Thank you Andreas for this hack of Meteo Balloon, this is very interresting and I will make my own receiver. I'm the President of the association Swiss-Strato in Lausanne and we send Balloon for school or for experimental purpose. I develop my own LoRa tracking baord. The last flight was this week and we try to measure radioactivity with a simple geiger counter. If one day you want to do you own balloon launch, fell free to contact us. We are a small team with many experiences for predicting and tracking. We will be very happy to share with you and your community the launch and the hunt.
@@AndreasSpiess Many Facebookgroups exist about Radiosonde hunting and also many Homepages how to do hunting, receivers,antennas, reprogramming sondes.... facebook.com/groups/209109722902211 www.qsl.net/oe1ffs/Sondenpage/Wettersonde.html sites.google.com/view/oe3jtb/startseite ....
@@r1273m Not really, the launches are both coordinated with air traffic control and the balloons cross the range of altitudes where planes fly fairly quickly so the chances of a plane hitting one of these are extremely low.
Hi Andreas. Thanks for infecting me with another obsession!! I've hunted down several sondes since watching this great vid. However I've been pulling my hair out as I couldn't get more than a few metres range with my mysondy go. I just facepalmed when I realised why. I ordered a 433 mhz ttgo from Amazon months ago and I've just realised it says 915mhz on the back!! No wonder it's barely working !!
@@AndreasSpiess The filters are doing a pretty good job - I had to be close enough to see the sonde before it would pick up the signal. I spend so many hours trying to figure out the problem and it's such a noob error - So frustrating. I even bought a VNA to tune my antenna (Thanks to Vid #191 ruclips.net/video/ZpKoLvqOWyc/видео.html). Oh well it should work really well when I have the correct device !!
3 months ago I saw this video, I thought that's pretty neat and ordered the equipment, within 2 weeks of then it arrived, I programmed/flashed it and awaited a day where one came close (the UK is in lockdown and we can't travel far). This morning at 5am when I woke up I had an email saying one landed within 5KM so I rushed to get ready and go, within 30 minutes I found it in a field, had the land owners permission to get it and was back in my car on the way home. It is my first catch and I am super happy with myself - thanks for making the video Andreas.
14 years ago I used to chase balloons that were carrying repeaters for a telecommunication company. It took me all over New Mexico and Texas. Those are good times. The company gave me their locations and I would give them back and get a bounty for each balloon I captured. The company was called Space Data.
This is like in the very old days when the Sheriff hunted for some bad guys! At least this is how it is shown in the films. I di not know they had repeaters flying around. Must have been big balloons.
@@AndreasSpiess The balloons were quite large but I don't remember the exact size. The payload was 1 foot cube and had ballast as well as a parachute. The operational altitude was 60,000 feet and above. I don't know the frequency or protocol used (I wasn't interested in radio at the time) but looking back. It seemed to be 70cm or shorter wavelength. Their tracking system used GPS for location and other airborne repeaters to send the location back to a ground station. The mission was to track oil production and freight movement in areas with no other telecommunication options.
Update -- so excited to have found our first balloon today! Only about 5 minutes hunting in an open field. I've ordered up my TTGO to get ready for the trickier ones. Excellent - many thanks Andreas!
You really made me laugh! I did not expect that you will go out in the woods at night to chase the fallen balloons! I really admire your work! You really inspire me!
@@AndreasSpiess Yes, that is true. I still have hope to find it. My friend actually heard on his walkie radiosonde, but at that day unable to go further into forest. Now, I am still trying to find it. Other two radiosondes are no problem to find, got there and by using LFA antenna, found it relatively quickly.
I really enjoyed this video. I remember finding a weather balloon in the early 70's while doing my 5:00AM morning newspaper delivery in Texas. It was so exciting and I will never forgot. Of course, I took it apart to inspect. In those days, a cloth bag with return postal instructions was included. I bagged up and returned the remains after a few days.
Many thanks for your inspirational videos - particularly this one. After two previous unsuccessful attempts I finally recovered one. Whether climbing through hedges and wading across swollen streams is a suitable hobby for a retired gentleman only time will tell. My wife says not, but of course ...I have now tasted blood!
Have had my first successful retrieval last night!! The balloon burst at 36000m and I was lucky enough to watch it hit the ground! The nice thing about my latitude and time zone is I get 2 launches during full sun (for half the year). Thanks again for the quality introduction to a fun hobby. My kids make great navigators😉
Thank you Andreas for again digging a really interesting topic "around sensors and microcontrollers". The more I dive into the things you spend your time on, the more I consider to finally get this amateur radio license thing done.
I just switched my new IC-7300 HF Transceiver on. Listening to a CW contest. Interesting. And no more very complicated to get the license. But for the balloon hunt you do not need to have a license.
@@AndreasSpiess I am aware of that. But you tend to connect me to that topic in a more general way. And as I am a Nachrichtentechnik-Ingenieur, it's perhaps kind of mandatory anyways ;-).
Very nice Video Andreas. When you shut off the sonde asap then you have very good AA batteries for your TV remote controller right from the near space....what is really cool.
So interesting Andreas. Have wondered about these devices. For storm analysis they fly over the cloud and chuck a bunch of dropsondes out of the plane. These then parachute through the storm and provide data for storm analysis. Radiosondes are still relied on as the best means to obtain atmospheric data, it is a crucial part of forecasts for aviation. Thanks for a lovely video. Kind regards, Duncan, South Africa
@@AndreasSpiess I see NASA sends drones up to drop these Sondes into the atmosphere. That's how they get the info about wind and direction on the day a rocket is being launched.
