Overview
Since the design of my TeensyTrack V3 tracker, I have launched it 6 times with various different balloon setups / prep, solar energy harvesting and energy storage setups, and software versions. The longest flight of which lasted 121 days and completed 11 circumnavigations around the globe all while being actively tracked. Info on each flight is below.
Flight 1 – 2025-11-08 to 2025-11-22
This was my first flight of the TeensyTrack tracker. Launched from a field in Orlando, Fl. Rough launch as it was later in the day and quite windy. Balloon also had minimal free lift which caused concerns of it drifting into low nearby obstacles during ascent.
Power: 4x 0.5v solar cells in series. No supercap
Balloon: PartyWoo with prestretch
Lift: Party store helium. 4g free lift.
Result:
The balloon launch was successful and began transmitting prior to launch. Both the WSPR and CW/RTTY was received by myself and other stations, and successful tracking and data downlink was maintained. Unfortunately, there was a bug in the Maidenhead grid locator code that caused it to improperly wrap early, leading the tracking info to show the balloon suddenly jumping westward which was not its actual behavior. The balloon lasted a total of 4.5 hours and rose to 39,000 ft before developing a leak and descending.
Full flight tracking:
https://traquito.github.io/search/spots/dashboard/?band=20m&channel=7&callsign=KM4VXF&dtGte=2025-11-08&dtLte=2025-11-22
Flight 2 – 2025-11-23 to 2026-03-26
This second flight of my TeensyTrack tracker was my longest, but it definitely came with some issues as discussed below. It was launched from the roof of a parking garage in Orlando.
Power: 4x 0.5v solar cells in series. No supercap
Balloon: Cymylar with prestretch
Lift: Party store helium. 4.5g free lift.
Result: The balloon launch went well and began transmitting. After the first day, though, received data became very spotty after initially being very strong. This continued for the entire flight, with only occasional full packets being received. I believe this may have been due to an antenna element falling off or being damaged. Despite this, the balloon lasted for 121 days and 6 circumnavigations around the globe.
Full Flight Tracking:
https://traquito.github.io/search/spots/dashboard/?band=20m&channel=7&callsign=KM4VXF&dtGte=2025-11-23&dtLte=2026-03-26
Flight 3 – 2026-07-12 to 2026-07-13
During my time at SpaceX in LA I had all of my launch materials and ended up launching a few balloons. Here I switched to a vertical panel configurationn to improve low solar angle perofmrnace and power budget
Power: 3x parallel, 4x series 0.5V solar cells. 1F supercap
Balloon: Cymylar with prestretch
Lift: Party store helium. 4.5g free lift.
Results:
This flight was launched from Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. Launch and ascent went well, but after the first night the balloon did not start transmitting again in the morning.
Full Flight Tracking:
https://traquito.github.io/search/spots/dashboard/?band=20m&channel=7&callsign=KM4VXF&dtGte=2026-07-12&dtLte=2026-07-13
Flight 4 – 2026-07-26 to 2026-08-03
Flights 4 and 5 were launched together from Baldwin Hills again. One was launched on the 20m band and the other was launched on 10m. Both used the same design and setup.
Power: 3x parallel, 4x series 0.5V solar cells. 1F supercap
Balloon: Cymylar with prestretch
Lift: Party store helium. 4.5g free lift.
Results:
Launch went well and stabilized around 36k ft but with frequent dips to lower altitudes. This was because the float height was low enough that local storm cells could pull it down briefly. The balloon went over the Atlantic before coming down near Europe
Full Flight Tracking
https://traquito.github.io/search/spots/dashboard/?band=20m&channel=379&callsign=KM4VXF&dtGte=2026-07-26&dtLte=2026-08-03
Flight 5 – 2026-07-26 to 2026-08-06
Flights 4 and 5 were launched together from Baldwin Hills again. One was launched on the 20m band and the other was launched on 10m. Both used the same design and setup.
Power: 3x parallel, 4x series 0.5V solar cells. 1F supercap
Balloon: Cymylar with prestretch
Lift: Party store helium. 4.5g free lift.
Result:
Launch went well and it started transmitting well. It stabilized around 42k ft, and ended up circling around the United States multiple times over the span of 12 days. Altitude decrease in the final day indicates a balloon failure.
Full Flight Tracking
https://traquito.github.io/search/spots/dashboard/?band=10m&channel=67&callsign=KM4VXF&dtGte=2026-07-26&dtLte=2026-08-06
