Balloons Carrying Amateur Radio Payloads Still Circling the Earth:

Three plastic foil-envelope balloons http://www.leobodnar.com/balloons/ carrying Amateur Radio payloadsand launched from the UK by Leo Bodnar, M0XER, remain aloft andcontinue to circle the Earth. The oldest, identified as B-63, wasreleased on July 8 and became the second of Bodnar's balloons tocircumnavigate the globe. The first to do so, B-64, went up on July 12and had completed one lap around the Northern Hemisphere by July 31.Air currents have carried the balloon within 9 km of the North Pole andwithin 10 km of its launch site. The last balloon to make it around theEarth was B-66, which Bodnar released on July 15.

Each balloon carries a tiny 10 mW solar-powered transmitter that canalternate between APRS http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FM0XER-3%2Ca%2FM0XER-4%2Ca%2FM0XER-6%2Ca%2FM0XER-15&timerange=604800&tail=604800 and Contestia 64/1000 digital mode on 434.500 MHz (USB). The AmateurRadio payload weighs just 11 grams.

As of this week, the B-64 balloon (M0XER-4 on APRS) was north ofMoscow, Russia, at an elevation of more than 40,200 feet; the B-63balloon (M0XER-3 on APRS) appeared to be located nearly 42,000 feetabove South Korea, and the B-66 balloon (M0XER-6 on APRS) appeared tobe nearly 44,000 feet above Ukraine. Notes on the M0XER-3 http://aprs.fi/info/a/M0XER-3 and M0XER-6 http://aprs.fi/info/a/M0XER-6 APRS pages flag their reportedtrajectories with "Seriously bad path," however, and add, "This stationappears to be flying at high altitude and using digipeaters, whichcauses serious congestion in the APRS network. The tracker should beconfigured to only use digipeaters when at low altitude."

The numeral following the "B" denotes the number of similar balloonsBodnar has launched (B-65 failed to deploy). The transmitter storespositions during its flight and transmits a log file that can recall 5days of previous locations in the comments field of its APRStransmissions. If it has been out of radio contact, however, a straightline will appear on the APRS map.

Source:

The ARRL Letter