[MLB-WIRELESS] Balloon AP (AKA fire in the night sky)

[paul van den bergen]

given that parabolic looks like spherical as near as damn it at decameter 
wavelengths, a half-alluminised balloon would make a reasonable concentrator.  
pointing it at something would be fun... :-)

On Fri, 3 Jan 2003 12:39 pm, John Dalton wrote:
> I wonder if it would work to fly a metallic foil balloon (say a plastic
> envelope with a very thin foil coating on the inside aka. silver party
> balloon?) on an insulating tether and use it as a reflector?  All the
> electronics, including the antenna, would be on the ground.
>
> The balloon would have to be significantly larger than the wavelength to
> be reflected.  Getting more sophisticated one could also shape the
> balloon to optimise the pattern from the reflector.
>
> An alternative might be to use a plastic/rubber balloon and apply
> strips of conducting paint to form a microwave reflector or lens with the
> desired beam pattern.  It would be an interesting exercise, probably
> involving Maxwell's equations, to determine the pattern to be painted on
> the balloon.
>
> Regards
> John
>
> To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo at wireless.org.au
> with "unsubscribe melbwireless" in the body of the message

-- 
Dr Paul van den Bergen
Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures
caia.swin.edu.au
pvandenbergen at swin.edu.au
IM:bulwynkl2002
would somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?

To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo at wireless.org.au
with "unsubscribe melbwireless" in the body of the message