Information received from Andy this afternoon posted on this forum for interested trackers
Hi,
PS-70 is planned to be released on Sunday 22 Jan 2017.
Solar powered party balloon, 25mW TX
TX WSPR, JT9 on 30m
Dial frequency 10.138700Mhz (standard WSPR dial frequency) for WSPR, JT9.
JT9 is at 1650Hz on the waterfall.
See HF decoding info at
http://picospace.net/?cat=34
Tracking as PS-70 on SNUS
http://tracker.habhub.org/#!mt=roadmap&m...70&q=PS-70
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 - 30m - 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 - 30m - 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 - 30m - 2 mins WSPR then two x 1 min JT9 - if batt full
It looks like the balloon will be a hanging around Australia for a couple of days.
Assistance with tracking is appreciated.
Regards,
Andy
Tracking pretty close to anticipated path so far...
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Your right there Doug the prediction model is very close.
Few good WSPR spots happening tonight as well
73
Just a bit clearer detail at 1100Z ... Still curving to track.
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Still much to track - 2200Z 23Jan17 / 0800 local 24Jan17
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Added in 2 hours 3 minutes 24 seconds:
Further update at 0000Z (10AM local), looks like has made landfall and moving at 15m/s (about 55km/h)..
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Keeping up with the updates for now, 0600Z 24 Jan17, the balloon has slowed a little but has had an altitude lift...
(All that hot air up in FNQ...
)
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Altitude has varied a bit today Doug.
This graph showing profile of altitude vs temperature over time.
73
Maybe it doesn't like VK5 land....
Down to 7.2m/s, elevation 9900 metres
0400Z 25 Jan 17 / 1400 local 25 Jan 17
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Closer in..
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I havent seen it on Wspr or jt9 since 0800 . Been a first for me tracking it over QLD as the balloon seems to have an affinity with zl
Well done to all the people reporting
It looks like it is down - I saw this yesterday afternoon and hoped that maybe it was a glitch at habhub.
Maybe it was the crossing over the border to VK5 land caused a maulfunction
I hope Andy has some mates up at Innaminka who can retrieve it for him.
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By VK2FAK but incorrectly posted under the PS-68 topic at 1105 26 Jan 17:
"Hi all..
We don't at this stage think that the Balloon has gone down, if that was the case there should of been some shorter period TX's which were not recorded anywhere. This Balloon has had a glitch or 2 with the TX, so could just be a gps issue or something else. So don't give up on it just yet.....were looking for any signs of life from it, including CW burst indicating its trying to reset, that will be up around the JT9 freq..
John"
Reposted by Admin
VK5EI Wrote:Altitude has varied a bit today Doug.
This graph showing profile of altitude vs temperature over time.
73
Nice telemetry graph , been following it here in Christchurch NZ. How did you get this graph? I cant see any easy way on Habhub for this detail.
It does look like it possibly went high and sustained a small rupture, stayed a bit steady due to the heating effects of the day expanding the gas then dropped with the cold night and reduced gas maybe? just my theory. Anyhow nothing received here for a day now.
Regards
Rob ZL3TCM
Hi all,,
If the Balloon is electronically operational, but going down, Andy has put a function in the TX we call, the SOS mode, where it puts out quicker information, but certain conditions have to be met before that happens, we have seen this in operation on many Balloons, and at times is fun to watch. This had not happened this time, and the Battery would have had a good charge on it, when the last TX was recorded....this more than anything is leading us to believe it may still be in the air, with other issues.
John
ZL3TCM Wrote:Nice telemetry graph , been following it here in Christchurch NZ. How did you get this graph? I cant see any easy way on Habhub for this detail.
...Rob ZL3TCM
The graphs de VK5EI from :
https://x-f.lv/dev/habitat-graphs/payload/PS-70
Doug VK4ADC
I agree John, the balloon is more than likely still floating and possibly the fault maybe caused from either a GPS or (hope not) battery/power fault.
My 30m band receiver is on 24/7 for the purpose of this and for others that maybe experimenting as well
73
Joe
Has anyone heard/seen it again -or- did it get swallowed in the Devils Triangle of the QLD / NT/ SA border area ?
Hi all.
It has not been seen again, not convinced it went down, but its not operational which at the end of the day is the same thing. Its unlikely that it would ever have a dead battery with no TX occurring, so resetting from that condition will never happen. But ya never know, one day you may hear it again. There was one Balloon, we had no idea what happened to it, until after many days the APRS signal was RX in Brazil, that surprised us all. So an open mind is always a good thing in this game.
John