Hi from New Zealand. I actually release RS41 sondes from Invercargill. The connector on the bottom of the board is not just for programming. Its mainly to connect to Ozone sensors for doing Ozone soundings. Before releasing the sondes, we sit them on a ground check device which powers up the sonde and sets its frequency, as well as checking all the sensors. This is all done wirelessly. The old RS91 sondes needed plugged in to start and set, but not these ones. Cheers!
Thank you for the update. I knew about the ozone Sonde connection (I already found a few of them). But I did not know that it is wirelessly programmed!
Especial felicitación para Luciana Magnoli. Tus traducciones, además de ser correctas, tienen un incalculable valor. Muchísimas gracias Magnolia! And many thanks for other marvelous video Andreas! You are BIG! 73
Good stuff! I used to listen to radiosondes in the southwest UK in the 1970s, when they were on 27 MHz just above the (illegal) CB band. They were analogue, of course, and I think they may even still have been using thermionic valves. The various sensors generated voltages, and a rotating motorised cam coupled them in sequence to an audio VCO which AM'd the transmitter - so there was a regular twelve note musical phrase with a regular rhythm, with the different notes drifting at different rates as the various weather parameters changed. Late at night on an otherwise dead band it was very eerie hearing this machine music drift in and out of the static as the balloon moved away. I'd love to find a recording of this, I can hear the tones so clearly in my memory.
@@AndreasSpiess I've been looking for one for years for my colleciton of weird wireless. I even asked the UK Met Office, but no - and they were used in India until quite recently, but still no joy. I shall find one!
I love explaining your videos to my 7 year old daughter. About the planets atmosphere and his different layers, air pressure and more in relation to weather balloons. Thanks
That was fun. I was in the ham radio club when in college 50+ years ago. I remember doing some hidden transmitter hunts with portable receivers and little yagi antennas. You are doing a high tech version of the same thing. However it was easier for us flat landers in the USA and we did not put the transmitters high in trees. i enjoy your channel. Good work, well organized, well presented.
Just imagining ringing the good lady and having to admit I've found the ballon but lost the car!!!! Maybe I need to track the car??? Visions of folk in the U.K. being fined £60 for meeting in fields during the night during the current lock down. Fascinating idea though - thanks for the video.
Oh. P.S. I wanted to let you know that The balloons that drop in the USA carry a prepaid postage bag with them so you can mail them back if found. They just say to keep the batteries. lol
9:13 "I found a small hole in the fence", proceeds to cut the hole with pliers... Nice video Andreas, you are the inspiration for me to start a weather balloon hunt. Cheers from Greece.
What a cool episode! Thanks to the Radiosondy website I just found out that balloons are taking off daily just a few kilometers from my home in the north of Stuttgart, Germany.
Hi, last Fall your video inspired me to order a LoRa Board and build the MySondyGO. Two days ago, I successfully recovered my first RS41. During the preparations I found out that here in the "Dreiländereck" F-CH-D we do not have ballons coming in so often. And those which are coming have travelled a long way in stormy weather and predictions are unreliable.
Congratulations! You have to be patient. The winds will be better one time. You can have a look at the history of balloons from Payerne ( radiosondy.info/maps/web_map.php?kml=1&search_limit=10000&startplace=Payerne%20(CH) ).
Friend and I caught our first sonde (RS92) almost 6 years ago. Got very lucky because at that time I did not know you'd have to fox hunt for the signal. Literally retrieved hundreds of radiosondes ever since. However, with these simple finding devices it has become very easy to chase sondes and there are now too many hunters in my area. It's simply not worth bothering about, unless the sonde falls on my doorstep. I miss the days when friend and I were crawling around in the dark, with a Yagi TV antenna in one hand, and a laptop in the other.
Growing up in Arizona as a avid hunter and motorcycle rider I happened onto two of the old school sounds. They used battery piles soaked in salt water to power them.
Thanks for the great Project. The TTGO was ready in about one hour. I have always some in Stock since FossaSat. After receiving the new SDR Stick the Raspi TOMSC2-14 is online since 2020-11-16 13:26:04z. Building and tuning a Groundplane helped to track some Sondes. The hunt was not successful so far.
Its a bit late, but this may help others: -> Most of the sondes are "disposable" so you can keep them as souvenir, you may also try to hack it - RS41 are up to some extent hackable and may have further use. Some with more elaborate detectors are "WANTED" - there is a reward when returning them, as these are going to be refurbished and launched again.
Always good entertainment in bed on Sunday morning. Puts a smile on wife‘s face :-) She didn‘t hear you for a while but today she did. She thinks you improved your English!
I figured out my main issue... a cheap usb cable that only supplied power (faceslap) if you are hunting in Alberta Canada, ive successfully recieved a signal at 402.010 with the DFM type sonde after 00:00 utc. Still working on a home station.
Now the only thing left to do is get a balloon much higher than 40 km and find some curvature... I guess we have enough distance to not meet at night ;-) And i probably would shout something bulgarian here. Good luck with the next ones ;-)
Oh my goodness! There is a balloon due to fall to earth within 15km of my home at about 8.30pm today. Unfortunately, no TTGO LoRa32 433MHz version (just ordered), but tempted to see how well I can track it using the website.
