#picoballoon — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #picoballoon, aggregated by home.social.
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Still working on this in between other things. Currently, need to change over the solar panels, and considering setting up the thing in the backyard to make sure the WSPR signals are heard (solar storm, rain right now... so not going to launch it).
Look, there's a whole scientific paper on floating these things, from NCAR! (Boulder, National Center for Atmospheric Research). (yes, NCAR being shut down by this admin, btw... politics in everything).
https://drive.usercontent.google.com/download?id=1w_eeeRNZInAuNmwmW4626f0p1S9GXY13&export=download
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Okay, here we are. Solar panel array, 3 designs. Got the fancy foam-tac glue recommended here in the thread. Balsa wood with struts, balsa without struts, and foam with some extra balsa struts for structural support. Will decide whether to solder these later or wait for the low temp solder coming from Mouser. #picoballoon #hamradio
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Okay, balloon deflated, but not without running into a few things... hopefully didn't cause any structural damage to the balloon that will cause later early failure. Have determined a possible way to arrange solar panels with the board, just by strategic cuts in foam. I will try building out some solar arrays after this, by first gluing the solar panels but providing access to where I need to solar wires. Hopefully gluing them down before soldering will eliminate the snapping of panel edges. #picoballoon #hamradio
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New challenge: deflating the pre-stretched balloon. "using a vacuum cleaner" did not work per the instructions I see online.. I think the vacuum cleaner too powerful, and it collapses the tubing. So, just plugged it into the reverse port on the pump to see if that will work. 🤔 If not, off to find a metal tube or something I can shove in there and try the vacuum cleaner up close. #picoballoon #hamradio
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Almost there. Yeah, you can raytrace and reconstruct my patio from this. #picoballoon #hamradio
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Aha! These have sections that separate out... hence the need for pre stretching. #picoballoon #hamradio
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Pre stretching the balloon. This balloon is sausage shaped... like the Hindenburg. It is unclear to me if this is expected or not. It's the recommended one from websites. I swear the ones in the videos are rounder. #balloon #picoballoon #hamradii
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Pre stretching the balloon. This balloon is sausage shaped... like the Hindenburg. It is unclear to me if this is expected or not. It's the recommended one from websites. I swear the ones in the videos are rounder. #balloon #picoballoon #hamradii
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Pre stretching the balloon. This balloon is sausage shaped... like the Hindenburg. It is unclear to me if this is expected or not. It's the recommended one from websites. I swear the ones in the videos are rounder. #balloon #picoballoon #hamradii
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Pre stretching the balloon. This balloon is sausage shaped... like the Hindenburg. It is unclear to me if this is expected or not. It's the recommended one from websites. I swear the ones in the videos are rounder. #balloon #picoballoon #hamradii
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Pre stretching the balloon. This balloon is sausage shaped... like the Hindenburg. It is unclear to me if this is expected or not. It's the recommended one from websites. I swear the ones in the videos are rounder. #balloon #picoballoon #hamradii
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Does a helium balloon fly better in hot or cold weather? #picoballoon #hamradio
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@[email protected] @[email protected] #W3IPA Tim's #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #picoBalloon is like "Judas Priest", "Riding on the Wind" as it makes it way toward India
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@[email protected] @[email protected] #W3IPA Tim's #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #picoBalloon is like "Judas Priest", "Riding on the Wind" as it makes it way toward India
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@[email protected] @[email protected] #W3IPA Tim's #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #picoBalloon is like "Judas Priest", "Riding on the Wind" as it makes it way toward India
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@[email protected] @[email protected] #W3IPA Tim's #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #picoBalloon is like "Judas Priest", "Riding on the Wind" as it makes it way toward India
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@[email protected] @[email protected] #W3IPA Tim's #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #picoBalloon is like "Judas Priest", "Riding on the Wind" as it makes it way toward India
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Hmm, hydrogen sounding better and better for the picoballoon.
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With the abuse my amateur radio "picoballoon" hardware has taken -- without being launched -- amazed those balloons manage to go around the world at all, lol. Mine is so fragile.
