Methods of Tracking Balloons

If your transmitter dies, you can't track it

So have a spare, on its own battery

Insulate electronics from the cold

FAA weather balloon rules provide a procedure to notify them

Simplest transmitter is just a dumb beacon
Requires radio-direction finding equipment to track it

More recent development is APRS & GPS
Requires packet radio station
APRS built-in on Kenwood D700 mobile and D7 handheld radios

We've had some excellent tracking & recovery times with D700s

Rate yourself by time between landing and recovery