WT5TX and K5RGV Rio ARC Balloon Serial #3 Launch

To track this pico Balloon: https://traquito.github.io/search/spots/da...

On April 26, 2025, at 9:25AM local time, the third Rio ARC Pico Balloon—sponsored by Tom (WT5TX)—was launched southwest of Harlingen, TX. It started reporting shortly after launch heading north just east of Harlingen. At the time of launch the wind was tracking from the south-east at over 10 MPH.

Serial #3 has been on the air all day like a champ. It almost pulled off a full lap around Harlingen before getting bored and making a break for the Gulf. Around 12:30 PM, it was cruising at over 30,000 feet, just vibing at the top of the world. But now? It’s dropping between 100 and 200 feet every time it checks in — basically pulling off the slowest nosedive in history.

As I’m writing this, it's barely hanging on at a little over 11,000 feet. It's traveled over 142 miles so far — not bad, but kind of a bittersweet victory. Looks like this will be the first one to tap out on the same day it launched. We tried some "new and improved" ideas this time, but spoiler alert: they weren’t all that improved. So it’s back to the old ways — if it ain't broke, don’t fix it!


Music:
Cool Blast - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/...

Artist: http://incompetech.com/