PS-48 PICO balloon HF payload WSPR JT9

[VK3YT]

Hi all,

FYI,

PS-48 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.
JT9 is at 1000Hz

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

TX scheduling
Minute - Band - Mode - Condition
:00 - 30m - 2 mins WSPR then two x 1 min JT9 - mandatory
:10 - 20m - 2 mins WSPR then two x 1 min JT9 - if batt full
:20 - 30m - 2 mins WSPR then two x 1 min JT9 - if batt full
:30 - 20m - 2 mins WSPR then two x 1 min JT9 - mandatory
:40 - 30m - 2 mins WSPR then two x 1 min JT9 - if batt full
:50 - 20m - 2 mins WSPR then two x 1 min JT9 - if batt full

Prediction:


Assistance with tracking is appreciated.
Regards,
Andy

[VK1JA]

Looking good Andy, it just passed us by about 2km - doing 255km/h !!!

[VK4ALF]

Last time I saw it beacon was around midnight last night Battery volts were very low
Other stations saw it at 3 am .

Not sure what happened but I guessing a Solar charging issue

Hope it comes back up
Len VK4ALF

[VK3YT]

Looks like PS-48 is still in the air

2015-08-14 22:00 VK3YT 10.140111 -10 1 FF98 +30 1.000 PY2GN GG56tv 1561 970
2015-08-14 17:00 VK3YT 10.140112 -15 -1 FG73 +33 1.995 PY2GN GG56tv 1723 1071

The power level for PS-48 is used to encode altitude in increments of 1000m:
0dbm => 0-1000m
3dbm => 1000m
7dbm => 2000m
10dbm => 3000m
13dbm => 4000m
17dbm => 5000m
20dbm => 6000m
23dbm => 7000m
27dbm => 8000m
30dbm => 9000m
33dbm => 10000m
37dbm => 11000m

[VK3DXE]

Looks like PS-48 is still in the air

2015-08-14 22:00 VK3YT 10.140111 -10 1 FF98 +30 1.000 PY2GN GG56tv 1561 970
2015-08-14 17:00 VK3YT 10.140112 -15 -1 FG73 +33 1.995 PY2GN GG56tv 1723 1071

The power level for PS-48 is used to encode altitude in increments of 1000m:
0dbm => 0-1000m
3dbm => 1000m
7dbm => 2000m
10dbm => 3000m
13dbm => 4000m
17dbm => 5000m
20dbm => 6000m
23dbm => 7000m
27dbm => 8000m
30dbm => 9000m
33dbm => 10000m
37dbm => 11000m

Wow, excellent Andy.