- My friend was out walking his dog on the weekend when
he came across a balloon caught in a tree.It was brown in color,about 4-5
ft in diaminter with abig paracute attached also it had some kind of radio
transmitterand it looked like a 3 lb ball of some sorts attached too.He
called the police and they came and had a look but did not want to get
involed also contacted Enviroment Canada and they told him it was not one
of their weather balloons.There was a card that he took of it and it said
not to touch it because it could explode and cause injury or worse.Do you
have any idea what it is . I live in Cambride Ontario Canada.We have had
a lot of SW winds lately Bob.
Anyone have information on such a balloon? - ed
-
- The consensus of most emails we're getting on this is
that it is likely a weather balloon and the warning about it being explosive
is likely to ward off people from touching it, prompting them to call the
authorities who will know who to deliver the devise to once retrieved.
-
-
-
- From Adrian McBride
- 3-18-4
-
- Hi Jeff
-
- I think the answer to the strange balloon story lies
with a Radio Amateur High Altitude Balloon launch.
- Basically a small VHF / UHF transmitter is sent to high
altitude by weather balloon. The flight data and signal is recorded and
traced throughout its flight. When reaching a preset altitude the balloon
is detached from the transmitter and the radio package parachutes back
to earth, hopefully to be recovered by the tracking crew.
-
- See link below
-
- http://www.amsat.org/amsat/balloons/balloon.htm
-
- Cheers
-
-
- From Ted Twietmeyer
tedtw@frontiernet.net
3-16-4
-
- What was described in the article, is a perfect description
of a radiosonde balloon used by the National Weather Service. They send
dozens of these up every day to gather data on the upper atmosphere. The
ballon is filled with helium.
-
- He'll probably find that the transmitter sends back data
such as temperature, humidity and air pressure. This might be one they
lost and couldn't find. If he looks it over, there will probably be a manufacturer
on the transmitter. The battery used is only designed to transmit for a
short time, and is probably dead by now.
-
- Ted
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