Monthly Archives: February 2015

PS-36 HF PICO Balloon WSPR, JT9, CW

PS-36 PICO balloon was released at 6:45AM Fri 27/2/2015 AEST.

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
WSPR, JT9 and CW (12WPM) 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-36 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3YT http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3yt

CW sending [VK3YT GRID ALT BATTERY] at x6 minutes when battery is full.

Prediction

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Update #1 8am 28 Feb 2015 AEST

PS-36 is in QLD, with huge support from trackers

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Prediction:
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Update #2, 11pm 1 Mar 2014 AEST

It has been slow going, with the balloon turning West just before Cape York.
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Prediction:
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Update #3, 5pm 3 Mar 2015 AEST

PS-36 crossed WA-SA border today, on the way to end the loop over 6 mainland states.

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Prediction
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Update #4, 5pm 5 Mar 2015 AEST

PS-36 finally made it to the Tasman Sea today.

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Prediction

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Update #5, 11am 9 Mar 2015 AEST

After passing New Zealand a few days ago, PS-36 has been heading north

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Prediction

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Update #6, 7am 10 Mar 2015 AEST

PS-36 went down over night, just before reaching Tuvalu, a free hours short of 11 days in the air.

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Thanks you for assistance with tracking.

This was what brought the little balloon down:

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PS-35 PICO balloon HF payload WSPR, JT9 and CW

PS-35 PICO balloon was released at 7:30AM Sat 21/2/2015 AEST.

Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
WSPR, JT9 and CW (12WPM) 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-35 on SNUS http://picospace.net/tracker/new
WSPR call sign is VK3YT http://wsprnet.org/olddb?findcall=vk3yt

CW sending [VK3YT GRID ALT BATTERY] at x6 minutes when battery is full.

Prediction
129902A9 668C 4FAA B50B 98E2470028DE

Update #1 10:00pm 22 Feb 2015 AEST
The balloon has been going slow along the East coast of Australia

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Prediction:
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Update #2 05:00pm 27 Feb 2015 AEST

PS-35 descended into the Pacific after crossing the international dateline.

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PS-34 APRS Olivia payload MEL-NSW-QLD

PS-34 was released at 7am Sun 15/2/2015 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-34 on SNUS
VK3YT-11 on APRS.FI

Prediction:
149923 trj001

Update #1 Mon 9pm 16/2/2015 AEST

PS-34 left Australian coast at 7:55am this morning, just north of Fraser Island.

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Prediction shows it might be in range of New Zealand stations tomorrow morning.
The payload will change its frequency to New Zealand APRS frequency of 144.575Mhz, and keep the same Olivia frequency of 434.650Mhz USB (434.650Mhz dial)

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Update #1 Tue 8am 17/2/2015 AEST

PS-34 did a quick fly-by passing Northern Coast of New Zealand for almost two hours this morning.

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Prediction:
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