Posted on 02/25/2024 2:02:07 AM PST by Libloather
WAY back in the day, when I lived in a house heated with the product that Citizens Gas and Coke supplied in Indianapolis, I made a few balloons from very thin plastic drop cloths - 9*12 feet in size.
Fold them over, tape edges, and you get a bag 9*6.
Fill them with stove gas and you get a bag with very little lifting power, about a book of matches, a stub of a cigarette, or a few sparklers.
Due to low gas pressure and permeability of the plastic it takes 20-30 minutes to fill. (Ya do this OUTSIDE!)
At night you get one of two effects.
The balloon slowly lifts outta yer yard and disappears into the night sky.
A few minutes later, after the cigarette burns down to the matches, you get a SPECKTACULAR!!! fireball in the sky!
Alternatively you leave a trailing of sparks into the sky with a fireball ensuing when the sparks meet the plastic.
Re: 9 - agreed. Some of the wilder theories might be caused by ignorance, willful ignorance, or low intellect.
Sure it was. Did they say that last time?
All I ever did, as a Ham radio guy, was talk around the world on my radio. It was great fun.
Probably a Chinese or Russian balloon.
“...Federal investigators...”
Sure, because anything that comes out of the Puppet Biden regime has to be believed completely. Ignore all the other propaganda that comes out of the junta mouthpieces. /spit
That’s all I’ve ever done as a General Ham License Holder, if I lived out in the country I might be tempted to set up, launch and monitor one of these balloons, just to see if I could do it and to learn something.
Like knocking out cell phone networks?
How does the government know any of this information they released? I was waiting to say it had been purchased at a Target Store. That must be an expensive hobby. And does the hobbyist have information from the balloon?
A hobbyist
A Chinese hobbyist
A Chinese hobbyist with a government job
A Chinese hobbyist with a government job he’s been warned not to talk about
A Chinese hobbyist with a government job he’s been warned not to talk about and lots of hobbyist friends with government jobs who’ve also been similarly warned
Wait ‘til next year. Those reindeers are getting barbecued.
Heard on Fox it was over 50 ft. Not sure of diameter or height.
“Back over a year ago when the Chinese Balloon was flying over the USA, we had a lengthy discussion on FR about this very topic and it was determined then that no FAA flight plan is required and quite frequently these hobbyist balloon due circle the globe multiple times.”
Yes I remember that discussion. It was a learning exercise for me.
I said this in another post, I hold a General Ham Radio License, if I lived out in the country, I would love to give this a try, launch a relatively sophisticated ballon not only for tracking purposes, I’ve seen a couple on YouTube that can take pictures from 50,000 ft, just to see if I could do it and to learn something.
What a cool website! Thanks for posting it.
If course...it’s a forgone conclusion that the Chinese have never considered disguising their intelligence-gathering balloon as a hobbyist balloon in an effort to convince the US military that it “poses no threat”.
Perhaps China made a gentlemen’s agreement with Biden to send only “hobbyist” balloons over CONUS, until after the election, at least.
12-15 foot tall Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Gigantic it was
That’s OK, an easy mistake to make when you’re “…switching to gins.”
Why are these not registered for identification? Seems anything crossing a state or federal boundary should have a registration.
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