Recently the National Weather Service ( 7851 Dean Martin Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89139) has been launching radiosondes.
Radiosondy.info Las Vegas
Launch times during standard time will be 3AM and 3PM PST should anyone want to see a launch.
There are two ways that I know how to track them.
radiosonde auto rx
rdz ttgo sonde
ttgo lora 433MHz v1.1
Now you might wonder which method should you use. The answer is both. First look at the tracks saved from Radiosondy.info. The tracking in Nevada is being done from Arizona because nobody closer is running the software. Now if you want to recover a radiosonde because you need another stupid hobby and or don't like trash in the desert, you will need better tracking. The closer you track the balloon to the ground, the more accurate the predicted landing will be. So running auto_rx will provide better documentation. Due to terrain, it is unlikely that some remote tracking location will track the radiosonde down to the ground. The signal is generally lost due to terrain blocking the signal.
Now your odds of finding a radiosonde from the predicted landing location are slim. But if you can get to withing a mile or so of the predicted landing location with a receiver, you can often get the signal off the ground and read the lat lon coordinates. Now you could haul a notebook computer running auto_rx or you can use the TTGO Lora receiver. The advantage to using the Lora is it is small and light. You may have to hike to get close enough for a reading. (Do you want to be THAT person using a notebook in a park?) What I do is once I get a lat lon from the Lora I put it in a GPS and head to the spot. Something like geocaching except with a higher geek level and much more difficult.
Just one more thing. Because these radiosondes are launched every 12 hours, the one on the ground will need to stop transmitting in order to not interfere with the one in the air. They seem to set a timer for 8.5 hours. Say you want to recover the 3AM launch. That means you need to get to the predicted landing site by say 11AM for some margin. If you need to hike to the predicted landing location then you need to get there even sooner. I leave the TTGO Lora in the car. I rather not lose a notebook to a car break-in. Worse yet is the 3PM launch. In the winter that balloon will land in the dark. So you need to drive to the general location to get the reading from the TTGO and then return another day.
What else do you need? Well a knife will come in handy. The radiosonde consists of the electronics and the balloon which are tied together with a string that you cannot break with your hands. The string in my recoveries is generally caught in brush. It is easier to recover everything by cutting the string from the balloon and the electronics. Also useful are binoculars. Sometimes the balloon is on the side of a hill with a death defying climb. Other times it is up a tree and probably not recoverable. At least with the binoculars you can close the case.
Note the antenna that comes with the Lora 433MHz model will not work at the 403 MHz of the radiosondes. The Diamond rh77c will work fine.
A few months ago a launch site in Reno appeared. At the moment it is not on the radiosondy site. You can track radiosondes for up to 12 hours at
live and up to 12 hour tracking
Here is one that is archived.
logged Reno balloon
Sometimes these radiosondes from Reno land near Walker Lake so a landing could coincide with a camping trip.
On the off chance that these Nevada launches land in an urban area, Google Earth comes in handy. Put in the landing location and then use the street view icon to see the closest road that Google could use. If Google can drive there, so can you. Then use street view to see if the area is public enough that you can wander around it. Parks obviously are fair game, but shopping malls, commercial areas and apartment complexes are public enough.
Happy hunting.
Radiosondy.info Las Vegas
Launch times during standard time will be 3AM and 3PM PST should anyone want to see a launch.
There are two ways that I know how to track them.
radiosonde auto rx
rdz ttgo sonde
ttgo lora 433MHz v1.1
Now you might wonder which method should you use. The answer is both. First look at the tracks saved from Radiosondy.info. The tracking in Nevada is being done from Arizona because nobody closer is running the software. Now if you want to recover a radiosonde because you need another stupid hobby and or don't like trash in the desert, you will need better tracking. The closer you track the balloon to the ground, the more accurate the predicted landing will be. So running auto_rx will provide better documentation. Due to terrain, it is unlikely that some remote tracking location will track the radiosonde down to the ground. The signal is generally lost due to terrain blocking the signal.
Now your odds of finding a radiosonde from the predicted landing location are slim. But if you can get to withing a mile or so of the predicted landing location with a receiver, you can often get the signal off the ground and read the lat lon coordinates. Now you could haul a notebook computer running auto_rx or you can use the TTGO Lora receiver. The advantage to using the Lora is it is small and light. You may have to hike to get close enough for a reading. (Do you want to be THAT person using a notebook in a park?) What I do is once I get a lat lon from the Lora I put it in a GPS and head to the spot. Something like geocaching except with a higher geek level and much more difficult.
Just one more thing. Because these radiosondes are launched every 12 hours, the one on the ground will need to stop transmitting in order to not interfere with the one in the air. They seem to set a timer for 8.5 hours. Say you want to recover the 3AM launch. That means you need to get to the predicted landing site by say 11AM for some margin. If you need to hike to the predicted landing location then you need to get there even sooner. I leave the TTGO Lora in the car. I rather not lose a notebook to a car break-in. Worse yet is the 3PM launch. In the winter that balloon will land in the dark. So you need to drive to the general location to get the reading from the TTGO and then return another day.
What else do you need? Well a knife will come in handy. The radiosonde consists of the electronics and the balloon which are tied together with a string that you cannot break with your hands. The string in my recoveries is generally caught in brush. It is easier to recover everything by cutting the string from the balloon and the electronics. Also useful are binoculars. Sometimes the balloon is on the side of a hill with a death defying climb. Other times it is up a tree and probably not recoverable. At least with the binoculars you can close the case.
Note the antenna that comes with the Lora 433MHz model will not work at the 403 MHz of the radiosondes. The Diamond rh77c will work fine.
A few months ago a launch site in Reno appeared. At the moment it is not on the radiosondy site. You can track radiosondes for up to 12 hours at
live and up to 12 hour tracking
Here is one that is archived.
logged Reno balloon
Sometimes these radiosondes from Reno land near Walker Lake so a landing could coincide with a camping trip.
On the off chance that these Nevada launches land in an urban area, Google Earth comes in handy. Put in the landing location and then use the street view icon to see the closest road that Google could use. If Google can drive there, so can you. Then use street view to see if the area is public enough that you can wander around it. Parks obviously are fair game, but shopping malls, commercial areas and apartment complexes are public enough.
Happy hunting.
