WSPR balloon on 20m over the Arctic - 10th June 2020

On the morning of the 10th of June, I left the radio monitoring the WSPR frequency on 20m to see if I would hear anything special. I noted two signals...

Australia... The first was the signal from VK3MO and VK3QN in Australia, always interesting because of the distance. I'm not 100% sure though if they were short path as shown on the map or long path. Might be something worth checking another time.

The one that really caught my eye was the VE3KCL callsign with the strange locator. I assumed at first a decoding error but no, it turns out to be a very small WSPR transmitter hung underneath a helium balloon over the Arctic Ocean!

As of the evening of the 10th of June, it was at an altitude of 10,000 metres, in constant sunlight, has a temperature of minus 6 deg C and is travelling at 18 knots.

It sends out a WSPR signals on 20m with a power output of 10 milliwatts. It was launched on the 16th of May 2020 and has is now starting its third circumnavigation of the planet.

More info here... http://qrp-labs.com/flights/u4b9.html

There are some of the WSPR decodes that I got which shows the locator square changing...

Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
 2020-06-10 20:58  VE3KCL  14.097177  -30  0 MR20 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu  4047 266 
 2020-06-10 20:38  VE3KCL  14.097178  -29  0 MR10 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu  4011 264 
 2020-06-10 19:48  VE3KCL  14.097178  -25  0 MR11 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu  4024 262 
 2020-06-10 18:38  VE3KCL  14.097184  -25  0 MR01 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu  3992 260

In addition to the QSPR signal, it is also sending out a QRSS signal in the form of a balloon!

The image I got a grab of isn't great but you can make out the circle in the waterfall.