2019-06-26: DFM09s

2019-06-26: Tracking the Probes

On 25th and 26th of June, 2 DFM09-probes were launched each day near Bad Liebenzell — I have never consciously seen any probes launched from there. It is likely that they were launched by the army as there is a military installation in nearby Calw.

On 26th, they landed South of Stuttgart near Leinfelden-Echterdingen and Rohrbrunn. The first one landed in the vicinity of an Autobahn. Arriving there, I acquired the signal but could not decode it. I used the directional antenna to home in on its landing position. Nearing the probe, the signal became really strong. So strong that there was no way that it could not be decoded. Sitting down on a trunk of a tree in the middle of a forest with my laptop and wondering what a casual passerby would have thought about this, I managed to decode the probes datagrams even without preamplifier. Earlier, I had set the wrong parameters:

[ 59] 2019-06-26 19:26:57.0 lat: 48.712756 lon: 9.086543 alt: 573.8 vH: 0.00 D: 222.3 vV: 0.00 (ID9:17051037)

With the directional antenna, I could determine the tree on which the probe had landed. Unfortunately, I could not locate it on the tree.

So I went on to the next probe that had landed in the meanwhile originating from Bad Liebenzell as well. As it became dark I just drove near the probe and look for a parking space to acquire and decode its signal:

[ 38] 2019-06-26 20:12:48.0 lat: 48.683769 lon: 9.125001 alt: 490.1 vH: 0.00 D: 263.5 vV: 0.00 (ID9:17047441)

2019-07-06 Searching for the Probes

A Saturday with a little bit of time at hand. So I went for a second sweep to locate the probes. I first went to the 2nd probe 17047441 (DF641F91) and found it hanging in a tree — too high for recovery without additional tools. Looking with the binoculars. I could locate the rest of the balloon on the tree top as well. A parachute was nowhere visible.

I went on to the other probe with low expectations. To my surprise,  17051037 (DF642D9D), had made its way done from the tree and was easily recoverable. Not having recovered any DFM09 so far, I happily went back home.

2019-08-18: Recovery of 17047441

On 2019-08-10 I had successfully tried to reach the probe with fiber rod extended with the trunk of a fallen over tree. At that time, the hook was too small to capture the thread. Now, I came back with a new hook. With the second attempt, I was able to attach the hook to the thread of the probe and pull it down. As the probe flew without a parachute, I guessed that I would be able to recover the complete probe with the rest of the balloon (Normally the parachute entangles itself with the treetop and it is then impossible to remove it). I was wrong however, the thread ripped apart and the rest of the balloon remains in the tree.