Recent content by Pat Trainor

@anorlunda, thanks for writing! There is no problem sealing the hose. I tried to say that knowing, or even calculating, how much pressure there would be would allow me to cut weight down. As for string or manually securing, this balloon will be deployed from a filling tank and then...

Along the same lines as an earlier post about helium and materials that wouldn't allow it to permeate it, I wondered if a helium balloon with a fill tube would actually need to be sealed. What I mean is, imagine a balloon that has been filled with a 20'-30' very thin tube that is still attached...

Thanks, Bernhardt Media. Dropped by to ask about large helium balloons for a DHS/Coast Guard project.

@256bits I thought the noise like you describe is from the breakdown strength of the air at/around a conductor. Not the physical humming of a transformer, but like touching 2 leads together and 'hearing' the spark. Oddly, water increases the conductivity of the air and so increases the intensity...

Experts, I'm in need of a balloon to hold an RF antenna aloft, and that can have a light (LED) in it. For cost & safety, it appears Helium is the choice. But everything I'm reading says that He atoms are so tiny they pass (eventually) through traditional balloon materials quickly. There is a...

I'm an electronics, microcontroller, and computer enthusiast.