Nice use of my TTGO 433 that i purchased for the failed Fossa sat1 . Now set up and waiting to listen in for my first reception of weather balloon. 4 launch sites around me. But the last 24 hours the telemetry shows all have slipped out of range of more than 50 miles. Only issue i find so far is the green LED is already flashing without anything being in range and no data. Would ne nice to have the device running permanently and adding a sounder as a balloon passes in range.
Strange that the green LED was flashing. This is not right, I think. Check on radiosondy how high the balloon is. If it is above 10000 you should hear it quite far.
@@AndreasSpiess Reason TTGO v2 green LED flashing is its on GPIO22 conflict with the CLK for the oled . Nothing to do with Signal received pulse on GPIO 25. I will be soldering a active 3v sounder to GPIO 25 and ground and wait for a balloon to pass within range.to test this . www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/big-esp32-sx127x-topic-part-3/18436
Had my first reception on TTGO v2 yesterday. First day of tracking . I lost track of it only 8km from my location while it's altitude was 10km. No data received by SQ6KXY from that point either. So I assume something must have failed on the balloon Sonde. From Andreas videos on Antennas i know my TTGO antenna is trash. looking to replace it and get a Vector Antenna impedance checker again from Andreas youtube videos..
Woow. This is cool. As HAM and also RPI user who also does geocaching this seems a nice combination. Have you received sondes on the TTGO on high altitudes? How sensitive is it? What distance do you think it can receive? And what about the SDR? This is very interesting. I hope you would create another video where you explain a bit more how you built and programmed it. Thanks.
Thanks, Andreas, for doing the parts of our hobby for which we don't have time ourselves (yet...) and condensing days of tinkering into a 'best of' enjoyable video. Put to the extreme: why spend time and money on a hobby when you can watch someone doing it professionally, and in a Swiss accent to boot, for you ?
Loving this topic/ it's like Hi tech geocaching. Already have the kit from previous projects to start hunting. Would be a good addition to the firmware to have a frequency scan feature. within the app for the TTGO. as at the moment i have to open SQ6KXY web page to check what is local to me and tune the TTGO to the frequency via the companion app. Would be great to have the TTGO running in frequency scan mode and once it locks on to a Sonde. pulses the led on GPIO25. of which i would attach a an active sounder to alert me of a passing weather balloon. So i could boot up a PC to find it's expected trajectory. Lazy i know. But a balloon passing near is a rare event. This is a big ask as the firmware is a BIN file and is not open source.
I look at the prediction for the next week to decide what to do. And as soon as the balloon is started you know its frequency. Scanning would probably increase the complexity. For example, if you receive more then one signal.
Hello Andreas! Very nice video! I have one question related to the TTGO receiver antenna. Are you using the 'stock' antenna of 433MHz (the one delivered with the TTGO node) or have you build one in the same case tuned one for the 403.5 MHz?
I used copper/silver wire I use for my breadboards. But I have to replace it in the near future with something a little more robust. Can you solder this bowden cables?
@Andreas Spiess I ordered the ttgo board and the batteries you link to in the description. What I did not notice was, that the lipos have 3 wires but the board only a socket for two. I am confused - to say the least. Any hint on how to connect the battery to the board including onboard charging? Thanks!
Just had my second successful retrieval yesterday! The 1/4 wave ground plane antenna upgrade helps me pick up the signal after landing from 1-2km! The flat praries probably help. Ive been on 4 hunts and have located the sonde all 4 times. The second one I saw drop from the sky like a rock, the popped balloon knotted up into a fairly dense basketball sized mass. They also dont use parachutes here in Alberta, Canada. I'm training my kids to help with the on the fly navigating. We are having lots of fun! Have you tried to hack/repurpose any of the hardware?
Great! Here, the parachutes are inside the balloon and sometimes do not unfold. Concerning hacking: No, I did not repurpose one. But you find some pages where they show how to do it.
The answer is 'yes'. Many balloon launches are conducted using reprogrammed RS41 radiosondes (e.g. running github.com/darksidelemm/RS41HUP ). They are unfortunately a bit too heavy (~60g) for round-the-world floater flights, which ideally need to be
@@AndreasSpiess Hallo Andreas, ich habe ein kleines update für alle neuen sondensucher: www.p1337.synology.me/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=public:wettersonden Ich habe für alle iOS Nutzer eine Möglichkeit gefunden und dokumentiert, wie man die Position auf iOS Geräten darstellen kann. Darüberhinaus gibts ein Gehäuse für den TTGO mit großem Display, welches ich zum download bereitstelle. Danke nochmal, für Dein Video. Hatten schon echt viel Spaß in den letzten Wochen!
Are you reading my mind, Andreas? I've been thinking couple of times recently about a way to track those baloons. Thanks again for the excellent video. BTW, along with the TTGO board I also ordered a replacement diode B5819W to fix a potentially dangerous design flaw in battery charging circuit as mentioned in comments to video #224. Safety first...
Thank you Andreas for this hack of Meteo Balloon, this is very interresting and I will make my own receiver. I'm the President of the association Swiss-Strato in Lausanne and we send Balloon for school or for experimental purpose. I develop my own LoRa tracking baord. The last flight was this week and we try to measure radioactivity with a simple geiger counter. If one day you want to do you own balloon launch, fell free to contact us. We are a small team with many experiences for predicting and tracking. We will be very happy to share with you and your community the launch and the hunt.
