Topband: Balloon Supported Vertical

Mon Nov 8 18:33:27 EST 2021

And as someone who has been doing these balloon stuff since 1985 or so, 
real Helium, expect to pay about 300 bucks for a tank of the real stuff. 
and that's if you can find anyone willing to sell it to you if you have 
not been a customer already for years. https://youtu.be/YHAr7F1w-aE

Joe WB9SBD

On 11/8/2021 4:21 PM, Adrian wrote:
> 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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> 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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