I was first!

[altivo]

Well, undoubtedly someone did this many years earlier in fact. The July issue of QST, the US amateur radio publication, has a feature article about using helium balloons to lift an antenna for a temporary station. The author sets forth a working design, with photos of the arrangement in use on an earlier Field Day. It says he has been doing similar things since 1994.

That sent me hunting for old photographs, and eventually I found them. As it happens, in 1986 I did the same thing for Field Day, with the help of some friends. Our antenna design was almost identical to the one in the article, except we oriented it horizontally. And it worked, of course. I'm sure balloons were used to take antennas aloft during World War II and probably before that as well. Marconi used a kite for some of his experiments.

View photos and commentary here.

For the non-operators among my readership, Field Day is an annual event in the US that focuses on emergency and disaster preparedness. Radio amateurs are expected to provide emergency communications, and on Field Day they demonstrate their preparation by "taking to the field" with portable generators, radio equipment, and various improvised antenna setups. The event normally takes place on the last full weekend of June.

Comments

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's always the fourth weekend in June. Normally, that's the last full weekend, but if the first is on a Saturday, June has 5 full weekends.

I'm sure you didn't mean to leave out that FD is ham radio's biggest party...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Biggest picnic maybe. Complete with flies, ants, and mosquitos.

I actually tend to think of the November Sweepstakes as the biggest "on the air" party. It's sort of hard to compare the two, though. As a QRP op I mostly avoided contests, as it was just too overpowering (literally.) But after moving out here where I can have a big antenna, and just when the sunspots were on the last peak, I sorta-kinda changed my mind. I worked 85 countries in 2000, all with 5 watts or less, so it is possible after all.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Dude that doughnut isn't even glazed :P

All you radio Ams are hams :D
You know I still remember the Grade 4 assignment I did on Marconi.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Ol' Macaroni? He had the right ideas, but tried to implement them in a very difficult manner I think. Of course, it did get a lot better once the vacuum tube was invented...

No, the doughnut wasn't glazed. In another photo, though, I can see that we had three full boxes of doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts sitting on a picnic table. So probably the plain one got strung up because no one wanted it...

I had forgotten the doughnuts, but I do remember that we had home made ice cream because I made it the night before. We got some dry ice from a friend's chemistry lab to pack it in because the day was going to be hot. That worked too well. It was set like concrete when we opened it and we had to wait for it to soften before we could dish it out.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Dry ice to keep icecream cold?

I bow to your uber cool geekiness *bows low* :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. It's hardly geeky, other than knowing an actual source for the stuff these days. Back when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, ice cream stores usually had a supply of the stuff and would throw a chunk into the doubled paper bag with your purchase in order to keep it good and cold until you reached home. We used to enjoy tossing the leftover dry ice into water to watch it froth, foam, and emit fog banks.

The practice has gone away, probably because some lawyer warned the vendors they could be sued if someone got burned by the dry ice or put it into their mouth. Common sense was once an assumed quality. Now everything must be reduced to the lowest common denominator of stupid and we all have to suffer for it.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Well it is a bit dangerous considering that little kids tend to be around icecream O.O