a bit O/T but.... I found a weather balloon

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
I found a downed weather balloon.

The transmitter was still putting out a signal

it still is as far as I can tell

I left it where I found it on the assumption that some-one would be along to recover it

24 hours later it was still there so I brought it home

I have a few questions:

how many of these things are put up each year?

how long do they stay up for?

how far do they travel?

how much do they cost?

do they biodegrade?

 
Dylan,

when I was a technical photographer with BAe on Harrier trials at the West Freugh trials range near Stranraer, a soon as i had set up the 16 onboard cine cameras my next job was to do the weather balloon; a chum who did the avionics 'Stores Management System ' ( to tell the aircraft what was hanging on the pylons and what to drop, in what order when the Test Pilot told it to ) set-up came with me, as he was similarly redundant once everything was set up.

A weather balloon was / is sent up before each ' test slot ', usually about an hour apart.

The 'Sonde' transmitter is in a polystyrene lined cardboard box, but the ones I dealt with up to 1993 were simpler than the one in your video.

The idea being to give a base figure to work out and calibrate the range and aircraft instruments - weapons themselves nowadays too - to work out later if everything performed as expected.

I was amused to see the ' radar reflector ' was a shiny metallic gold christmas decoration straight out of the ' Merry Christmas ! ' packet, apparently this gave a good signal !

The place had rather good radar though, and was modelled on the Nazi test range at Penemunde ( sp ? ) where they had developed the V1 and V2 etc...the kine theodolite tracking cameras were from there, and had embossed swastikas on the steel cupolas over the cameras !

Eventually setting off the weather balloons became rather boring, and we often wondered where they ended up, the common theory was Iceland.

So I took to putting the bosses' name and phone number in with the Sonde, with a message saying " Congratulations, you have won a prize ! Ring this number ...."

Sadly he never got any calls that I know of.

The weather balloons were made of thick latex type stuff, so a typical jaunt was to pinch one then blow it up at the hotel then roll it - about 6' diameter - into some unsuspecting bods' room.

My avionics chum ( later a Senior Pilot on Nimrods ! ) took this a stage further, as a deflated weather balloon looked like a huge red industrial condom , he'd whack it onto the table in front of pretty girls and raise his eyebrows; I don't think it worked as an intro' though...

The balloons I dealt with were sadly not biodgradable, but the test range people were extremely professional and hot on things like this, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if modern versions are 'green'; you may be interested to hear that all weapons drops ( inert shapes to better determine where things went, explosive warheads were very rare ) were scrubbed if basking sharks or similar wildlife was spotted in Luce Bay.

I really doubt anyone would think of coming to collect the thing, they're two a penny and that one you found had literally dropped off the radar screens !

Andy
 
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My only knowledge of weather balloons was from 40 years ago. In those days from a weather staion they might send up several ballons per day filled with hydrogen. Most simply carried a radar reflector so that from the radar the height and wind speeds could be determined. However each day I think they sent up a radiosonde balloon with radio transmitter. This transmitted data like temp and pressure. They were very crude with a single valve transmitter and batteries for filament and high tension. They were considered disposable and never recovered. i guess people didn't think of ecology in those days.
With todays micro electronics the radio could transmit much more data for longer but on the other hand with satelite weather imaging they may not be so often deployed.
If Dylan's transmitter did not have a return address then it is obviously considered disposable.
I wonder if the transmitter has a GPS receiver in it? This could remove the need for radar tracking. ( aGPS engine can be quite cheap in large numbers like 20 squid)
Certainly there is no risk of radiation from a very low powered transmitter.
Dylan will no doubt horde it as a treasure for 40 years then finally throw it away. good luck olewill
 
Do they still have a reward for returning them?

We found one as kids, and after overcoming our fear of it, and discovering the absence of aliens, we found a card with a return address and the promise of a reward. It was duly parcelled up and sent off, and the reward came back. I can't remember whether it was £5.00 total, or if it was £20.00 and we got a fiver each - but it was a lot of money for a kid in the 1970s.

They probably throw them away now :(
 
I assume

I assume they are a bit busy

and their label is so cheap that it has completely faded

which made me question if it is really theirs

it was right by a footpath so it had not been on the ground for long

I assume it had been in the air for a long time and we have had easterly air flows recently

do they really want it back?



D
 
rivonia said:
Why haven't you phoned the met office-you naughty boy.

Peter
Click to expand...

Rivonia,

as I mentioned weather balloons are very rarely anything to do with the Met' Office.

Dylan,

rather than sticking the sonde in an oven, casually tie it to the roof of a landrover at the supermarket, or lob it into a train; in the unlikely event anyone is searching for it, that should give them days of entertainment !
 
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