK4PP KL7L KN8DMK KU4PY LA3JJ LA3JJ/J LA9JO LLU5VV LU1KCQ LU3VA LU4EME LU5VV M0CCW N2NOM N4AU N9CIF ND6P NH7SR NN6RF NQ6Y OA4AI OH6GKW ON7KO OZ1RDP OZ7IT PI4THT SM0EPX VA3ROM VA7MM VE3LJT VK1AA/2 VK1KW VK2AAF VK2AJF VK2BMU VK2DDI VK2DX VK2EFM VK2FAK VK2GOM VK2JIW VK2KDK VK2LX VK2NP VK2PR VK2QQ VK2XGJ VK2XTC VK3AGD VK3ATQ VK3CVF VK3DXE VK3FZ VK3KCX VK3PD VK4ACN VK4ADC VK4FLR VK4MIL VK4NE VK4QG VK4TMH VK4XJB VK4ZBV VK5CV VK5EI VK5KDK VK5MR VK5NG VK5PP VK5RM VK5ZK VK5ZRL VK6MT VK6XT VK6ZT VK7AM VK7BO VK7DD VK7TW VK8KMD W0AY W1QG W2JTM W3BH W3CSW W4ENN W7WO W9HLY WA5DJJ WA8KNE WB0OEW YC0MLC ZL1BOE ZL1RS ZL1SIX ZL2ABN ZL2AHB ZL2FT ZL3DMH ZL3LSD ZS2CX ZS4A ZS4TX ZS4TX/P ZS5J ZS5J/P ZS6BK ZS6BMN ZS6BTY ZS6EHG ZS6GC ZS6KN ZS6VOL

See you at the next trip!

PS-44 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-44 was released at 7am 17/5/2015 AEST

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
TX WSPR, JT9 on 30m and 20m

Dial frequency 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequencies) for WSPR, JT9.

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-44 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3YT http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3yt

Prediction

NewImage

Update #1 10pm 17/5/2015

PS-44 developed a leak and descended into Bass Strait this evening.

NewImage

PS-45 APRS/Olivia PICO balloon MEL-ADELAIDE

PS-45 was released at 7am Sat 16/5/2015 AEST

Solar powered party balloon, 10mW TX.
APRS on 145.175Mhz
Olivia 8/250 with RSID on 434.649Mhz USB (Dial frequency)

Tracking as
PS-45 on SNUS
VK3YT-11 on APRS.FI

Prediction:
NewImage

Update #1 8:30am 17/5/2015 AEST

PS-45 has been travelling slowly towards Adelaide. Good tracking on UHF with the VK5 stations taking over from VK3s this morning

NewImage

Prediction:
NewImage

Update #2 9:30pm 18/5/2015 AEST

PS-45 went over Adelaide last night, before taking a sharp turn towards Brisbane.

NewImage

The balloon just left the coastline towards the Pacific, with the last APRS packet received by VK2RPL-3 at 479km.

NewImage

Prediction:
NewImage

Update #3 11:30am 24/5/2015 AEST

PS-45 is spotted in Chile this morning

NewImage

Prediction:
NewImage

Update #4 11:00pm 24/5/2015 AEST

PS-45 was seen crossing Argentina in the afternoon, at 217km/h. It didn’t take long before the balloon left Argentina coastline around 6pm AEST.

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

PS-43 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-43 was released on 22/4/2015.

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
TX WSPR, JT9 on 30m and 20m

Dial frequency 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequencies) for WSPR, JT9.

Transmitting every ten minutes, alternating between 30m and 20m frequencies:

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-43 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3ANH http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3anh

Currently over the Tasman sea, predicted to pass New Zealand in 24H, around 00:00 UTC 25/4/2015

NewImage

NewImage

NewImage

Update #1 11/4/2015

PS-43 went over North of New Zealand this morning

NewImage

Update #2 27/4/2015

PS-43 is still heading towards South America.

PastedGraphic 1

WSPR
NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #3 08:30pm 28/4/2015 AEST

PS-43 descended into the Souther Pacific this evening, about 3200km West of South America.

PastedGraphic 2

PastedGraphic 3

PS-42 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-42 is in the air for some testing.
This will be tracked in parallel with PS-41

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
TX WSPR, JT9 on 30m and 20m

Dial frequency 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequencies) for WSPR, JT9.
PS-41 is at 900Hz and PS-42 is at 1100Hz on the waterfall.