Maybe you send me a message on Twitter or Facebook to exchange our address?
@@AndreasSpiess Many Facebookgroups exist about Radiosonde hunting and also many Homepages how to do hunting, receivers,antennas, reprogramming sondes....
facebook.com/groups/209109722902211
www.qsl.net/oe1ffs/Sondenpage/Wettersonde.html
sites.google.com/view/oe3jtb/startseite
....
O
Meeting strangers 101: Nowhere at night, shout "Hello guy with the swiss accent" and everything will be alright.
Good idea ;-)
Personally I would be armed with a Toblerone, just in case!
On a serious note, do these balloons ever come into contact with aircraft?
@@r1273m Not really, the launches are both coordinated with air traffic control and the balloons cross the range of altitudes where planes fly fairly quickly so the chances of a plane hitting one of these are extremely low.
@@r1273m He is armed with his Swiss Army Knife!
I'd poo violently if I ran into someone in the dark wilderness wielding a fully loading Toblerone
Hi Andreas. Thanks for infecting me with another obsession!! I've hunted down several sondes since watching this great vid. However I've been pulling my hair out as I couldn't get more than a few metres range with my mysondy go. I just facepalmed when I realised why. I ordered a 433 mhz ttgo from Amazon months ago and I've just realised it says 915mhz on the back!! No wonder it's barely working !!
Indeed, a good discovery! The filters on this board are made to block frequencies other than 900MHz...
@@AndreasSpiess The filters are doing a pretty good job - I had to be close enough to see the sonde before it would pick up the signal. I spend so many hours trying to figure out the problem and it's such a noob error - So frustrating. I even bought a VNA to tune my antenna (Thanks to Vid #191 ruclips.net/video/ZpKoLvqOWyc/видео.html). Oh well it should work really well when I have the correct device !!
3 months ago I saw this video, I thought that's pretty neat and ordered the equipment, within 2 weeks of then it arrived, I programmed/flashed it and awaited a day where one came close (the UK is in lockdown and we can't travel far). This morning at 5am when I woke up I had an email saying one landed within 5KM so I rushed to get ready and go, within 30 minutes I found it in a field, had the land owners permission to get it and was back in my car on the way home. It is my first catch and I am super happy with myself - thanks for making the video Andreas.
Very good! Since December the balloons here fly direction Italy. So no chances for me to get one inside the 5km range like you!
@@AndreasSpiess Yeah I was definitely very lucky, usually they're at least 50KM away. Thanks for making such an informative and helpful video!
14 years ago I used to chase balloons that were carrying repeaters for a telecommunication company. It took me all over New Mexico and Texas. Those are good times. The company gave me their locations and I would give them back and get a bounty for each balloon I captured. The company was called Space Data.
This is like in the very old days when the Sheriff hunted for some bad guys! At least this is how it is shown in the films.
I di not know they had repeaters flying around. Must have been big balloons.
@@AndreasSpiess The balloons were quite large but I don't remember the exact size. The payload was 1 foot cube and had ballast as well as a parachute. The operational altitude was 60,000 feet and above. I don't know the frequency or protocol used (I wasn't interested in radio at the time) but looking back. It seemed to be 70cm or shorter wavelength. Their tracking system used GPS for location and other airborne repeaters to send the location back to a ground station. The mission was to track oil production and freight movement in areas with no other telecommunication options.
Update -- so excited to have found our first balloon today! Only about 5 minutes hunting in an open field. I've ordered up my TTGO to get ready for the trickier ones. Excellent - many thanks Andreas!
Gla you enjoyed the hunt. Please update the database if not already done.
You really made me laugh! I did not expect that you will go out in the woods at night to chase the fallen balloons! I really admire your work! You really inspire me!
Also in my age some people are still alive and want to do something ;-)
You're a mind-reader!. Just arrived a RTL-SDR dongle, and found an old Raspi at home. Thank you Mr. Spiess. Let the chase begin...
Hopefully you will be successful!
So far, found 2 radiosondes. Third is there somewhere in the forest, but all searches were futile. Great video anyway! Thanks!
Cool! If they stopped transmitting, they are hard to find in a forest…
@@AndreasSpiess Yes, that is true. I still have hope to find it. My friend actually heard on his walkie radiosonde, but at that day unable to go further into forest. Now, I am still trying to find it. Other two radiosondes are no problem to find, got there and by using LFA antenna, found it relatively quickly.
I really enjoyed this video. I remember finding a weather balloon in the early 70's while doing my 5:00AM morning newspaper delivery in Texas. It was so exciting and I will never forgot. Of course, I took it apart to inspect. In those days, a cloth bag with return postal instructions was included. I bagged up and returned the remains after a few days.
I am not sure if this was their intention ;-) But you learned something!
Many thanks for your inspirational videos - particularly this one. After two previous unsuccessful attempts I finally recovered one. Whether climbing through hedges and wading across swollen streams is a suitable hobby for a retired gentleman only time will tell. My wife says not, but of course ...I have now tasted blood!
Here you have to listen to your inner voice, not to your wife ;-)
Always a pleasure to watch your videos! As a young swiss engineer, it give me a lot of ideas to try in my workshop!
