A lesser know radio hobby is tracking and recovering the weather balloons that the Nation Weather Service sends up multiple times per day. The NWS Nashville office, OHX, sends up 2 balloons per day, 0600 and 1800 hours. These balloons rise to a height maximum over 100,000 feet and sometimes travel for hundreds of miles. Sometimes, due to the wind patterns high in the sky the balloons travel a great distance but not in a straight line.
On June 04, 2025 OHX launched a balloon at 1800 hours and it zigged zagged back and forth a few times. This balloon landed in the Bethpage area. The last known location was received by NR6T-01 while the radiosonde (the actual telemetry unit) was at an elevation of 191 meters. The sonde landed somewhere in that vicinity but it was about 2130 hrs and dark.
Not wanting to disturb anyone that late I went out with on of the MySondeGo trackers I have and set it to the 404.810mhz frequency. At about 1100 feet away from the device I stared to receive the radio transmission from the radiosonde and was able to get its exact GPS coordinates. With this information in hand my mission was complete, for the time being. This was an important step as the batteries would be dead by morning and the unit would no longer be transmitting its location.
At 0800 on June 5th I headed back out to the location and knocked on the door of the home where the GPS coordinates were. This was private property and I wanted to secure permission before entering. As I drove up the driveway I could see the bright orange parachute on the ground in the yard. The homeowner granted me permission to recover the balloon. I walked over to where I had seen the orange parachute and there was the remnants of the balloon, after it burst around 34,290 meters elevation, (112,500 Feet), and the radiosonde itself.
This was a particularly exciting event for me as I have attempted 3 prior recoveries with various results. The 1st recover attempt I found in the forest canopy about 70′ high. The second I could not find the device as it was a night landing and I did not go out to get the exact GPS coordinates when it landed. By the next day the batteries were dead, who knows where that device actually landed. My 3rd attempt was partially successful. I was able to get within 450′ of the device but it was on a private hay field and I could not find anyone to grant me permission to enter the field. That was a big disappointment for sure, so close yet so far away!
Today marks my 1st successful radiosonde recovery! I have been at this for months. It can be a frustrating hobby but fun nonetheless. The excitement of the chase coupled with an actual recovery it the ultimate reward in this game!
So now what do I do with this device. They can be collected, or disposed of after the fun of the hunt. However they can be reprogrammed to a authorized amateur radio frequency and sent back up into the skies as an Amateur Radio Balloon and tracked on https://amateur.sondehub.org.
I have to give a shout out to WJ2B for introducing me to this fun hobby. Without his guidance I would never have ventured this deep into the Radiosonde game. Thanks Joe!
You can track active and historical balloons as the following website : https://tracker.sondehub.org
You can see the flight path of this particular balloon here : https://tracker.sondehub.org/#!mt=Mapnik&mz=10&qm=12h&mc=36.40909,-86.44547&f=25002044&q=25002044&box=aboutbox
