Well, do whatever is right for the time!
I was with a group in the early 1980's who wanted to become more competitive
in the ARRL 160m Contest, an early-December, CW-only event. None of us had
the real estate at our "homes" to erect competitive systems, but one fellow
had farmland and a farmhouse about 100 miles away which would work just
fine. But, there were no antennas there!
We used a He-balloon supported 1/4-wavelength vertical (130' tall) made of
#12 gauge stranded, insulated copper wire and about 250 radials. The
radials took three or four people all day to lay down, but the vertical, of
course, went up very quickly! Since we set it up in the middle of a couple
of acres of cleared field (just grass and dirt), even if the wind blew, the
balloons would simply lower towards the ground without really hurting
anything; when the wind stopped, the ballons would pull the wire back
vertical again.
We used an antenna tuning unit at the feedpoint of the vertical, but it was
hardly needed, as the feedpoint Z of the vertical was around 30 Ohms...a
pretty good match to the 250' or so of coaxial cable we used to feed it.
This became our "transmitting" antenna, but was quite noisy for receiving.
We used a 1500' long unterminated (bi-directional) Beverage for receiving
most of the time. Problem: Even though the Beverage was hundreds of feet
away from the vertical, the vertical still induced quite a lot of RF voltage
into the Beverage, so when we transmitted you could get burns off the
Beverage feed wire. This also tended to blow out receiver front ends
occasionally...
In all, it was a successful experiment in that we could work all sorts of DX
with the He-balloon vertical that we could not with anything else we had
(dipoles, inverted vees, etc), so we were satisfied.
WB2WIK/6
"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of
enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sibilja Mirko [SMTP:s57ad@amis.net]
> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 10:57 AM
> To: Steve Katz
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] baloon supported wire verticals
>
> Hi Steve,
>
> $200 for such a stuff seems reasonable (well, we should include shipping
> costs as well), and surelly we'll discuss *all* the possibilities at our
> club meeting. The bitter truth is that I'm already persuading people to
> try
> to use what we have at hand (balloon and He are just collecting dust in
> club's depot), while our scepticists are more close to idea to spread some
> wires some 20 ft up,
>
>
> With best wishes,
>
> 73 de Mirko, S57AD
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Steve Katz <stevek@jmr.com>
> To: 'Sibilja Mirko' <s57ad@amis.net>
> Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 8:05 PM
> Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] baloon supported wire verticals
>
>
> > Hi Mirko,
> >
> > I've paid about $200 for a kiteoon, locally. The 8-to-9 foot diameter
> WX
> > balloons are usually about $30 each, so a kiteoon is definitely more
> > expensive -- but, the kiteoon is reusable, whereas the latex WX balloons
> are
> > not. Once they stretch from use and the He starts leaking through the
> latex
> > (which it does, within about two days), the WX balloons are good for the
> > garbage bin.
> >
> > 73 & good luck with your experiment!
> >
> > Steve, WB2WIK/6
> >
> > "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of
> > enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Sibilja Mirko [SMTP:s57ad@amis.net]
> > > Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 10:11 AM
> > > To: Steve Katz
> > > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] baloon supported wire verticals
> > >
> > > Hi Steve,
> > >
> > > thank for your response & thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
> I
> > > like idea of using kiteoons vy much. Though, we should use what we
> have
> > > at
> > > hands, that's weather balloon (we got for free). I'm a bit sceptical
> on
> > > how
> > > it will behave, for at the Adriatic Sea coast we have always some
> "amount"
> > > of wind or, at least, some breeze, but, OTOH, such a vertical would in
> any
> > > case work better than low inverted L (w. some 6 - 9m tall vertical
> part
> of
> > > it).
> > >
> > > Just curiousity - what's the price of such a kiteoon approximatelly?
> > >
> > > 73 & CU on the air soon & best wishes for comming Easter holidays!
> > >
> > > Mirko, S57AD
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Steve Katz <stevek@jmr.com>
> > > To: 'Sibilja Mirko' <s57ad@amis.net>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
> > > Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 5:45 PM
> > > Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] baloon supported wire verticals
> > >
> > >
> > > > Mirko,
> > > >
> > > > I've used He-filled WX balloons several times. They work great on a
> > > very
> > > > calm day (no wind), and not so great when it gets windy.
> > > >
> > > > The problem with "guying" of any sort is that any horizontal thrust
> > > (wind)
> > > > becomes downward thrust (lowering the balloon, and the antenna) due
> to
> > > > vector summing. So, guying just doesn't work.
> > > >
> > > > What does work better is a "kiteoon." A kiteoon is a combination
> kite
> > > and
> > > > He-filled balloon. Wind creates vertical lift, like with a kite.
> In
> > > the
> > > > absence of wind, the He-filled balloon creates the lift. So, under
> all
> > > > cases, the item stays aloft, and the antenna wire taut. Kiteoons
> here
> > > in
> > > > the U.S. are very popular, flying over automobile dealerships and
> such
> > > to
> > > > advertise sales and help interested customers from a mile or two
> away
> > > find
> > > > the location of the sale. As such, I've been able to buy them from
> the
> > > > "sign and banner" companies who sell them to the car dealerships.
> > > >
> > > > WB2WIK/6
> > > >
> > > > "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss
> of
> > > > enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
> > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: Sibilja Mirko [SMTP:s57ad@amis.net]
> > > > > Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 4:36 AM
> > > > > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > > > > Subject: [TowerTalk] baloon supported wire verticals
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi TTers,
> > > > >
> > > > > our club (S58U) is planning to put up top band vire vertical in
> one
> of
> > > > > next
> > > > > contests. Baloon is meteorological one, filled by He. Advices and
> > > hints
> > > > > would be greatly appreciated (wire size, neccessity of additional
> > > guying
> > > > > the
> > > > > baloon to avoid flewing baloon away by wind, etc).
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks in advance!
> > > > >
> > > > > 73! Mirko, S57AD
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > >
> > > > > See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers",
> > > "Wireless
> > > > > Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041
> > > with
> > > > > any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > TowerTalk mailing list
> > > > > TowerTalk@contesting.com
> > > > > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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