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-42 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3ANH http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3anh

Update #1 7pm 13/4/2015 AEST

PS-42 crossed the international dateline earlier today

NewImage

Prediction

NewImage

Update #2 8pm 16/4/2015 AEST

PS-42 is taking its time in the Pacific. Probably not a bad idea considering all the attention was on PS-41 crossing the initial starting line.

NewImage

Updaet #3 9pm 22/4/2015 AEST

PS-42 went down near South America around the same time as PS-41 completed the lap.

PS-41 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-41 is in the air on Easter Monday.

Solar powered 25mW TX, WSPR and JT9, dial frequencies 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz

HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-41 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3YT http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3yt

Prediction:
NewImage

Update #1 8am 11/4/2015 AEST

PS-41 got to South America overnight.

NewImage

It’s been good going in the last 6 days, with the longest distance for JT9 packets being received so far for a PS payload from Ireland by Ei2KK while being in the South Pacific.

Update #2 10am 12/4/2015 AEST

Reception from the balloon after South America has been difficult with the flight path and availability of tracking station.

Only one WSPR spot was received overnight, showing PS-41 South of South Georgia and The South Sandwitch Islands.

NewImage

Prediction:
NewImage

Update #3 7pm 13/4/2015 AEST

PS-41 has been picked up by the South Africa hams on JT9. We also got a number of WSPR spots

NewImage

NewImage

Update #4 8pm 14/4/2015 AEST

PS-41 is over the Indian Ocean, on the last leg to come home!

NewImage

NewImage

This is a nice capture earlier today, of PS-41 and PS-42 in the twilight zones at sunrise and sunset

PastedGraphic 1

Prediction:

NewImage

Update #5 7pm 16/4/2015 AEST

PS-41 crossed the starting longitude of 144.903 at 11:20am AEST (1:20am UTC) this morning, completing the first Picospace around-the-world trip.

PastedGraphic 3

The total travelled time was approx 10 days and 3 hours.

Big thank-you to everyone that have been assisting with tracking, this trip would not have been possible without you, especially the RX stations:

EI2KK LU5FF VK1JA VK1KW VK2DDI VK2FAK VK2IUW VK2XN VK3ATQ VK3DXE VK3KCX VK3YSP VK4RV VK5EI VK5PP VK6XT WA5DJJ ZL1RS ZL2IK ZL3LSD ZL3TRR ZS2CX ZS6BMN ZS6BTY ZS6GC ZS6KN

Update #6 8pm 22/4/2015 AEST

PS-41 went south towards Antarctica and then headed East towards South America.

PastedGraphic 1

Somewhere near South America, PS-41 went down marking the end of an amazing trip!

PS-40 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-40 PICO balloon was released at 7:30AM Sun 29/3/2015 AEST.

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
WSPR and JT9 on 30m and 20m

Dial frequency on 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequencies) for both WSPR and JT9.

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-40 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3ANH http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3anh

Update 8am 3/4/2015 AEST

After almost 5 days in the air PS-40 descended into the Pacific Ocean this morning.
It was tracked down to the sea level by ZL and VK stations many thousands of kms away.

NewImage

PS-38 HF PICO balloon WSPR JT9

PS-38 PICO balloon was released at 6:20AM Sat 14/3/2015 AEST.

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
WSPR, JT9 on 30m and 20m

Dial frequency on 10.138700Mhz and 14.095600Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequencies) for both WSPR and JT9.

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-38 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3YT http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3yt

Prediction
NewImage

Update #1 9am Sun 15/3/2015

PS-38 flew past Sydney last night and is currently off the coast of Brisbane.
It will be heading South East shortly towards New Zealand, with the expected ETA around 13:00 UTC.

NewImage

Prediction:

NewImage

The bad news is PS-38 will be heading straight into Cyclone Pam.

From NZ MET Service,

NewImage

We will be watching closely tonight.

Update #2 6pm 15/3/2015 AEST
PS-38 approaching cyclone Pam

NewImage

NewImage

Update #3 9pm 16/3/2015 AEST
PS-38 survived last night, but went down tonight after crossing the international dateline.

NewImage