Ham radio weather balloon radiosonde hunting!

[@OLHZN]

Who else hates snakes as much as me?!?!?!?! Discord ➡ discord.gg/vxnAf4T How to track a radiosonde ➡ kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2PbXn2tqplmg8k

[@fritz46]

In Germany, insects, blackberry thorns, and stinging nettles would be your enemies in an environment like this. I wouldn't even think about snakes.

[@OLHZN]

Ugh, that all sounds awful. 😩

[@fritz46]

It is, especially if you are only wearing shorts and sandals...

[@kb9mtd-aaronwebb]

We've nettles here along with all the poison ivy and sumac you could ever ask for. Makes for good times when you get into it and don't realise it!

[@MsKCannan]

Me! I probably despise snakes even more than you. However, I would’ve been more concerned with ticks in that tall grassy stuff this time of year. 😳

[@mc6081]

Came here from Mark Rober, awesome video!

[@adrianlorca3216]

Bro, same😂

[@framryk0]

Beautiful drone shots of the area. Luckily no snakes but lots of thorns! Really great video, very pleased to be able to support as a patron.

[@MrHichammohsen1]

That is amazing! Great work as usual and thank you for the eye candy.

[@jeffhampton8781]

I had no idea U.S. radiosondes were converting to 400MHZ. Where do you find information like this? Most of the time when I search NWS Weather Balloon info it just brings up basic info about the program but never any new information like that. Earlier this year I started building a long-range, 1066mm folding heavy lift quad that will use dual cameras and a large servo actuated grappler on a 25ft cable to attempt to retrieve balloons from areas that are basically inaccessible by normal means, which is a good portion of my area. Unfortunately another major project took precedence this year plus the balloons in my area just haven't been landing anywhere even remotely accessible, yet. Tory, last year I started a thread on RCG (XionUAV) about chasing U.S. NWS Weather balloons because honestly I could find no other forums dedicated to it. If you have a forum specifically for this that I've missed someplace let me know. It would be nice to have a place where U.S. enthusiasts go to share information. I checked out Auto RX on Git Hub but the info seems specific to building a receiver using the code but doesn't really given an overview of exactly the purpose or advantages over just using a receiver and decoder software on a laptop. Being able to view the data and GPS track online is great but someone still has to track the balloon and upload the data. I have found no one else in my area even interested in doing that. I still can't even find decent software to output NEMA data to an antenna tracker. Most are so old they still list serial ports as outputs. Haven't been able to make those work yet. A lot of room for improvement for the hobby here in the U.S.

[@OLHZN]

I'd recommend jumping on our Discord server. We have an entire channel dedicated to weather balloons, which includes one of the guys that wrote the auto_rx software: discord.gg/vxnAf4T

[@jeffhampton8781]

@@OLHZN I went on there once but as I recall it was more of a chat room and not a forum with pictures and attachments and such that could be archived and searched. Found a thread on Reddit with some U.S. related info. Several from Europe. I'll keep searching. Did find one other guy in my State with an online tracker setup but he's so far away from the launch site that he would either need a huge dish or the frequency to change to the lower band to be able to pick up the signal reliably.

[@TheNapalmFTW]

I literally emailed my local NWS office. They were super helpful.

[@wrenchmonkey3920]

just got into aprs, saw a flight today came ashore near ellisburg so told my inlaws in mannsville to keep an eye out. Seems like lower than 9k ft aprs drops and have to use its uhf beacon. cool stuff n2ned

[@mahnogardnash387]

Excellent video! And the lobster... he is always around the corner... 🤣

[@OLHZN]

Lobsters are everywhere! 🦞

[@CoolThingsKidsShouldKnow]

Love the drone shots.. Oh and the video lol

[@MyAeroMove]

Still confused about frequencies in US. Is it around 401MHz or 1.7Ghz? Or NWS has different types of payload with different frequencies?

[@OLHZN]

Depends on the area. The US is gradually moving to the 400 MHz sondes. Some areas already use them. Others, like Buffalo, still use the older 1680 MHz sondes.

[@thrillingtones7515]

Is there any live today

[@coolbluelights]

Wish I could set up a receiving station but there is no information on how to even download the software. Github is not user friendly for non software engineers.

[@kb9mtd-aaronwebb]

Tory I use a 3 element 2m beam to track. The plan is to se out satellite receivers either at a friends house or a convenience store or something. These with maybe a 2 element tape measure antenna. It seems that most of the guys on sondehub are using monopoles but there is no antenna gain which helps at distances farther than 45 miles. Also with the gain I can get more of the takeoff and landing. Generally my start is about 3000 and at distance its either that or 5000ft at landing. What about you? Anyhow great video! What drone do you use? I may have missed it.

[@OLHZN]

I use a directional parabolic grid / dish to receive (link in description) which has super high gain. I can usually receive up to about 150 miles away. The altitude I receive up/down to depends on how far away it is, but usually I can get every flight down to about 8000 ft. or less if it's closer. Today's flight I received up to 30 ft. AGL...... and the drone is a Mavic Air 2.

[@Honorthevessel]

What lake is that?

[@OLHZN]

Seneca Lake

[@edthompson9569]

Machete, my friend. It is your friend.

[@OLHZN]

I don't know why I never thought of adding a machete to my recovery kit, but I should seriously consider it!

[@ProDiamondz]

This is so cool

[@LivingWithSpinaBifida]

I didnt get a notification for this video for some reason. Also what camera did you use to make this video Tory?

[@kenn743]

i have for many years participated in radiofoxhunting at 11 m 2 m and 160 m search in here on (a r d f) radiofoxhunting a fun sport that is used all over the world a little in the same style as with the balloon however, much simpler technically and on time who first finds all foxes win fine video thanks

[@ahaveland]

I climbed more trees in my 50s to retrieve my drone and battled my way through trifids in the dark in remote forests than I ever did as a kid! The first time is fun, the subsequent times not so much! Do NOAA pay a bounty for retrieving it for them?

[@OLHZN]

I wish they paid a bounty, but no... ☹

[@GopnikPanda]

Better grab a trail bike or something next time --maybe.