As others have mentioned losing the balloon and/or getting hung up in nearby
hazards is a serious risk. Consider this, learned from flying them from my
sailboat.
What if the tether point for the balloon is raised above the surrounding
terrain? In my case I was trying to make a 45-50 foot/13-15 meter vertical
longer. My setup involved raising the tether point for the balloon above the
ground/feed-point. The tether point for the balloon was nearly 50 feet/15
meters above the water so when the wind blew it was pivoting at that point
rather than at ground level and subjected to all the closer hazards.
Have a pushup mast? Try setting it up so the balloon is actually tethered from
the top of the mast rather than at ground level. This is a whole new ballgame.
A scrap of graph ruled paper will easily sort it all out.
I got it down during the day by using a plastic cable tie ring slid over the
wire and attached to a piece of fishing line. Walking away from the mast
allowed me to pull on the ring and get the down-pull process started. Once a
bit of the support wire/line moved thru the ring the rest came down easily.
At the time the boat was out on the end of a dock with no other sailboats and
their pesky masts close by. Even when the 20+ knot winds were laying the
balloon supported wire almost horizontal it was free of physical hazards. While
the transition from vertical to Inverted L during the gusts made the tuner in
rig go nuts at least there was no physical damage.
Just an option to consider.
W7TMT
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