SP0LND balloons − WSPR, LoRa APRS, AFSK APRS and more!

My Balloon Story

I have been launching amateur balloons since April 2024. What you see on this page is only about half of all the balloons I have launched — many flights are not listed here. Over time I have also released numerous RS41 radiosondes powered from a single AA battery or from PV cells, and various other experimental payloads that never made it onto this list.

At some point I realized that flight duration stopped being interesting to me. In reality, how long a balloon stays aloft has very little to do with the operator's skill — it is mostly about luck with weather patterns. The world records sit at over 900 days in the air, and honestly I have neither the patience nor the time to chase numbers like that.

Instead, I shifted my focus towards projects that are genuinely fun and technically challenging: SSDV (camera-equipped balloons transmitting images from the stratosphere), Digi (airborne LoRa APRS digipeaters), and various experiments involving real-time interaction with payloads. These projects give me far more satisfaction than simply watching a dot on a map and hoping the tracker is still alive.

Check my QRZ page (SQ2CPA) for more details about my station and projects.

Why do balloons fall from the sky?

The short answer: clouds. And then more clouds. In roughly 99% of cases, it is moisture and ice accumulation from clouds that brings a balloon down. When a balloon passes through a cloud layer, water or ice builds up on the envelope, adding weight until the balloon can no longer maintain altitude.

The other possibility is an envelope leak, but this typically happens early in the flight. If the balloon survives the first hours without depressurization, it almost certainly will not develop a leak later. So if you see a balloon that has been flying for weeks and suddenly disappears — blame the clouds.

LoRa APRS Digi Balloons

Airborne digipeaters extending LoRa APRS coverage from the stratosphere.

Learn more

SSDV Camera Balloons

Balloons equipped with cameras transmitting live images via SSDV.

ssdv.sp0lnd.pl

The ‘Lost’ date for APRS balloons is the date of the last received packet. The balloon may have been airborne for up to 30 days after that without any contact!

Flight Log

#	Sondehub Payload	Source Callsign	Payload Type	In Flight	Health	Links
39	SP0LND-1	SP0LND-1	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
38	SP0LND-8	SP0LND-8	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
37	SP0LND-2	SP0LND-2	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
36	SP0LND-4	SP0LND-4	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
35	SN0PEK-10	SN0PEK-10	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
34	SN0PEK-9	SN0PEK-9	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
33	SN0PEK-8	SN0PEK-8	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
32	SN0PEK-6	SN0PEK-6	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
31	SN0PEK-15	SN0PEK-15	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
30	SN0PEK-14	SN0PEK-14	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
29	SN0PEK-5	SN0PEK-5	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
28	SN0PEK-4	SN0PEK-4	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
27	SN0PEK-3	SN0PEK-3	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
26	SN0PEK-2	SN0PEK-2	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
25	SN0PEK-1	SN0PEK-1	SSDV	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
24	SP0LND-46	SP0LND/16	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
23	SP0LND-45	SP0LND/15	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
22	SP0LND-8	SP0LND-8	LoRa+AFSK APRS (experimental)	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
21	SP0LND-5	SP0LND-5	LoRa+AFSK APRS (experimental)	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
20	SP0LND-44	SP0LND/14	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
19	SP0LND-14	SP0LND-14	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
19	SP0LND-15	SP0LND-15	LoRa APRS Digi	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
19	SP0LND-10	SP0LND-10	LoRa+AFSK APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
18	SP0LND-9	SP0LND-9	LoRa+AFSK APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
17	SP0LND-6	SP0LND-6	LoRa+AFSK APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
17	SP0LND-4	SP0LND-4	LoRa+AFSK APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
16	SP0LND-3	SP0LND-3	LoRa+AFSK APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
15	SP0LND-2	SP0LND-2	LoRa+AFSK APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
14	SP0LND-1	SP0LND-1	LoRa+AFSK APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
13	SP0LND-41	SP0LND/11	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
12	SP0LND-42	SP0LND/12	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
11	SP0LND-43	SP0LND/13	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
10	SP0LND-33	SP0LND/3	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
9	SP0LND-38	SP0LND/8	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
8	SP0LND-37	SP0LND/7	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
7	SP0LND-31	SP0LND/1	WSPR 20m HF	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
6	SP0LND-35 SP0LND-5*	SP0LND/5 SP0LND-5*	WSPR 20m HF LoRa APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
5	SP0LND-3*	SP0LND-3*	LoRa APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
4	SP0LND-4*	SP0LND-4*	LoRa APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
3	SP0LND-14*	SP0LND-14*	LoRa APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
2	SP0LND-33* SP0LND-13*	SP0LND/3* SP0LND-13*	WSPR 20m HF LoRa APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub
1	SP0LND-32 SP0LND-12	SP0LND/2 SP0LND-12	WSPR 20m HF LoRa APRS	- days	Flying	aprsfi sondehub

Balloon will be marked as lost after a month or two due to different winter sun conditions and APRS coverage — a balloon can be silent for even a few months!

* — callsign will be reused. If you see a balloon with that callsign, it is a different balloon.