And this one even in the nature ;-)
Have had my first successful retrieval last night!! The balloon burst at 36000m and I was lucky enough to watch it hit the ground! The nice thing about my latitude and time zone is I get 2 launches during full sun (for half the year). Thanks again for the quality introduction to a fun hobby. My kids make great navigators😉
Great that you also involve your kids!
Found my first radiosonde today. Thanks for your instructions.
Congratulations!
9:38 I don't generally give advice, however...stay away from "latex lovers."
@@88njtrigg88
As we learnt from the James Bond film.
Just remember to leave some part of you uncovered and you'll be fine.
I was like “what? Did he say that..? Rewind... Rewind”
Thank you Andreas for again digging a really interesting topic "around sensors and microcontrollers". The more I dive into the things you spend your time on, the more I consider to finally get this amateur radio license thing done.
I just switched my new IC-7300 HF Transceiver on. Listening to a CW contest. Interesting. And no more very complicated to get the license.
But for the balloon hunt you do not need to have a license.
@@AndreasSpiess I am aware of that. But you tend to connect me to that topic in a more general way. And as I am a Nachrichtentechnik-Ingenieur, it's perhaps kind of mandatory anyways ;-).
@@AndreasSpiess Why do you need a license in this case? You are just receiving signals, not sending anything, right?
Very nice Video Andreas. When you shut off the sonde asap then you have very good AA batteries for your TV remote controller right from the near space....what is really cool.
And they work even in winter with an open window ;-)
Very entertaining video, this search for weather balloons is high tech geocaching.
That is what I thought, too!
So interesting Andreas.
Have wondered about these devices.
For storm analysis they fly over the cloud and chuck a bunch of dropsondes out of the plane.
These then parachute through the storm and provide data for storm analysis.
Radiosondes are still relied on as the best means to obtain atmospheric data, it is a crucial part of forecasts for aviation.
Thanks for a lovely video.
Kind regards,
Duncan, South Africa
I do not know if they have such storm sondes here. But also the balloons can go quite fast. The max speed I saw without storm was 133km/h
@@AndreasSpiess I see NASA sends drones up to drop these Sondes into the atmosphere. That's how they get the info about wind and direction on the day a rocket is being launched.
Hi from New Zealand. I actually release RS41 sondes from Invercargill. The connector on the bottom of the board is not just for programming. Its mainly to connect to Ozone sensors for doing Ozone soundings. Before releasing the sondes, we sit them on a ground check device which powers up the sonde and sets its frequency, as well as checking all the sensors. This is all done wirelessly. The old RS91 sondes needed plugged in to start and set, but not these ones. Cheers!
Thank you for the update. I knew about the ozone Sonde connection (I already found a few of them). But I did not know that it is wirelessly programmed!
Especial felicitación para Luciana Magnoli. Tus traducciones, además de ser correctas, tienen un incalculable valor. Muchísimas gracias Magnolia!
And many thanks for other marvelous video Andreas! You are BIG!
73
Thank you. I sent her your comment.
Good stuff! I used to listen to radiosondes in the southwest UK in the 1970s, when they were on 27 MHz just above the (illegal) CB band. They were analogue, of course, and I think they may even still have been using thermionic valves. The various sensors generated voltages, and a rotating motorised cam coupled them in sequence to an audio VCO which AM'd the transmitter - so there was a regular twelve note musical phrase with a regular rhythm, with the different notes drifting at different rates as the various weather parameters changed. Late at night on an otherwise dead band it was very eerie hearing this machine music drift in and out of the static as the balloon moved away. I'd love to find a recording of this, I can hear the tones so clearly in my memory.
Maybe you find somebody who still has one of those sondes somewhere in a museum...
@@AndreasSpiess I've been looking for one for years for my colleciton of weird wireless. I even asked the UK Met Office, but no - and they were used in India until quite recently, but still no joy. I shall find one!
I love explaining your videos to my 7 year old daughter. About the planets atmosphere and his different layers, air pressure and more in relation to weather balloons. Thanks
And maybe you hunt for a balloon with her...
You are the guy I wish I had for a neighbor. What great fun.
Thank you!
Of course we're going to call out... it's nighttime, in a forest, and you've got a Swiss Army Knife! 😁
And a big one!
@@AndreasSpiess If I call out and a guy with a Swiss accent answers, I'm running the other direction! I'm in Texas, USA. :)
That was fun. I was in the ham radio club when in college 50+ years ago. I remember doing some hidden transmitter hunts with portable receivers and little yagi antennas. You are doing a high tech version of the same thing. However it was easier for us flat landers in the USA and we did not put the transmitters high in trees. i enjoy your channel. Good work, well organized, well presented.
Technology changed a little over the last 50 years ;-) And I enjoy the today's possibilities!
radiosondy.info is offline for the moment. Please do not try today. Maybe you try tomorrow or later in the week
I'll try it in a few days.
Don't know how hard it'll be without a car though :)
Unfortunate DDOS under the pressure of your too numerous followers. :D
It is online again
you DDoS them Andreas XD
@@guillaumep.7206 I prefer to call it "underperforming network infrastructure"
Just imagining ringing the good lady and having to admit I've found the ballon but lost the car!!!! Maybe I need to track the car???
Visions of folk in the U.K. being fined £60 for meeting in fields during the night during the current lock down.
Fascinating idea though - thanks for the video.
