Re: New Balloon cruising at 120 at the moment

[Len]

For all those thinking this thing got shot down, please explain to me who shot it down, and why.

It was aliens, because it was about to bump into their invisible spaceship.

[cvanc]

For all those thinking this thing got shot down, please explain to me who shot it down, and why.

It was aliens, because it was about to bump into their invisible spaceship.

I KNEW IT!! (adjusts tinfoil hat)

[ez24]

If it was the Americans, why did they let it fly over the western US and then shoot it down as it left US territory.

I think it was because it got in the way of the radar that faces north, not west, to see nukes from Russia coming in over the north pole.   I just believe the military would not tolerate a blimp on their radar screens.  So I hope the next one will stay clear of North Dakota.

FYI  Here is the map on the new one again:

http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons/ve3kcl-s10.html

(no red/blue explanation this time - but I assume red is day ?).   I am amazed how it can be tracked over the oceans.

[Len]

I think it was because it got in the way of the radar that faces north, not west, to see nukes from Russia coming in over the north pole.   I just believe the military would not tolerate a blimp on their radar screens.  So I hope the next one will stay clear of North Dakota.

Or maybe it just failed after a few days, like every other balloon they've launched.

[continuo]

How many party balloons do they sell over there in the US every day? How many of them end up floating around somewhere in US airspace? The air force has to be really busy shooting them all down 

[Silveruser]

I have to confess. I get a smile every time I read this thread. A simple mention of five letters has caused so much speculation, a perfect Internet experience, we even have aliens and tin foil hats. 

I'm sorry guys, I'll never mention those letters again.

George

[Red Squirrel]

My guess is that it just failed, either air started to leak, or some kind of thermal shock had it burst etc.... or maybe even a bird (do any birds even fly that high?) , I don't think any government would be that interested in shooting it down, and there are probably lot of similar foreign objects in the sky, like other actual party balloons that were lost.   I think it's incredible it lasted as long as it did.   I'd still be a bit worried of getting in trouble if they do intercept it though, you know how ridiculous things are now days, seems you can't do anything fun anymore.  Just look at all the rules for drones and the fines for not obeying are ridiculous.   But it would be kinda hard to track where it came from so I would not worry.  I doubt they'd pursue it for very long unless it actually brought down a plane or something which I doubt is even possible.   Could be neat to make a throw away email address (use Tor) and have instructions on the payload to send details if found though. If another civilian finds it they might do just that and you'd get to know if it fell out of the sky, and where.

Could be neat to mount a camera that takes aerial pictures once in a while too, what kind of bandwidth does the radio have?  I imagine it's not very high or reliable enough though. 

[ez24]

I have to confess. I get a smile every time I read this thread. A simple mention of five letters has caused so much speculation, a perfect Internet experience, we even have aliens and tin foil hats. 

I'm sorry guys, I'll never mention those letters again.

George

NORAD  = 5
Alien  = 5

Ha that is it!  NORAD shot it down because they thought it was an alien (and it is related to a Calif TV commercial on a lottery called 5's).  Dang who would have guessed that Calif told NORAD it was an alien ship that had to be shot down because it influenced their lottery.

FYI map:
http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons/ve3kcl-s10.html

[botcrusher]

It was a foil balloon with metalic payload. Would have shown nicely on their screens compared to the average rubber party balloon...

Lol. I love the internet.

[continuo]

A metallized balloon should be pretty stealth with all its curvy, non straight surface. To draw more attention by NORAD it is recommended to add a dedicated radar reflector to your bunch of party balloons, just to make sure they actually get a chance to shoot it down   


https://community.balloonchallenge.org/t/radar-reflector/656

[ez24]

Attached is the last flight for those who do not know, Flight S-9

Funny at this time no blue line (night) for Flight S-10. 

I wonder if the balloon is down?

http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons/ve3kcl-s10.html

[rrinker]

 There's been no update since 21:42Z. I think it's dead, Jim.

[Red Squirrel]

Maybe glueing a bunch of cotton balls on it is not a bad idea after all.    

[botcrusher]

That cloud looks awrfully like a balloon...

I'm weary abiut the lack of updates, but it is pitch black right now in balloon land, It's still possible it could wake up in the morning somwhere over europe/africa

[rrinker]

 Oh I'm just a little black rain cloud, hovering over the honey tree....

(Disney's Winnie the Pooh, the first one)

[continuo]

http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons/ve3kcl-s10.html

[CatalinaWOW]

At least on this trip it isn't wasting time doing donuts over the big islands in the north atlantic.  Great stuff.

[Mr.B]

Thats a bit sad...   
DaveBev (OP) seems to have lost S-10.
No updates for a couple of days now.

[ez24]

I think DaveBev is on vacation - in Cuba.

[HansSummers]

Hi all

I work with Dave VE3KCL on the firmware and software side of these balloon flights. I run QRP Labs http://qrp-labs.com and the balloon flights essentially use my Ultimate3S QRSS/WSPR TX kit qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/u3s (U3S) but with 1) Arduino nano board which is smaller, and 2) Special firmware which transmits the telemetry over WSPR. Note that this is NOT an Arduino sketch - it is just the Ultimate3S code special version, programmed onto an Arduino Nano board, which uses the same processor (ATmega328).

I read all the forum posts and just a few comments briefly...

Firstly I believe S-9 was brought down by bad weather. Even at 10,000m altitude, there is some weather which reaches up that high. A leak would result in a slower descent. Although the flight time was 18 days, the balloon should be able to stay up much longer than that.

Tracking over the oceans was mentioned a few times. The balloon transmitter has a power output of about 16mW on 10.14MHz. The signal encoding is very low data rate, which results in a very narrow bandwidth, approx 6Hz. This narrow bandwidth means a very high signal-to-noise ratio is achieved in the system, and this makes it possible to receive at very long distances despite the very low power. A station in New Zealand copied some of the transmissions from Europe for example, by long path - this is over 20,000km. That's several oceans and continents!

Regarding S-10, it has a problem with its GPS. This doesn't just mean that we don't know where it is! In the U3S the GPS is also used for frequency calibration (to correct temperature drift) and for keeping the real time clock accurate. WSPR is a mode which is synchronised to the 2nd second of even minutes past the hour. There are a few seconds of tolerance, but if the real time clock drifts outside this then there is no decoding.

There were two reports from S-10 today but only one of the WSPR transmissions (telemetry) so we do not have the position. Those reports could have been random false decodes of the noise, but their timing was correct for S-10... which is unlikely by chance... so who knows. S-10 might still be doing Ok, just not very good at telling us about it!

Another related topic - Bob ZL1RS is the station I mentioned in New Zealand who received the balloon flights from the other side of the world. He now has an ocean buoy in the South Pacific, which also uses a similar system. He is also using a Ultimate 3S transmitter. A much more leisurely 2 knots speed in the ocean currents ;-) More details here http://www.qsl.net/zl1rs/oceanfloater.html

Hans
http://qrp-labs.com
http://hanssummers.com

[ez24]

HansSummers thanks for the update

[helius]

what really threatens america is party balloons:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/party-balloons-trigger-brief-white-house-lockdown/

[Mr.B]

Looks like we have a Flight S-11.
http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons/ve3kcl-s11.html
Currently about 17 hours in.

It would be nice if the OP would come back an comment on S-10 and now S-11.

[ez24]

It would be nice if the OP would come back an comment on S-10 and now S-11.

I agree

[CatalinaWOW]

Looks like the balloons finally got someone's attention.  The web site is hacked and now my anti-virus rates it too dangerous to visit.