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Old June 17th 14, 08:40 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
Jerry Stuckle Jerry Stuckle is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Oct 2012
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Default [OT] Antennae for 136kHz?

On 6/17/2014 3:22 PM, Ian Jackson wrote:
In message ,
writes
joe wrote:
amdx wrote:

On 6/16/2014 10:17 AM, gareth wrote:
What is the availabilty of helium-filled balloons to
haul up a 1/4 wave vertical?



Seem pretty available, I used Google, it is a search engine,
I put in "large helium Balloons" and got 453,000 hits.
Here are a few.

http://www.balloonsfast.com/36inchlatexballoons.html
http://www.balloondealer.com/app/
http://balloons.net/Helium_Balloons/index.php
http://www.partiespluswholesale.com/..._Balloons.html
Mikek


On there other hand, floating a tethered balloon 1/3 mile into the
air may
be a problem for airplanes.


Not may, but will, and most countries also regulate such.

In the USA, under Title 14, Part 101 it says that moored ballons may not
operate more than 500 feet above the surface of the earth or within
5 miles of the boundary of any airport.

It further says that moored ballons may not be operated more than 150
feet
above the surface of the earth without 24 hours prior notification to
the nearest FAA ATC facility of all the details of the planned flight.

I doubt the rules are much different anywhere in the 1st world.

The UK certainly used to have a permanent mast height limit of something
like only 40 feet within 2 miles of an airfield. There's also a general
limit on the height of flying kites (unrelated to amateur radio) of
something like 150 or 200 feet (Google required to check).


Reminds me of an event from the mid 80's, NC. Late Sunday afternoons
our Civil Air Patrol squadron flew a route over seven lakes around
Raleigh, NC, looking for stranded boaters. We had radio contact with
the local Coast Guard Reserve units on each of the lakes, and would
direct them to someone whom we thought was in trouble. Of course, the
CGR did their part by notifying boaters we would be checking, and to
watch for us if they were in trouble. I was flying as an observer this
time (we had two observers - one on each side of the plane so the pilot
could concentrate on flying).

Going over one lake at about 1,000 feet above ground level, I had to
make an abrupt turn. There was a guy in a para-sail being towed by a
speedboat - about 200 feet ABOVE us. He was so small (and we weren't
expecting anything over us - air traffic control had nothing on radar)
that we didn't see him until almost too late.

Fortunately, we missed him (and his tow rope). Looking back, he was
softly floating towards the water.

I don't think ATC believed us and don't know if the FAA did anything
about it. But I'll bet that guy didn't soar that high again!

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