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Okay, stuck the mortally wounded solar panel in a bush and waited, and it's now sending (albeit to a compromised antenna) amd the green light is blinking. Progress. Need to fix the solar panel structure and figure how to make that work. Backup is to use the Traquitp circuit board design, but that will be another order. #picoballoon #hamradio
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It doesn't help the other tracking map site has not fixed their Google Maps code in a decade. (Google Maps went to a credit system, where you pay for traffic, instead of "free"... maybe more than 10 years ago, and you were required to change your code or get this message). They really should have changed to another mapping layer. #wspr #hamradio #picoballoon
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Also, lost the GPS antenna, which I re-soldered. Unclear why it detached. The WSPR transmitter also is not getting anywhere, and maybe not even transmitting. (not sure how the transmit slot works....) #picoballoon #hamradio
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Built an array of solar panels and attempted to figure out a mounting arrangement. First "flight" hanging it from a laundry line and already broke some panels, and heat peeled the tape holding the panel array to the boards. It's clear the weak link in this whole thing will be the structural integrity of the solar power array... soldering the arrays is not easy even with extra flux, and any kind of physical stress and the solder and wires will either detach, or the solar panels break. #picoballoon #hamradio #electronics #fail
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Tim's #w3ipa @[email protected] @[email protected] #amateurradio #hamradio 10m #wspr #picoballoon continues to make its trek around the globe.
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Well, soldering the solar panels is most certainly going to be the next challenge. And keeping them from shattering before launch from an accidental bump. Surprised these can even survive going up into the atmosphere. It's like trying to handle flaky pastries without getting crumbs everywhere. #picoballoon #hamradio
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There's actually a weather balloon out of Vandenberg, but it appears its sensors failed or it has no temperature/humidity sensors?!? #picoballoon #wx
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Current GFS sounding at approximately my location (heat dome). I guess these float at 30,000 to 50,000 feet, which is (if I am doing the conversion correctly) at around the 250 to 200hPa pressure range. Looks like almost a cloud layer there right now (the green and red lines almost meet). Also looks like it's awfully windy up there, not sure how much that matters for the balloon (I assume it just gets pushed off by that wind...) 48-57 knot wind (55-66 mph) in that particular range, blowing to the southeast. (not that I am ready to launch anything... but curious to see what these and real soundings look like... maybe launch on a rocket launch day, they have equally limited tolerance for wind, too). #picoballoon #skewt #hamradio #wx
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Current GFS sounding at approximately my location (heat dome). I guess these float at 30,000 to 50,000 feet, which is (if I am doing the conversion correctly) at around the 250 to 200hPa pressure range. Looks like almost a cloud layer there right now (the green and red lines almost meet). Also looks like it's awfully windy up there, not sure how much that matters for the balloon (I assume it just gets pushed off by that wind...) 48-57 knot wind (55-66 mph) in that particular range, blowing to the southeast. (not that I am ready to launch anything... but curious to see what these and real soundings look like... maybe launch on a rocket launch day, they have equally limited tolerance for wind, too). #picoballoon #skewt #hamradio #wx
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Current GFS sounding at approximately my location (heat dome). I guess these float at 30,000 to 50,000 feet, which is (if I am doing the conversion correctly) at around the 250 to 200hPa pressure range. Looks like almost a cloud layer there right now (the green and red lines almost meet). Also looks like it's awfully windy up there, not sure how much that matters for the balloon (I assume it just gets pushed off by that wind...) 48-57 knot wind (55-66 mph) in that particular range, blowing to the southeast. (not that I am ready to launch anything... but curious to see what these and real soundings look like... maybe launch on a rocket launch day, they have equally limited tolerance for wind, too). #picoballoon #skewt #hamradio #wx
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Current GFS sounding at approximately my location (heat dome). I guess these float at 30,000 to 50,000 feet, which is (if I am doing the conversion correctly) at around the 250 to 200hPa pressure range. Looks like almost a cloud layer there right now (the green and red lines almost meet). Also looks like it's awfully windy up there, not sure how much that matters for the balloon (I assume it just gets pushed off by that wind...) 48-57 knot wind (55-66 mph) in that particular range, blowing to the southeast. (not that I am ready to launch anything... but curious to see what these and real soundings look like... maybe launch on a rocket launch day, they have equally limited tolerance for wind, too). #picoballoon #skewt #hamradio #wx
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Current GFS sounding at approximately my location (heat dome). I guess these float at 30,000 to 50,000 feet, which is (if I am doing the conversion correctly) at around the 250 to 200hPa pressure range. Looks like almost a cloud layer there right now (the green and red lines almost meet). Also looks like it's awfully windy up there, not sure how much that matters for the balloon (I assume it just gets pushed off by that wind...) 48-57 knot wind (55-66 mph) in that particular range, blowing to the southeast. (not that I am ready to launch anything... but curious to see what these and real soundings look like... maybe launch on a rocket launch day, they have equally limited tolerance for wind, too). #picoballoon #skewt #hamradio #wx
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LOL I have been reading instructions from K9YO... maybe I should put a "please do not shoot me down" message on the balloon.