Fortunately we do not have a complete lockdown...
Oh. P.S. I wanted to let you know that The balloons that drop in the USA carry a prepaid postage bag with them so you can mail them back if found. They just say to keep the batteries. lol
You have to save now, I assume. After all the tax cuts ;-)
9:13 "I found a small hole in the fence", proceeds to cut the hole with pliers... Nice video Andreas, you are the inspiration for me to start a weather balloon hunt. Cheers from Greece.
Go for it if balloons land in your vicinity!
What a cool episode! Thanks to the Radiosondy website I just found out that balloons are taking off daily just a few kilometers from my home in the north of Stuttgart, Germany.
So good luck!
It is more din when they land close to your home.
Hi, last Fall your video inspired me to order a LoRa Board and build the MySondyGO. Two days ago, I successfully recovered my first RS41. During the preparations I found out that here in the "Dreiländereck" F-CH-D we do not have ballons coming in so often. And those which are coming have travelled a long way in stormy weather and predictions are unreliable.
Congratulations! You have to be patient. The winds will be better one time. You can have a look at the history of balloons from Payerne ( radiosondy.info/maps/web_map.php?kml=1&search_limit=10000&startplace=Payerne%20(CH) ).
for hunting, all you need are AIM-9Xs
Ou balloons are much smaller. So maybe a sidewinder would not hit ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess Yes but i won't be surprised if Raytheon stock will rise, as probably they will keep wasting money on 400,000 dollars missiles
Friend and I caught our first sonde (RS92) almost 6 years ago. Got very lucky because at that time I did not know you'd have to fox hunt for the signal. Literally retrieved hundreds of radiosondes ever since. However, with these simple finding devices it has become very easy to chase sondes and there are now too many hunters in my area. It's simply not worth bothering about, unless the sonde falls on my doorstep. I miss the days when friend and I were crawling around in the dark, with a Yagi TV antenna in one hand, and a laptop in the other.
I can imagine that this was more complicated and needed more skills back then.
Growing up in Arizona as a avid hunter and motorcycle rider I happened onto two of the old school sounds. They used battery piles soaked in salt water to power them.
Now they use Lithium batteries I do not know which one is better...
@@AndreasSpiess I think they used what was cheap back then. Disposable. They never expected to get them back.
Your chase and hunt at night is thrilling... Cheers! Please stay safe. Best wishes for many more adventures!
Indeed, I still remember this nicht. Now I am already at #14 (balloons found)...
Thanks to this guide, i will make my own tracker, thank you. There is a realistic change that we meet while hunting. I am from Maisprach :-)
Very good. Maybe we meet one day...
Sehr cool, mein Jagdinstinkt ist geweckt :-) Ich habe auf dem APRS Netzwerk schon ab und zu Meldungen auf 144.8 empfangen. 73 Tom HB3YSB
Das waren vermutlich private Ballone. Es fliegen ja einige Selbstbauprojekte... 73 de HB9BLA
Great project !!!! Thanks for that dear Andreas !!! Stay safe.
Thanks, you too!
What A great fun video these slightly different videos Are the ones I like best. Thanks for all the work and sleepless nights . Simon
Glad you like them! You probably saw that I also liked the topic a lot.
9:37 I think he may have misunderstood the article or he has an awesome sense of humor. I AM DYING
I do not think I misunderstood it ;-)
What does your wife says when you run, in the night, telling her you are going to persue balloons will return with some latex? 🤣🤣🤣
That is another story ;-)
Very interesting - thanks for creating and sharing - 73
You are welcome! 73 de HB9BLA
Wow, you have inspired me to try to find a radiosonde or three! Thanks!
Go for it! It is great fun.
Thank you. Ordered the TTGo boards. Plan to try it out. You have a drink waiting for you in SG.
Only after you found one ;-)
Great video, I love it when I find out about something I didn't know "was a thing". I'm not sure if I would try this in the US, I may get shot.
I do not know. Two US sites are also covered on radiosondy
Thanks for the great Project. The TTGO was ready in about one hour. I have always some in Stock since FossaSat. After receiving the new SDR Stick the Raspi TOMSC2-14 is online since 2020-11-16 13:26:04z. Building and tuning a Groundplane helped to track some Sondes. The hunt was not successful so far.
Perfect. I am sure you will be successful with your equipment!
@@AndreasSpiess and all knowledge from your channel - thx!
Very interesting video, as usual. Maybe I missed it, but is it allowed to keep the payload, or should it be given back to the owners?
They provide a manual on how to properly dispose them.
Its a bit late, but this may help others: -> Most of the sondes are "disposable" so you can keep them as souvenir, you may also try to hack it - RS41 are up to some extent hackable and may have further use. Some with more elaborate detectors are "WANTED" - there is a reward when returning them, as these are going to be refurbished and launched again.
Always good entertainment in bed on Sunday morning. Puts a smile on wife‘s face :-) She didn‘t hear you for a while but today she did. She thinks you improved your English!
Say her hello and thank you for the compliment!
Thanks for the inspiration! I retrieved my first radiosonde a few days ago. Great fun!
Congratulations!
Wow, what a great fun project - thanks for sharing with us.
You are welcome!
Your videos are so inspirational!!! Can't wait to reuse these as party balloons!
You hardly find intact ones. Most explode :-(
Wonderful video I am going to build my ground station today. Thank you for a lovely video
Good idea. Enjoy!
