Weather balloon chasing is a thrilling mix of citizen science, amateur radio, and a real-world treasure hunt. Every day, meteorological stations around the world launch thousands of balloons carrying instrument packages called radiosondes. These packages beam live weather and GPS data back to earth on frequencies right around 400 MHz.
SondeMonitor by COAA is a classic, lightweight Windows software application used by hobbyists to listen to those raw radio transmissions, extract the telemetry data, and pinpoint exactly where a balloon is flying—and where it will land. 🛠️ The Beginner Hardware Checklist
To use SondeMonitor, you don’t need expensive equipment. You just need a way to capture the radio wave and pass it to your computer as audio:
Chasing weather balloons (and incredible RF receiver … – CRFS
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