PS-41 PICO balloon HF payload WSPR JT9

[VK3YT]

Hi all,

FYI,

PS-41 is in the air.

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

Andy

[VK2XTC]

I've started to again watch with great interest.

I'm about to order the bits to interface the radio to the computer so I can track them.
Your activities have sparked my interest in radio again after a 10 year absence.

I have so many questions.

Do you have a link to a site that explains the payload ?
Did you build it?
What does it cost per flight?


Brian

[VK2AZ]

Having fun and learning at the same time - how can that be?

Hilary
VK2IUW

[VK3YT]

I've started to again watch with great interest.

I'm about to order the bits to interface the radio to the computer so I can track them.
Your activities have sparked my interest in radio again after a 10 year absence.

I have so many questions.

Do you have a link to a site that explains the payload ?
Did you build it?
What does it cost per flight?


Brian

Hi Brian,

If you have a HF rig with SSB, you can connect audio from the radio to microphone input of a computer running the modified WSJT-X software to pick up the telemetry. If you haven't got an antenna, a long wire or inverted V antenna tuned to 30m should do the job.

The payload is a tracker on custom boards that I built. Essentially the hardware is a software-controlled HF transmitter, but as the environment for these balloons is very harsh, i.e. almost no air, ultra high level of UV, -55 °C temperature, requirements for ultra low weight, extended flight time, there are many other considerations that I am still experimenting with. As for cost, that depends a lot on the sources and quality of components, and I haven't spent any time adding them up.

picospace.net is the official project web site, but the info there is more towards flights and tracking.
There is an option to subscribe to the mailing list for PS flight info on the web site.

The UK guys have a great site with good info on HAB:
http://ukhas.org.uk/general:beginners_g ... ballooning

Hope to see you on the map!

Regards,
Andy

[ZL1RS]

... but watch out Brian, tracking these little suckers can become addictive

[ZL3LSD]

Hi Andy

Curious about sometimes HABHub not keeping up with decodes. Attached are my latest decodes which have not shown up more than an hour after the last shown decode.

My last 2 receives not plotted:


0142 -21 -0.1 923 @ VK3YT39C3RWB9

0143 -20 -0.1 923 @ 1S4J2D8Y5FFNB

0202 -17 -0.4 923 @ VK3YT3993QWNA

0203 -16 -0.4 923 @ 1S1Y2DF 5HIO1

73

[ZL3LSD]

and another


0222 -20 -0.3 923 @ VK3YT3D43QWIB

0223 -19 -0.2 922 @ 1RZQ2DI2Q6TIU

WSPRnet has been keeping up:

Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
2015-04-07 02:20 VK3YT 10.140182 -16 1 RD53 0.01 ZL3LSD RE66gl 1450 5
2015-04-07 02:00 VK3YT 10.140268 -17 0 RD53 0.01 ZL3LSD RE66gl 1450 5
2015-04-07 01:40 VK3YT 10.140195 -18 0 RD53 0.01 ZL3LSD RE66gl 1450 5
2015-04-07 01:20 VK3YT 10.140243 -15 0 RD53 0.01 ZL3LSD RE66gl 1450 5
2015-04-07 01:00 VK3YT 10.140180 -15 0 RD53 0.01 ZL3LSD RE66gl 1450 5
2015-04-07 00:40 VK3YT 10.140279 -13 0 RD54 0.01 ZL3LSD RE66gl 1339 6
2015-04-07 00:20 VK3YT 10.140249 -28 0 RD54 0.01 VK7TW QE37pc 2201 300

[VK3YT]

Hi all,
It looks like habhub is having some issues with uploaded data, it is early their morning so hopefully someone will sort it out soon.
Andy

[ZL1RS]

Seems that the Habhub tracker system still has problems.

PS-41 woke at 19UTC and is presently deep in the southern Pacific Ocean 2000km SE of ZL ...

[ZL1RS]

Habhub tracker working again ...

[ZL1RS]

Wow ...

EI2KK IO65ca 0142 -24 -0.4 908 @ VK3YT3BA3LW8A 79.2kmph 10, 3, -7.5°C, 4.056V 1V
EI2KK IO65ca 0143 -25 -0.4 907 @ 1USX32.U5C9NJ -51.783,-132.54,9333m, 03D9

... not bad for 25mW of JT9 on 30m band over 15,440km from PS-41 in the south Pacific Ocean to Ireland!

[VK5EI]

I agree Bob, with good propagation its amazing where a signal will be heard on flea power. I believe there should be more stations giving flea power a go particularly on wspr mode. Antenna and noise floor become the important factors.

Here is a quick table of wspr reports of ps-41, there may be some errors, sorry it is Friday night


73

[ZL1RS]

2015-04-11 18:40 VK3YT 10.140283 -29 0 HD01 0.01 ZS6BTY KG44de 6278 85

A 30m band WSPR spot from ZS6BTY during their peak propagation time indicates PS-41 is still in the air.

Hopefully the balloon will move closer to ZS in the coming day or two and we can get a full update via the JT9 telemetry then.

[VK1JA]

Deleted, it appears the decode was from PS-42

[VK1JA]

PS-41 is still going as of 2 hrs ago.

2015-04-12 09:30 VK3YT 14.097122 -24 0 HD95 0.01 ZS2CX KF15mw 4084 75

[ZL1RS]

PS-41 is being received by ZS stations as it completes its crossing of the south Atlantic Ocean. Here is the NOAA prediction for the high speed run "home" to VK :

[VK3DXE]

ZS stations currently decoding data from PS-41 every 10 minutes as it rapidly closes in on South Africa. Still travelling along nicely at circa 9500m.

[VK3DXE]

Absolutely hammering along now. Some decent distance covered this afternoon

Jetstream in the region currently at almost 300km/h

[VK3KCX]

Wow, that jetstream sure helped get it moving, coming up for a full lap Andy!

- David - VK3KCX

[VK5EI]

Current dashboard view - from HAB telemetry visualisation.