[TowerTalk] Ballon-held Vertical

[K4IA@aol.com]

I like your idea of the light duty link between the antenna and the balloon.  
That is better than a slip knot.  But it is not redundant.  In other words, 
if your wire and static line both came undone at the ground, it would all fly 
away.  Ever see a kid loose a balloon.  He thought he had a firm grip and 
can't understand how it got away.

How about a ring on the balloon?  The wire would be attached to the earth, go 
up to a line and then the line would pass through the ring back to be 
attached at the earth.  If the balloon got away, through loss of either the 
line or the wire, the wire would fall to earth because it would slip through 
the ring as the balloon rose.  For this system to fail you would have to 
loose 3 connections to earth: the static line, the wire and the return line.  
I guess you better have a rifle handy and be ready to shoot it down in that 
case!


Radio K4IA
Craig Buck
Fredericksburg, Virginia

K1#470  QRPARCI #2550
FISTS 6702 CC 788
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