Finally a subject that I have some experience with, that is balloon
verticals.
I'd recommend connecting the lifted wire to an aluminum vertical to reduce
the actual amount of wire in the air. I used my otherwise useless butternut
hf-2v to good advantage as a balloon vertical base.
Hydrogen is a lot cheaper than helium and doesn't go away through the walls
of the balloon as fast. Not that it would matter much in a weekend outing.
There are also some products that can be sprayed into the balloon prior to
inflation that will slow the migration of gas out through the walls of the
balloon. Check with your local used car lot. I got a lot of good information
from them as the Anchorage all have balloons flying 100-foot in the air.
No matter what, always use personal protective equipment when filling a
balloon. That is eye and ear protection. I've only had one balloon come
apart when I was filling it but once was enough.
I have been using 4' qualtex party balloons I bought from the Lippman
Company in Portland, Oregon (503-239-7007) to lift my antenna. They cost
about $8.00 each. This is less than the helium costs to fill them. These
balloons are also a lot cheaper than the goverment surplus types I've seen
advertised.
I've left the balloons up for as long as three days but quit after some high
school students shot one down at 0700am. But there are probably more guns in
Anchorage than most places. Instead I just leave my 20-pound fishing pole
connected to the balloon (with lots of swivels) and reel it down in the
morning before the gun equipped school kids head out to catch their bus.
Reeling the balloon down has also kept my English wife from waking me up and
complaining about the 'Jolly Green Giant's condom' in a tree-top of her
garden.
Personally if I were going to a salt lake or some other such place I'd put
up a shortened vertical 4-square. Balloons are for idiots and Alaskans. For
the record my subdivision does have underground power. And I know nothing
about the wire suspended from a 4' balloon that blew across the Tudor Road
substation and knocked out power to 25,000 homes. Honest.
73 from Anchorage.
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