21-10-2017, 10:09 AM
After an absence since March this year a tiny high altitude balloon PS-72 launched from Melbourne was right on track to head north in Victoria before turning west into South Australia.
Andy Nguyen VK3YT put up PS-72 on Sunday 15th October, a solar powered party foil-like balloon measuring 90-cm across, filled with hydrogen.
Its payload emits 25mW WSPR, JT9 on 30 metres, with a dial frequency is 10.138700 MHz.
While earlier PS-71 in March used APRS and Olivia on VHF/UHF, but the last HF balloon was PS-70 in January.
The latest, PS-72 at Victorias upper limit adopted a path to South Australia, drifted over the Simpson Desert Regional Reserve, then close to the Northern Territory border, before moving into Queensland and the mid-Gulf of Carpentaria.
On Tuesday 17 it was over Papua New Guinea, then left on Wednesday 18 for the Solomon Sea.
A dozen in VK2, VK3 and ZL tracked it an altitude of about 10,000 metres enduring temperatures to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
But the big question is how long PS-72 will travel?
A world record held by Andy VK3YT saw PS-46 in 2015 just short of its third southern hemisphere circumnavigation.
(Text only edition by Jim Linton VK3PC)
From text edition for OCT 22 2017 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA : http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/
Andy Nguyen VK3YT put up PS-72 on Sunday 15th October, a solar powered party foil-like balloon measuring 90-cm across, filled with hydrogen.
Its payload emits 25mW WSPR, JT9 on 30 metres, with a dial frequency is 10.138700 MHz.
While earlier PS-71 in March used APRS and Olivia on VHF/UHF, but the last HF balloon was PS-70 in January.
The latest, PS-72 at Victorias upper limit adopted a path to South Australia, drifted over the Simpson Desert Regional Reserve, then close to the Northern Territory border, before moving into Queensland and the mid-Gulf of Carpentaria.
On Tuesday 17 it was over Papua New Guinea, then left on Wednesday 18 for the Solomon Sea.
A dozen in VK2, VK3 and ZL tracked it an altitude of about 10,000 metres enduring temperatures to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
But the big question is how long PS-72 will travel?
A world record held by Andy VK3YT saw PS-46 in 2015 just short of its third southern hemisphere circumnavigation.
(Text only edition by Jim Linton VK3PC)
From text edition for OCT 22 2017 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA : http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/