Mirko,
I've used He-filled WX balloons several times. They work great on a very
calm day (no wind), and not so great when it gets windy.
The problem with "guying" of any sort is that any horizontal thrust (wind)
becomes downward thrust (lowering the balloon, and the antenna) due to
vector summing. So, guying just doesn't work.
What does work better is a "kiteoon." A kiteoon is a combination kite and
He-filled balloon. Wind creates vertical lift, like with a kite. In the
absence of wind, the He-filled balloon creates the lift. So, under all
cases, the item stays aloft, and the antenna wire taut. Kiteoons here in
the U.S. are very popular, flying over automobile dealerships and such to
advertise sales and help interested customers from a mile or two away find
the location of the sale. As such, I've been able to buy them from the
"sign and banner" companies who sell them to the car dealerships.
WB2WIK/6
"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of
enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sibilja Mirko [SMTP:s57ad@amis.net]
> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 4:36 AM
> To: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] baloon supported wire verticals
>
> Hi TTers,
>
> our club (S58U) is planning to put up top band vire vertical in one of
> next
> contests. Baloon is meteorological one, filled by He. Advices and hints
> would be greatly appreciated (wire size, neccessity of additional guying
> the
> baloon to avoid flewing baloon away by wind, etc).
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> 73! Mirko, S57AD
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
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