Talk about fresh idee-ers in sensors and microcontrollers. This is the best! Thank you Andreas.
You are welcome! Glad you liked it.
Make sure you install the 2.0 drivers, software and mysondygo app!
Thanks for the update.
I figured out my main issue... a cheap usb cable that only supplied power (faceslap) if you are hunting in Alberta Canada, ive successfully recieved a signal at 402.010 with the DFM type sonde after 00:00 utc. Still working on a home station.
Now the only thing left to do is get a balloon much higher than 40 km and find some curvature...
I guess we have enough distance to not meet at night ;-)
And i probably would shout something bulgarian here.
Good luck with the next ones ;-)
You are right. The reach seems to be in the 100km. And it seems there is only one receiving station in Bugaria...
Excellent 👏👏👏
Thank you very much
Very interesting hobby, must say I am considering to join. Thanks Andreas for another very interesting video!
You will love it, I am sure
Sehr schöne Idee und wieder unglaublich lustig und unterhaltsam. Danke, Typ mit dem schweizer Akzent :)
Bitte, gern geschehen!
Die Luftballons in der Region Bodensee gehören mir! :P
Du musst einfach früher aufstehen als die andern ;-)
You are more fun and enthusiastic than many people my age!
:-)
Oh my goodness! There is a balloon due to fall to earth within 15km of my home at about 8.30pm today. Unfortunately, no TTGO LoRa32 433MHz version (just ordered), but tempted to see how well I can track it using the website.
Bad luck!
Nice use of my TTGO 433 that i purchased for the failed Fossa sat1 . Now set up and waiting to listen in for my first reception of weather balloon. 4 launch sites around me. But the last 24 hours the telemetry shows all have slipped out of range of more than 50 miles. Only issue i find so far is the green LED is already flashing without anything being in range and no data. Would ne nice to have the device running permanently and adding a sounder as a balloon passes in range.
Strange that the green LED was flashing. This is not right, I think. Check on radiosondy how high the balloon is. If it is above 10000 you should hear it quite far.
@@AndreasSpiess Reason TTGO v2 green LED flashing is its on GPIO22 conflict with the CLK for the oled . Nothing to do with Signal received pulse on GPIO 25. I will be soldering a active 3v sounder to GPIO 25 and ground and wait for a balloon to pass within range.to test this . www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/big-esp32-sx127x-topic-part-3/18436
Had my first reception on TTGO v2 yesterday. First day of tracking . I lost track of it only 8km from my location while it's altitude was 10km. No data received by SQ6KXY from that point either. So I assume something must have failed on the balloon Sonde. From Andreas videos on Antennas i know my TTGO antenna is trash. looking to replace it and get a Vector Antenna impedance checker again from Andreas youtube videos..
Woow. This is cool. As HAM and also RPI user who also does geocaching this seems a nice combination. Have you received sondes on the TTGO on high altitudes? How sensitive is it? What distance do you think it can receive? And what about the SDR? This is very interesting. I hope you would create another video where you explain a bit more how you built and programmed it. Thanks.
Both worked at 70-100km. Of course only line of sight.
No tracking station in Portugal!! Will change that asap so you guys can have some fun when coming for vacation.
I see one in Lisboa (CS5LAS). But a second one is probably not bad for such a big country...
@@AndreasSpiess I Live in Peniche about 80Km's to the North, so it will help with probes that will move further north.
Looks like you had fun! Sadly I don't think there are any near me...
Yes, I had a lot of fun. Maybe you are closer during your holidays.
Thanks, Andreas, for doing the parts of our hobby for which we don't have time ourselves (yet...) and condensing days of tinkering into a 'best of' enjoyable video.
Put to the extreme: why spend time and money on a hobby when you can watch someone doing it professionally, and in a Swiss accent to boot, for you ?
I can tell you: There is a difference. More scary in reality;-)
Loving this topic/ it's like Hi tech geocaching. Already have the kit from previous projects to start hunting. Would be a good addition to the firmware to have a frequency scan feature. within the app for the TTGO. as at the moment i have to open SQ6KXY web page to check what is local to me and tune the TTGO to the frequency via the companion app. Would be great to have the TTGO running in frequency scan mode and once it locks on to a Sonde. pulses the led on GPIO25. of which i would attach a an active sounder to alert me of a passing weather balloon. So i could boot up a PC to find it's expected trajectory. Lazy i know. But a balloon passing near is a rare event. This is a big ask as the firmware is a BIN file and is not open source.
I look at the prediction for the next week to decide what to do. And as soon as the balloon is started you know its frequency. Scanning would probably increase the complexity. For example, if you receive more then one signal.
Muy interesante el proyecto.Gracias por compartir
You are welcome!
Hello Andreas! Very nice video! I have one question related to the TTGO receiver antenna. Are you using the 'stock' antenna of 433MHz (the one delivered with the TTGO node) or have you build one in the same case tuned one for the 403.5 MHz?
I used the stock antenna because I only receive and on a relatively short distance.
Waw, this is a really cool project. I'll look into to building a device myself ! Sounds interesting ! As usual...
It is not too difficult. And a lot of fun!
Great video as always.
Highly informative and highly entertaining!
Thank you!
What material did you use for your GP antenna? It looks as if it was bike brake bowden cable. I'm using that for some of my antennas and I love it! :)
I used copper/silver wire I use for my breadboards. But I have to replace it in the near future with something a little more robust. Can you solder this bowden cables?
