[TowerTalk] Balloon held vertical

Robert Sauvan cabmas@bankpds.com
Tue, 25 Nov 1997 06:51:17 -0600


	As I was looking through past issues of NCJ,I ran across an article written by Bill Platano,KC5NWW.He had erected a 1/4 wave wire vertical suspended by a helium balloon.He had a tripod that elevated the base of the vertical about 20 ft off of the ground.From the base of the vertical he had 4 radials also a 1/4 wave long.From reading the article,the radials I believe were terminated at the other end with stakes in the ground.He indicated that there was no tuning network at the base of the vertical.
	I am thinking about trying one of these antennas for upcoming contests and would like to know other opinions on a couple of questions I have about this setup.Can this antenna be tuned like one would tune a dipole?Do I need a matching network to really get it to resonate on the frequency I wish to operate?Does it need to be 20 feet off of the ground to be effective,or could it be 10 feet off of the ground.Should the radials be taken to the ground as in the article, or can they be at the same level as the base of the vertical and suspended in some manner (i.e. hang from a tree).Does the height of the radials affect the tuning of the antenna?Would I be able to run legal limit through this setup? I am aware that this is a temporary antenna setup,but I would like to get the most out of it for the short time that it will be in use.At present I am using an Inv. L for 160 mtrs.It doesnt hear a whole lot of DX.Would this vertical be more effective in this respect?Any input would be appreciated.

					Thanks,
				Bob-WT9Q

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