004 Tracking and Chasing Weather Balloons with TTGO LoRa Board and Raspberry Pi. Fun and Adventure

High tech falling out of the sky? Is this true? Yes, 3000 times each day around the world. And it can be a lot of fun to hunt this “fall-out.” With a LoRa module, a Raspberry Pi, and an RTL-SDR dongle. Come with me on a drive through the night. And learn how you can experience such adventures, too. Maybe with your kids?
We will use radiosondy and MySondy Go.
Links:
Radiosondy Project: radiosondy.info/
Mysondy Go: mysondy.alterv...
TTGO LoRa board: s.click.aliexp... or bit.ly/38iV7gb or ebay.to/35767LF
Battery: s.click.aliexp... or ebay.to/3l8KzUF or amzn.to/3llqNFH (check the polarity of the plug!)
SDR Dongle (simple): s.click.aliexp...
SDR Dongle (better quality) US: amzn.to/3riramM
SDR dongle (better quality): bit.ly/2U2Pc6L
Raspberry Pi4 DE: amzn.to/3avMgaG
Raspberry Pi4 : ebay.to/3n1sPef
The links above usually are affiliate links that support the channel (no additional cost for you).
Github: www.github.com...
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[@guntherjordan7177]

Einfach köstlich! 🤣 Andreas, Ich mag Deine Art zu erzählen!Man merkt wieviel Spaß es Dir gemacht hat! Sehr schöne Erklärung!

[@HB9BLA]

Danke for deine netten Worte!

[@TubularNut]

Very Interesting subject. I tracked online radiosonde S1830558 this morning, flying out from Sussex, England. I'm in the north of Kent and could hear it on my handheld radio (on my desk) whilst it was almost off the coast of France! Have now registered with Radiosonde Tracker and ordered my first RTL-SDR. Thank you :-)

[@HB9BLA]

Cool. Then you will provide UK information. There are a few other stations active. But one more is always good.

[@byteborg]

Salü, guy with the swiss accent and thanks for the thrilling videos of you, hunting weather balloons at night. The last time I checked there were almost no balloons going down in my area, though (Rhein-Main in Germany)...

[@HB9BLA]

Patience is an important thing for the hunt ;-) I had to wait 6 months... On Radiosondy (advanced search) you can show a map of all balloons sent over the years. There you see your chances.

[@wifigod]

Looks like I'm the first comment in the last ~2months... I'm surprised this didn't get a bump or resurgence due to the recent balloon-related news in the US. I just happened to find your second channel, but what a perfect first project to experiment with! As always, thanks for the interesting info!

[@HB9BLA]

Indeed, the news could have created a bump. But maybe it is too technical ;-)

[@Yelnats101]

Outstanding video! I can tell you like walking in the woods at night :)

[@HB9BLA]

Thank you!

[@danielymilva]

Excellent Andreas. Looking forward to watch many interesting videos. 73! de HB9IIU, Daniel

[@HB9BLA]

Thank you! 73

[@n2kto]

Outstanding project! Thanks for another project!!!!!!!!

[@HB9BLA]

Glad you liked it. I still hunt all balloons that decide to land in my region ;-)

[@jtreg]

Omg this is priceless lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣. I'm in central London... So I doubt I will get any landings near me but the station idea looks v interesting. I have about 20 R Pi A's kicking about after graduating masters in computational art.... good on ya Andrea's!

[@HB9BLA]

I am not sure how many parallel channels a Pi model A supports. It is pretty weak.

[@denesk2794]

I just checked a bunch of sites and absolutely no info on Central America / Costa Rica. I used to live close to a station where they fired weather rockets regularly, but no database/info on weather balloons whatsoever. I wonder if I could find something with a cheap SDR ... I even have a HackRF One somewhere deep in my tech-junk-stacks...

[@HB9BLA]

@@denesk2794 The project uses a 10 dollar RTL-SDR stick

[@jaredquinn1]

Thank you Andreas! Love that you've split your channel for projects of interest to us hams! 73s from VK2WAY.

[@HB9BLA]

Glad you like the idea. Welcome on this channel!

[@Cyklonus]

👍

[@HB9BLA]

:-)

[@FreeStuffGuy916]

Another interesting video. I never knew these existed. I'll keep checking around California but I don't see much activity yet. These devices must be cheap to make and abandon. Interesting to see what you can do with them. 73 de N6EF

[@HB9BLA]

US stations often use sondes on 1.6GHz. This might be the reason you do not see them on Radiosondy.info

[@gerd3136]

Great, thanks a lot 🤩👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼.

[@HB9BLA]

You are welcome!

[@ericescobar4588]

Awesome video!

[@HB9BLA]

Thank you!

[@ericescobar4588]

@@HB9BLA how far away can you catch a signal?

[@HB9BLA]

300km is my record. But this is mainly because of the geography. Better suited stations get a. longer reach

[@romanhar4151]

Thank you for this interesting and cool video. 😎👍🙂 73 de HB9XBK, Roman

[@HB9BLA]

You are welcome! 73

[@fp2634]

Neuchatel Canton authorities recently announced that drunk hunting will be prohibited. But I'd surely bring a bottle to reward you for the videos if we meet on a spot. By the way, are you supposed to return the hardware to the confederation? Do they consider it as wasted? Cheers :)

[@HB9BLA]

Most authorities consider them as waste and even provide info on how to correctly dispose of them. Only for the big ozone sensors do they pay you 50$ if you send it back. And with the bottle: We will decide what to do when we meet in a dark night ;-)

[@jean-marcparatte5564]

Very very funny ;-)

[@HB9BLA]

Thank you!

[@EarthWalkerMan]

What is a link to map of active receivers? 8:15 I would like to know, if I should set up my own receiver.

[@HB9BLA]

You should find it in the video description (radiosondy.info)

[@EarthWalkerMan]

So if I understand, these sondes are meant for one time use and weather agencies doesn't go to collect them? Hm interesting, that actually means that you can get free tech from the sky :)

[@denesk2794]

I wonder how much these cost to make and whether it would make sense for them to post a bounty. Well, I guess most people who hunt for these are ones who would rather scavenge them for usable parts or keep them as trophies. Still, I am curious what they cost and whether it's better to just abandon them rather than having a return-if-found bounty.

[@HB9BLA]

Yes, I have 12 sondes in my basement;-)

[@HB9BLA]

@Denes: They are abandoned everywhere I know. Only for the bigger ozone sondes you get around 50$ if you send them in. These sondes have a pump and a large battery. Plus one of the ordinary sondes.

[@martyschrader]

Think how cheaply they must be fabricated for this kind of usage -- one time, no recovery. Wow.

[@HB9BLA]

They are used worldwide. But I think these operations are anyway expensive. The sensors are probably a minor part