Space.com "...It turns out that the object blasted out of the sky over the Yukon on Feb. 11 by a U.S. Air Force jet might have been an amateur radio "pico balloon" — specifically, one called K9YO-15, which launched from Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville, Illinois, north of Chicago...."
https://www.space.com/mystery-object-shot-down-yukon-amateur-ballloon
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Next up: solar panels. Looks like these balloons look like eeny-teeny-weeny satellites.
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Unit programmed... GPS is not receiving, no view through my RF shielding roof. Transmitted some WSPR, not sure if it went anywhere, lol. Major annoyance: THE GUI to configure this board requires an Internet connection, and either Microsoft Edge (gag) or Google Chrome (Gag). I absolutely HATE those kinds of apps (that goes for the configuration of Mesh devices, too... how can you sell your mesh device as offline if you need an Internet connection to configure it? 🤔 )
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Picoballon Pi soldered to daughter board, GPS antenna attached, 20m dipole affixed. Next step is softwsre loading and the solar panel assembly. #picoballoon #hamradio
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20m dipole on toilet paper rolls for the picoballoon. Maybe will have time to solder all these. Need to figure out the physical arrangement for the solar panels... considering some balsa struts. #picoballoon #hamradio
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Circuit boards arrived! #picoballoon #hamradio
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Tim's @[email protected] @[email protected] #W3IPA
#W3IPA 10m #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #PicoBalloon Pico Balloon is the middle of the pond making its way toward Europe. -
Tim #W3IPA @[email protected] @[email protected] launched his first pico balloon for 2026. 10m WSPR transmits. Let’s hope for a nice long trip! #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #PicoBalloon #WSPR #10mWSPR
Follow along here:
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Piggyback ballon transmitter boards being shipped via "Global Standard Direct Line". I guess these are being built overseas. Wonder if I'm going to get a big tariff bill. 🤔 We'll see if they get here anytime soon or not.
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First lesson: Yikes! These solar panels may weigh nothing, but they are exceedingly fragile! Already broke two just picking them up. 300mW output indoors. #picoballoon #electronics #hamradio
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Choices were to order 5 or order 10 boards (!). So, I ordered 5 boards. Enough for 5 balloons, lol. Cost using the cheapest shipping option will be approximately $12.50 for each of the add-on-boards. Will require also Raspberry Pi picos and tiny solar panels. #picoballoon #hamradio #wspr
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“I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach,” said one picoballoon hobbyist. "We knew it would come eventually. We really didn't think it would go that way.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kxzpd/balloon-enthusiasts-undeterred-by-us-air-force-shootdowns-ufo
#Technews #worldnews #picoballoon #spyballoon #china -
FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event - At any vaguely-related conferences, groups of hackers sometimes come together to c... - https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/ #highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #radiohacks #balloon #fosdem #rp2040 #tinygo #hab
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FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event - At any vaguely-related conferences, groups of hackers sometimes come together to c... - https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/ #highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #radiohacks #balloon #fosdem #rp2040 #tinygo #hab
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FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event - At any vaguely-related conferences, groups of hackers sometimes come together to c... - https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/ #highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #radiohacks #balloon #fosdem #rp2040 #tinygo #hab
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FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event - At any vaguely-related conferences, groups of hackers sometimes come together to c... - https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/ #highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #radiohacks #balloon #fosdem #rp2040 #tinygo #hab
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FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event - At any vaguely-related conferences, groups of hackers sometimes come together to c... - https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/ #highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #radiohacks #balloon #fosdem #rp2040 #tinygo #hab
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FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event
https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/
#highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #RadioHacks #balloon #FOSDEM #rp2040 #tinygo #HAB -
FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event
https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/
#highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #RadioHacks #balloon #FOSDEM #rp2040 #tinygo #HAB