The Bottlecap Balloon Brigade Mystery

No one is certain if the mystery object shot down by the U.S. Air Force over the Yukon in February was the K9YO-15 ham radio balloon. But this is certain … the speculation that it might have been is shining a spotlight on this small but growing corner of our hobby, with potentially positive impacts.

RICH MOSESON

On February 12, 2023, at the request of Canada’s prime minister, a U.S. Air Force jet shot down an unidentified object floating above the remote Yukon Territory, and speculation quickly turned to the possibility that it was a high-flying amateur radio balloon which had been tracked in the region the day before and has not been heard from since. The mystery object was one of three shot down by U.S. fighters in the week following the tracking and eventual takedown of a much larger Chinese spy balloon that made its way across much of the United States before being brought down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. At press time, Canadian authorities were still searching for any wreckage that might possibly be recovered, to help determine…

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CQ Amateur Radio (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2023

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