Monthly Archives: April 2015

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

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Update #1 11/4/2015

PS-43 went over North of New Zealand this morning

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Update #2 27/4/2015

PS-43 is still heading towards South America.

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WSPR
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Prediction:

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

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

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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

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Prediction

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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.

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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:
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Update #1 8am 11/4/2015 AEST

PS-41 got to South America overnight.

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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.

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Prediction:
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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

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Update #4 8pm 14/4/2015 AEST

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

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

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Prediction:

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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.

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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.

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