On Saturday, July 24, 2021, 12:18:28 PM PDT, grarpamp wrote:

float them to the shores, catapult, RC drone or balloon drop

https://nypost.com/2021/07/19/could-balloons-power-uncensored-internet-in-cu...

Tethered 12NM out at sea with altitude line of sight, well within any cpunks Bitcoin fun budget, challenge to keep WiFi steadily aimed, consider long kite tail stabilization, gimbal mount...

Jim Bell's suggestion: The balloon could use hydrogen.  The night operation could employ that hydrogen in a fuel-cell for energy, oxygen from the atmosphere. This would be reversed during the day electrolyzing water to regenerate the hydrogen gas.  The water could be obtained by dessicating it out of the atmosphere with a deliquiescent dessicant, perhaps concentrated sulfuric acid.   Fuel cell | | | | | | | | | | | Fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidi... | | | Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell | | | | | | | | | | | Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell PEMFCs are built out of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) which include the electrodes, electrolyte, catalyst,... | | | Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), also known as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, are a type of fuel cell being developed mainly for transport applications, as well as for stationary fuel-cell applications and portable fuel-cell applications. Their distinguishing features include lower temperature/pressure ranges (50 to 100 °C) and a special proton-conducting polymer electrolyte membrane. PEMFCs generate electricity and operate on the opposite principle to PEM electrolysis, which consumes electricity. They are a leading candidate to replace the aging alkaline fuel-cell technology, which was used in the Space Shuttle.[1] PEMFCs are built out of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) which include the electrodes, electrolyte, catalyst, and gas diffusion layers. An ink of catalyst, carbon, and electrode are sprayed or painted onto the solid electrolyte and carbon paper is hot pressed on either side to protect the inside of the cell and also act as electrodes. The pivotal part of the cell is the triple phase boundary (TPB) where the electrolyte, catalyst, and reactants mix and thus where the cell reactions actually occur.[2] Importantly, the membrane must not be electrically conductive so the half reactions do not mix. Operating temperatures above 100 °C are desired[citation needed] so the water byproduct becomes steam and water management becomes less critical in cell design. Reactions[edit] Further information: Fuel cell A proton exchange membrane fuel cell transforms the chemical energy liberated during the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen to electrical energy, as opposed to the direct combustion of hydrogen and oxygen gases to produce thermal energy.

On Sunday, July 25, 2021, 01:17:03 AM PDT, grarpamp wrote: On 7/24/21, jim bell wrote:

...

The balloon could use hydrogen. [1] day electrolyzing

That's two fun energy sources (H + solar), plus buoyancy.

If tethered then you're not spending much if any energy on stationkeeping, only on keeping the RF gimbal aimed at a target, or none if using omnidirectional-RF. If not tethered then you have a lot of energy expense just to keep in range of target.

Are liquid hydrogen tanks light enough to replace

I see no need at all to do station-keeping.  The balloon could simply detect its GPS location, and using that re-calculate what its optimum aim for the antenna(s).  The people 'watching' the microwave signal would see only a slight change in azimuth., presumably not enough to require them to re-aim.    their weight with gas volume then jettison? No, that's totally impractical.  That's why I suggest creating new hydrogen,  in gas form, storing it into the huge balloon, and using a bit of it, at night, to generate electricity in the fuel cells.  I've never worked with fuel cells, but I believe it's fairly simple, because the components already exist.  

Not much altitude is needed to reach out 12NM with any system, so your tether might also carry whatever you need.

The water could be obtained by dessicating it out of the atmosphere with a deliquiescent dessicant, perhaps concentrated sulfuric

Reagents and catalysts would need refilled too. I don't think so.  The article says that the lifetime of the balloon would be relatively short, was it 7 months?  The dessicant (I proposed concentrated sulfuric acid) wouldn't evaporate, so it would never run out.  The catalysts in the fuel cell would be essentially permanent for the life ot the balloon's million.  

See about making water from atmosphere via free sun/shade/dewpoint condensation methods. I assume the altitude will be about 40-50,000 feet.  

Solar-day battery-night powered planes already exist, but they cost a lot more than simple balloons. solar powered 24hr plane at DuckDuckGo That's one reason to use a hydrogen-filled balloon, doubling for life and fuel-cell fuel storage.  

If you're already hanging out at 12NM with a tether or base station, surely you can also just run whatever RF system you want from the boat deck that will cover that distance, no balloons or planes needed, assuming your target has matching RF gear. I don't see an obvious need for a boat.  just an anchor.  One big reason is that any boat would stick out by radar, directing the enemy  Cuban military  to try to cut the tether.     I think that there could actually be multiple tethers, maybe even 5, tied together at perhaps 5,000 altitude, and each anchored at perhaps a mile apart, so that if one gets cut by a passing plane, the rest will take over the function.  

The water could be obtained by dessicating it out of the atmosphere

https://www.reuters.com/technology/spanish-engineers-extract-drinking-water-... "The goal is to help people," said Enrique Veiga, the 82-year-old engineer who invented the machine during a harsh drought in southern Spain in the 1990s. "The goal is to get to places like refugee camps that don't have drinking water." The devices made by his company, Aquaer, are already delivering clean, safe water to communities in Namibia and a Lebanese refugee camp. "In the villages we visited in Namibia, they were astonished, they didn't understand, asking where the water came from," he said. The machines use electricity to cool air until it condenses into water, harnessing the same effect that causes condensation in air-conditioning units. While other water generators based on similar technology require high ambient humidity and low temperatures to function effectively, Veiga's machines work in temperatures of up to 40 Celsius (104F) and can handle humidity of between 10% and 15%. A small machine can produce 50-75 liters a day, and be easily carried on a trolley, but bigger versions can produce up to 5,000 liters a day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling https://www.lairdthermal.com/products/thermoelectric-cooler-assemblies/pelti... https://deavid.wordpress.com/2019/11/18/water-cooling-with-peltier-worth-it/ https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/choosing-using-advanced-peltier-modules-...

Be very specific about what you are saying I did.  So far, you are extremely NON-specific. On Mon, Jul 12, 2021 at 2:36 PM, Punk-BatSoup-Stasi 2.0 wrote: On Mon, 12 Jul 2021 05:18:04 +0000 (UTC) jim bell wrote:

I'd rather see a situation where a government can't even attempt to cut off the population from the world's Internet.

    Why would a real 'libertarian' constantly promote the most crass crimes of the US military and constantly spam the most crass kind of US military propaganda, LIKE YOU DO JIM?     Why would a real US 'libertarian' be concerned about cuba instead of being concerned about the endless list of crimes against humanity that your fucking government commits Jim?     Why would a real 'libertarian' be constantly sucking the cock of the most corrupt, anti-free-market cronny capitalist on the planet like musk?     So many questions, no answers.