Topband: Balloon Supported Vertical

Mon Nov 8 17:21:34 EST 2021

Also the disposable party balloon bottles are a waste of $ and would 
only inflate 2 to 3 of the balloons here.

Industrial gas supply is required to make it viable.

"

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vk4tux

On 9/11/21 07:54, W7TMT - Patrick wrote:
> Regarding the helium…
>
> Be advised the gas used by the party stores these days is almost always a mixture and not pure helium. That’s means considerably less lift. You’ll likely need to source the good stuff from a industrial gas supplier.
>
> W7TMT
> ________________________________
> From: Topband<topband-bounces+w7tmt=outlook.com at contesting.com>  on behalf of Mark - N5OT<r-emails at n5ot.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 1:17:53 PM
> To: TopBand List<topband at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: Topband: Balloon Supported Vertical
>
> Been There Done That
>
> You might want to figure the weight of what you have to lift.  One would
> think it was, like, duh, you make a wire vertical and fill a balloon
> full of helium and ... but it turns out you need to be careful about the
> weight of the wire and insulators and you need to project how much
> helium you can use and how much lift you will need and ... all that.
>
> Just saying all that because the last thing you want to find out is,
> after you've got it all together, you just can't get it up in the air.
>
> I seem to recall I needed more like a 3 or 4 foot balloon to lift mine.
>
> And be careful of the sticker shock on the gas.  I thought it was a lot
> of money 20 years ago.  Rumor has it, it has not gone down in price.
>
> The first one worked well until I had a bad wind.
>
> The second one had some kind of corona arc off the top of the wire which
> popped the (relatively expensive) balloon after only a couple minutes of
> testing it out.  Or something.  It popped on a clear calm day but under
> Full Power.
>
> Anyway, that wrecked my day.  I decided it wasn't fun any more and have
> been using more conventional 160 meter verticals since.
>
> I think we wrote it up in the NCJ but don't remember and have slept
> since then.
>
> Oh sorry, you asked where to get the balloons.  I think I got mine from
> a party supply store.  It was not mylar.
>
> Note - Googling reminds me of these facts:
>
> Helium can lift 1 gram per litre.
> A balloon 2 feet in diameter will contain 118 litres of helium.
> That will lift 118 grams of antenna, = 4.1 ounces.
> 132 feet of bare #18 solid copper wire weighs 10.4 ounces.
>
> A 2 foot balloon filled with helium will not lift a 160 vertical made of
> #18 wire, not to mention any extra line or insulators, etc.
>
> But a 4 foot balloon will lift a little over 2 pounds.
>
> Now I'm having nightmares again.
>
> 73 - Mark N5OT
>
>
> On 11/8/2021 2:48 PM, Dick Bingham wrote:
>> Greetings All
>>
>> I want to try a balloon supported Vertical for 160.
>> Any advice on sources for balloons? Mylar material
>> and diameters up to 2-feet would be my choice.
>>
>> 73. Dick/w7wkr at CN97uj
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