Red Balloons!!

[dr_wu002]

Maybe Post'r Boy can find some of these on Wolf Cub.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060130/ap_on_hi_te/cellular_balloons

-Dr. Wu

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

Wow, what a cool, simple idea! I hope it works. Maybe they can start hackin' down all Frankenpines and towers real soon.

 

[dr_wu002]

Wow, what a cool, simple idea! I hope it works. Maybe they can start hackin' down all Frankenpines and towers real soon.

Sounded interesting at first but then these things will be coming down in the woods. Seems like it could be a solution to the Frankenpines on the various mountains but then again, I'd rather not see large balloons all over.

-Dr. Wu

 

[DougPaul]

This scheme could only work in sparsely populated areas. The cell in cell phones is that the region around each antenna forms a small cell because the signals are short range. This allows frequencies to be reused in other cells. The signals from a high balloon would travel too far. (This is why you are not allowed to use a cell phone in an airplane.)

So there shouldn't be too many cell phone balloons in the woods.

Doug

 

[jjmcgo]

15 bombs a week on Minnesota?

Do the math: North Dakota is approximately 350 miles across, from Williston to Grand Forks. At 30 mph, it would take a balloon launched near Williston 11 hours to exit the state and drop its pack, from the stratosphere, evidently in Minnesota.
That's two drops a day, 15.25 per week, 806 per year.
That will take at least two full-time, most likely unionized state employees making probably no less than $40,000 a year to pick up litter in an adjacent state, if the adjacent state permits. Plus the wear and tear on overpriced state-bid vehicles, plus the fuel consumption to track these things down in western Minn. scrub country.
Also, what goes up, must come down, so we have nearly 1,000 red balloons a year descending on the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and possibly being swallowed by wildlife.
A little rubber with your walleye sandwich, Norm?
It probably won't be long before Minnesotans object and the units must be jettisoned in North Dakota, given the undesirability of having bombs from the stratosphere descending who-knows-where.
All of a sudden, a labor-free, fixed-cost, long-lasting tower starts to look practical and cheap.