What Is The Heightest You Can Have A Antenna On Part15 AM??

There is no height limit  per se for part 15 AM, it's the legth of the ground involved with the height which creates the problem.

Per the letter of the law the transmitter would have to sit on the ground to keep the antenna and ground lead within 3 meters.. however, it has been common practice for almost 40 years that all part15 installs have been 10 to 20 feet in the air in state parks, and none have ever been forced to comply with the 3 meter rule or discontinue operation.  So take away from that what you will..

There are safety factors that dictate the height of antennas.

Some municipalities have height limits for poles, towers and antennas.

Also the F.A.A. requires antennas higher than 200-feet to be registered and lighted to warn aircraft.

Anything mounted in the air must be very securely attached so it doesn't blow down in a storm and injure people below.

I have been tossing around the idea of attaching a 400 foot antenna wire to my drone, running it up to 400 feet and see what happens. Of course my drone has only 22 minutes of battery power so this would be a short range project!

Jim Henry is thinking:  "I have been tossing around the idea of attaching a 400 foot antenna wire to my drone."

400-feet of wire would be heavy, can your drone manage the weight?

Make it easier. There is no reason for so much length... the 1/4-wave at 1610 kHz is more on the order of 100-feet.

Getting the antenna up and stabelized while you tune the transmitter might give you a few seconds to judge the result...

Could you drive off to do listening tests with your drone in the air?

Use a balloon.

Helium balloon is the best idea.

Nobody has answered the question??

Answered it in post #2

There is no height limit  per se for part 15 AM, it's the legth of the ground involved with the height which creates the problem.

Yes, DJboutit.

Richard Powers answered in Post # 2.

And then I added more information about the height limits in my Post # 3.

I trust that you are not confusing height with length.

An AM antenna under Part 15.219 may be 3-meters in length.

The rule does not say how high the length of antenna is placed, but the limitations we have mentioned are the practical and common sense limits.

What if you use a no ground plane antenna like a vertical antenna??

DJbout it asks:  "What if you use a no ground plane antenna like a vertical antenna??"

Wouldn't matter. The same height conditions that Rich Powers and I have described would apply no matter how you do it.

When you talk about "height" you are automatically talking about an antenna's height above the earth whether it's horizontal or vertical.

Balloon is a much better idea.

Jim Henry's balloon idea for raising an antenna up in the air seems good in a fantasy imagination because it raises straight up and holds the antenna steady.

But you know how it is with the real world. Things don't always go the way you expect them to.

After thinking about it I now realize that the wind would make the balloon go east pulling the antenna which would yank the transmitter up into the air until the only thing holding it back would be outstreatched power and audio cables.

The wind would grow stronger and pull the cables free and the last time you would ever see your transmitter it would be rising into the night sky.

The next day there would be a story in the newspaper about an antenna dangling from a balloon wrapped around power lines causing a massive explosion and shutting down power to Atlanta.

Could be, but then it was only an intellectual exercise...