Topband: Balloon Supported Vertical

[W7TMT - Patrick]

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