He makes the tiny electronics that accompany the helium-filled party balloons he launches more than 9000 metres into the air. And he's just recorded a record run.

A standard silver party balloon he launched from a Williamstown park on May 23 ended up spending eight weeks travelling the globe at high altitude, clocking up more than 110,800 kilometres.

"I don't think that's been done before with a party balloon," he said. "They usually do one circumnavigation. Two was a bonus but then this one just kept going."

The balloon finally crashed into the Indian Ocean south of Madagascar after encountering a storm on July 18   – falling just short of completing its third circumnavigation of Earth.

Carrying a homemade shortwave transmitter, a GPS, solar panel for power and antennae throughout its journey, the party balloon known as PS-46 weighed 11 grams.

"It was just one of the silvery balloons you can buy from party stores," he said.

The balloon's closely monitored path included a heart-shaped loop over the Cocos Islands on June 29, just before returning to Australian airspace at the end of its second circumnavigation.

Known in radio circles by his call sign Andy VK3YT – VK3 indicating he is from Victoria – Mr Nguyen said the west-to-east path taken by the balloon he's dubbed "the little battler" was determined by global wind patterns. He said its longevity was helped by good weather and good timing, as the journey missed the summer cyclones in the Pacific.

With just two years in the ballooning scene, Mr Nguyen said he was drawn to the hobby by the challenge of designing and making the electronic parts, which had to work in extreme conditions, be small and lightweight.

At 9000 metres, the temperature hovers between minus 50 and minus 55 degrees and the air is so thin that UV radiation is a serious consideration.

"Technically it's a huge challenge," he said. "You need to build something that can keep functioning in extreme conditions."

The shortwave transmitter Mr Nguyen built for the balloon was powered by just 25 milliwatts. By comparison, a standard mobile phone has 2000 milliwatts, or two watts. And it wouldn't work at that elevation.

The balloon however could transmit its location every 30 minutes, with the signal picked up by receivers across the globe – from Australia and New Zealand to Argentina, South Africa, the US, Sweden and Peru.

It was tracked online by a core team of three volunteers around the clock – only one of whom Mr Nguyen has met.

"We have people in New Zealand and in Queensland and in Sydney," he said. "It's a real community."