Foil-Carrying Balloons Find Right Spot for TV Antennas
September 1949 Popular Science

September 1949 Popular Science [Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Science, published 1872-2021. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

In 1949, when this news items appeared in Popular Science magazine, the only drones in use were those used for target practice by the military. The term "drone" came from the sound their small internal combustion engines made. The remote control systems used to guide them were typically bulky, heavy units both for the ground-based transmitters and the airplane-based receivers. There were no drone helicopters or multi-rotor craft at the time. Not many people even conjured futuristic thoughts of them. Instead, some radio and television receiver installation teams used helium-filled balloons to float antennas around the site to determine at what position and height the best interference-free signal was provided. Steering would have been accomplished by towing the craft around while varying the altitude. It was a very ingenuous scheme. Note that the article refers to use of a Kytoon™, which is a sort of portmanteau for kite + balloon. You might be interested in my related concept for a Drone-Based Field Measurement System™ (dB-FMS)™.

Foil-Carrying Balloons Find Right Spot for TV Antennas

Balloons not much bigger than the ones kids play with are now helping television service men find the right place for video antennas.

The helium-filled Kytoons™ actually carry a temporary antenna - strips of aluminum foil - up into the air to determine the height at which signals come in strongest. A special coaxial cable brings the signal from the aluminum-foil antenna to the ground and also controls the height of the balloon. The balloons are used in mountainous suburban areas where tall antenna mounts are needed to pick up a strong, "ghost"-free picture.

The Kytoons, which have dirigible-like fins to give extra lift and keep them steady in windy weather, can also be used to fly permanent antennas in remote locations where a roof or pole mount would give no image at all. The manufacturers, Dewey and Almy Chemical Co., of Cambridge, Mass., report that they have even shipped some to whalers - to locate newly killed whales.

Posted February 13, 2024