W5KUB's Balloon a World Traveler

The route (in red) of W5KUB-18, as it made its three (so far) trips around
the world, as tracked on habhub.com.

A high-altitude balloon carrying amateur radio launched in May by "Amateur Radio Round- table" host Tom Medlin, W5KUB, completed its third trip around the world on July 12 and headed across Quebec to start its fourth lap. The hydrogen-filled balloon was flying at altitudes of 40,000+ feet and being carried by the wind. 

The W5KUB-18 WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) telemetry transmitter puts out 10 milliwatts and transmits on 14 MHz. It operates only on solar power (solar cells plus a 2-farad supercapacitor - no batteries), so it only transmits when it is in daylight. The balloon also transmits APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) data. 

For updates and more details, visit <http://tmedlin.com/balloon-3-2/> or listen to Amateur Radio Roundtable on Tuesday evenings at 2000 Central time (0100 Wednesday UTC).