Introduction Pico 6 was the maiden flight of the new tracker. New Tracker It’s based around the STM32G071GB mcu and uses the same SI5351 clock generator and ATGM336H GPS common to other trackers such as Traquito and AG6NS. It uses the RT6150A buck boost converter to allow the tracker to be powered from as low as 1.8v. It also features mounting points to allow us to attach 2 panels to either side of the board. It also has a LPS22HB pressure sensor, which we plan to use with extended telemetry. Overall, this should allow for a lower power consumption, lighter payload and more data. ...

We used the same tracker as before but added a lithium supercapacitor in parallel with the solar cells. Initial testing showed that the tracker could complete roughly 1 transmission cycle (10 minutes) when powered by the supercapacitor with the panels in shadow. This should improve the reliability of the power supply to the tracker. We used the same pannel configuration as last time. We decided to use two Qualatex 36" balloons instead of one in an attempt to reduce the pressure in each balloon (the lift for the payload is split between the two balloons). In order to reduce the risk of static buildup we attached the balloons using a length of nylon wire so one floated above the other. ...

We used a Raspberry Pi Pico based WSPR tracker. It was powered by a 6 cell solar setup. We decided to use 10m WSPR due to the relative ease of managing the shorter antenna (compared to 20m) and good propagation during the day. We tested the setup by hanging it out of a window and managed to get a single spot roughly 15km away. Not great performance but at least we know it works. ...

We used a new custom tracker design based around the Wio-E5 STM32WL (very similar to the RAK3172) module and Quectel L80R GPS module. It had a tx interval of 5 minutes and a spreading factor of SF10 was used. It was powered using a 500mAh battery taken from a disposable vape. The whole system weighed 23g, which probably ended up being 25g after all the tape and string we added. ...

We reused a left-over board we had from Pico-1. It’s good to keep documentation. We learnt that the hard way. Once we finally figured out what we did last time and where the latest version of the code was, we tested it overnight in the garden. It worked. We used a 550mAh battery from another disposable vape. We decided to launch on the 19/12/24 as the conditions looked favourable for a southerly flight. ...