Thank you for this very interesting video, now I've added this to my bucket list as well
Cool!
Fun project! Thanks!
Glad you like it!
" geday Mate , this one's mine ;^)". Another inspiring video Andreas , i love a 'fox hunt'. thanx for the idea.
Good luck finding one or more of them!
@@AndreasSpiess I am surprised there isn't a requirement to return the payloads.
100% I will try this out!
All the best from Rapperswil and thanks a lot for another great video
Good luck!
Nice Andreas, added this to the bucket list… :)BTW where is the little power supply for the RBP? That was a neat idea! Cheers!!!
As most of my stuff on the channel it is from Aliexpress...
@Andreas Spiess I ordered the ttgo board and the batteries you link to in the description. What I did not notice was, that the lipos have 3 wires but the board only a socket for two. I am confused - to say the least. Any hint on how to connect the battery to the board including onboard charging? Thanks!
Well, seems that black is GND, red is Vcc and yellow is a thermistor to GND to read battery temperature. With this the module works incl charging :-)
Glad you found the solution!
Very interesting work there, Andreas.
Might just look into this projekt myself.....,
Greetz von Australia. :)
It is a lot of fun. Recently I found three additional balloons. The winds were blowing in our direction…
Very nice video of the radio probes chasing. I have a lot of fun to find probes. Thanks for the link to my channel ;-)
German viewers sometimes for German content. And you explain very similar things!
@@AndreasSpiess Many thanks. It's a nice hobby that we have. I can highly recommend that. Hopefully this will make the community bigger :-)
Is there a Superpower project update video ETA?
No update so far. I still wait for the designs... But they work hard.
Just had my second successful retrieval yesterday! The 1/4 wave ground plane antenna upgrade helps me pick up the signal after landing from 1-2km! The flat praries probably help. Ive been on 4 hunts and have located the sonde all 4 times. The second one I saw drop from the sky like a rock, the popped balloon knotted up into a fairly dense basketball sized mass. They also dont use parachutes here in Alberta, Canada. I'm training my kids to help with the on the fly navigating. We are having lots of fun! Have you tried to hack/repurpose any of the hardware?
Great! Here, the parachutes are inside the balloon and sometimes do not unfold.
Concerning hacking: No, I did not repurpose one. But you find some pages where they show how to do it.
Interesting video as always. Just curious, is it legal to keep those sondes? Or do you return them to Payerne (or wherever)?
They provide a manual on how to dispose them ecologically
Andreas, vielen Dank für deinen interessanten Beitrag.
Jetzt werde ich wieder viel Geld ausgeben😀 Aber gerne.
Viel Vergnügen dabei!
This looks fun, you said people hack these to use them for their own weather balloons.
Don’t the organizations who send them up, need them back?
No, they provide a manual on how to properly dispose them.
Have these been reused for trackers for ham radio balloon launches such as the ones which circle the earth?
I do not know what they do with the "hacked" devices
The answer is 'yes'. Many balloon launches are conducted using reprogrammed RS41 radiosondes (e.g. running github.com/darksidelemm/RS41HUP ). They are unfortunately a bit too heavy (~60g) for round-the-world floater flights, which ideally need to be
The tree one you must use a drone or something to get it down! Really looked like maybe you could get it ARE NIGHT FINDS BONUS POINTS?
There are a lot of others laying around. So I think we can let it where it is ;-)
Years ago I found a balloon from a school class in a forest. Sent them a nice post card ;)
They for sure liked it!
Well, I was just researching, earlier this week, about doing this, and now look what we have here!
The solution. Proven.
@@AndreasSpiess Exactly! I really appreciate your channel, BTW.
Danke für das Video Andreas. Hatten heute viel Spaß und den ersten Fund bei Stuttgart!
Super!
@@AndreasSpiess Hallo Andreas, ich habe ein kleines update für alle neuen sondensucher: www.p1337.synology.me/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=public:wettersonden Ich habe für alle iOS Nutzer eine Möglichkeit gefunden und dokumentiert, wie man die Position auf iOS Geräten darstellen kann. Darüberhinaus gibts ein Gehäuse für den TTGO mit großem Display, welches ich zum download bereitstelle. Danke nochmal, für Dein Video. Hatten schon echt viel Spaß in den letzten Wochen!
Hi
18 comments in 1 minute!
You are the man!
Patreons can view the video earlier
So this sensor used Sub1Ghz chip from TI. Not LoRa?
Thanks for your informative video.
So eager to see such tiny antenna for so far distance.
Not LoRa
Very interesting, i will look into that topic. I learn many things from your videos. Thanks Andreas.
My pleasure!
the world's favourite engineer
:-)
Nice Volvo 😉
16 years old and still going strong!
This is maybe why we have choose this brand 😀
I am ready! 🤣The Latex-Joke killed me! Informational and funny! 👍👍👍
Thank you!
Are you reading my mind, Andreas? I've been thinking couple of times recently about a way to track those baloons. Thanks again for the excellent video.
BTW, along with the TTGO board I also ordered a replacement diode B5819W to fix a potentially dangerous design flaw in battery charging circuit as mentioned in comments to video #224. Safety first...
Just by accident ;-)
Very entertaining episode!
Thank you!
Always love your videos!
Thank you!