PS-53 PICO balloon HF JT9 WSPR San Jose USA

[VK3YT]

FYI,

PS-53 is in the air, released from San Jose USA this morning 7:50am 13 Sept 2015 UTC

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 at 1100Hz

See HF decoding info at http://picospace.net/?cat=34

Tracking as PS-53 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.
Andy

[ZL1RS]

PS-53 seems to have gone down in the mountains of Nevada. The descent rate was fairly quick, so probably a balloon envelope failure.

It is interesting to look at the VK3YT WSPR spots over the past 24 hours ... apart from K4COD and the odd spot from others like AK4AT, despite there being about 4 times more WSPR stations active on 30m in North America we were getting better SNR results from VK/ZL! Propagation? ... or do they have horrid noise and/or QRM issues in North America?

73,

[VK5BC]

Disappointing that the balloon has appeared to disappeared this morning. I decoded it a few times late yesterday on WSPR (-20's) as well as on JT9 on my 30m inverted V. As you say Bob signal here over the 13500 KM path appeared to be similar to those repeated from the states.

73's Brian
VK5BC