Originally Posted By: CANOEDOGS
this go's back to ads I recall in 1960's outdoor magazines.same thing a balloon and a helium cartage.the ad even had a drawing of a lost hunter waiting for rescue with the balloon above the trees.


It goes back even further than that.

I've traced the idea back to at least 1906.

Here's a list I compiled of 100+ US patents on distress signal balloons,
with links to each and a short description of most:

100+ Distress balloon patents as part of a Feb. 2006 Survival Balloon thread on ETS.

There's a lot of good material in the 2006 thread above, but the idea never seems to take off <heh>.

BCB pushed one in 2011, but I haven't seen any sign of that one since.
_________________________
A signal mirror should backup a radio distress signal, like a 406 MHz PLB (ACR PLB) (Ocean Signal PLB)