[Lowfer] Beacon,

[ToddRoberts2001 at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/18/2010 10:16:02 A.M.  Eastern Daylight Time, 
nss at mwt.net writes:
Hello all,

I wonder,   and what do you all think?

I'm one of the original guys that do these  high altitude balloon 
flights.  Ya know 100,000 feet and higher even..  


Hi Joe and others,
A lowfer beacon idea sounds great but there would seem to be
one major problem - there is no ground to work the trailing
wire antenna against.
 
A 1750 meter lowfer beacon would still be subject to the
part 15 rules which limits the antenna length to 15 meters/50 ft.
 
I don't see how that antenna could be made to work without any
kind of ground? Most of the VHF/UHF and even HF balloon
beacons can work with a dipole that is independent of ground.
 
A 137KHz balloon beacon could work with unlimited antenna
length but there would still be the problem of no ground to
work it against? Maybe someone else knows how this can be 
done?
 
It would seem a LF loop antenna would be way too heavy to be
practical to lift by a balloon?
 
The trailing wire antennas the gov't uses at VLF still have the 
substantial metallic body of the plane to work the antenna
against.
 
73 - Todd WD4NGG