“I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach,” said one picoballoon hobbyist. "We knew it would come eventually. We really didn't think it would go that way.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kxzpd/balloon-enthusiasts-undeterred-by-us-air-force-shootdowns-ufo
#Technews #worldnews #picoballoon #spyballoon #china

FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/ #highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #RadioHacks #balloon #FOSDEM #rp2040 #tinygo #HAB

FOSDEM Sees Surprise Pico Balloon Event - At any vaguely-related conferences, groups of hackers sometimes come together to c... - https://hackaday.com/2023/03/04/fosdem-sees-surprise-pico-balloon-event/ #highaltitudeballoon #amateurradio #picoballoon #radiohacks #balloon #fosdem #rp2040 #tinygo #hab

Answering Some Pico Balloon Questions https://hackaday.com/2023/02/24/answering-some-pico-balloon-questions/ #CurrentEvents #picoballoon #balloon #HAB

The mystery object shot down by the U.S. Air Force over Alaska on February 11th was likely a "pico balloon" launched by amateur radio operators.

K9YO-15 had been aloft for 123 days and was on its seventh circumnavigation of the globe when contact was lost on February 11th near Hagemeister Island in Alaska. The description from the Pentagon of a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" matches the typical pico balloon design. K9YO-15 consisted of a 32-inch silver mylar balloon and small (10 gram) electronics payload and likely cost less than $100 to build.

The Sidewinder AIM-9X missile used to shoot it down cost over $400,000.

https://www.space.com/mystery-object-shot-down-yukon-amateur-ballloon

#K9YO15 #Balloon #Balloons #USAF #AirForce #F22 #PicoBalloon #Alaska #Shoot #Military #Pentagon #Radio #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #USA #USPol #Space

The mystery object shot down by the U.S. Air Force over Alaska on February 11th was likely a "pico balloon" launched by amateur radio operators.

K9YO-15 had been aloft for 123 days and was on its seventh circumnavigation of the globe when contact was lost on February 11th near Hagemeister Island in Alaska. The description from the Pentagon of a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" matches the typical pico balloon design. K9YO-15 consisted of a 32-inch silver mylar balloon and small (10 gram) electronics payload and likely cost less than $100 to build.

The Sidewinder AIM-9X missile used to shoot it down cost over $400,000.

https://www.space.com/mystery-object-shot-down-yukon-amateur-
ballloon

#K9YO15 #Balloon #Balloons #USAF #AirForce #F22 #PicoBalloon #Alaska #Shoot #Military #Pentagon #Radio #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #USA #USPol #Space

Plans for your own #hamradio #picoballoon https://www.picoballoons.net/trackers/wspr-tracker

The USAF (Almost) Declares War on Illinois Radio Amateurs https://hackaday.com/2023/02/18/the-usaf-almost-declares-war-on-illinois-radio-amateurs/ #picoballoon #RadioHacks #balloon #News #wspr #HAB

The USAF (Almost) Declares War on Illinois Radio Amateurs - Every week the Hackaday editors gather online to discuss the tech stories of the m... - https://hackaday.com/2023/02/18/the-usaf-almost-declares-war-on-illinois-radio-amateurs/ #picoballoon #radiohacks #balloon #news #wspr #hab

@knapjack: #NIBBB #PicoBalloon #K9YO #SidewinderShootdown

Seems to me the whole framing of this incident is backwards.

On Feb. 11, an NIBBB pico balloon destroyed an errantly-launched Sidewinder missile before it could lock-on to and potentially destroy any manned aircraft in the balloon's patrol area. The downed missile was the first such threat the pico balloon had encountered in its 100,000+ miles and 4+ months on patrol.

Four more, and NIBBB will rightly be entitled to claim the title "Ace". They are already entitled to display a sidewinder trophy silhouette on their launch facility.

I was not entirely wrong.
#picoballoon

Thinking I might have missed the window for building my own spy...err... #hamradio #picoballoon without massive regulatory oversight, but they look pretty cool (aside from sending nations into war footing and causing mass #UFO and #balloon hysteria).

"It seems you don’t need to be a nation state agency to get in on the UFO action nowadays - you could just be a Go developer!" 🎈

TinyGlobo 1 in the latest
@golangweekly

https://golangweekly.com/issues/448

#golang #tinygo #picoballoon #fosdem

Mehr Infos zu dieser #PicoBalloon-Community und ihren Weltumrundungen hier. https://ham-tv.com/balloon/

#HamRadio #Balloon #Picoballoon

What I know for sure about radio amateurs is that they obtain their FCC license by knowing all the pertinent federal regs that govern radio operations, and you'd think that if they do balloon radio, they'd be on top of all the air lane/flight path regulations too.

You'd think.

Operating drones by license is a principle that's there for a reason especially when a drone owner is near an airport. Or U.S. Air Force base.

You'd think.

#HamRadio #Balloon #Picoballoon

That's what I get for not closely watching the amateur radio operators on here...I got word of this "picoballoon" thing a bit late...but...ever wonder how a metal anything without propulsion could ever fly into commercial airline traffic?

First thing I thought of was mylar party balloons because they give a metallic appearance...then I get wind of this:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/did-an-f-22-blow-up-some-illinois-hobbyists-pico-balloon.html

TinyGlobo 1, the TinyGo powered balloon released into the skies above #FOSDEM yesterday performed way beyond our wildest expectations!

Distance: 400.64 Km
Duration: 4:20:14 (h:m:s)
Altitude: 4843 M
Github: https://github.com/hybridgroup/tinyglobo

#golang #tinygo #picoballoon #lorawan #fosdem23

The final stats coming soon, but yesterday's flight of TinyGlobo 1 was an absolute success! Here is the map of its 4 hours journey before battery was drained.
#tinygo #golang #fosdem #picoballoon

You can follow TinyGlobo 1 on its aerial journey live at https://TinyGlobo.com

#tinygo #golang #picoballoon

Balloons are filled and attached. Getting ready to head to #FOSDEM for TinyGlobo launch!
#tinygo #golang #picoballoon