The kite aerial project (part 2)
During the Easter weekend 2006 it was time to erect the kite aerial. The weather was close to perfect and all material was present on the field. I decided to use the Sony ICF-SW77 short wave receiver to see if "something" could be heard when using this antenna.
The material list: big bag full of usefull stuff, black case with Sony receiver, winded aerial (a bit hard to see), kite bag, leather "Bob the builder" gloves, spool with kite line, spiral kite line anchor and wooden stakes for the aerial itself
I started to roll out the aerial and pinned it to the ground by means of the wooden stake
Forgot to make a close-up picture of the kite (a very stable Power Sled by Rhombus). On this picture it was already doing its job...
...which is taking the aerial to a higher level. Well, this is the sled kite in its full glory with a wingspan of 2.20 m. The carrying bag is used as a drogue chute to stabilize the kite. What a kinky solution!
Here you can see the 50 Ohms coax connected to the box. The other "boxed" wire on the left is the counterpoise line, the wire on the right is the static bleeder line connected to the spiral anchor.
Like this. I know I need something like a copper pipe to do it properly. In the next session the pipe will be on stage.
The Sony ICF-SW77 out of the bag and connected to the aerial.
Listening on 3630 kHz Lower Side Band - the Dutch amateur net with Cor, PA0HCN torturing the receiver's front-end. All attenuators were used but the signal meter was to the max! This receiver appeared to be a real intermodulation generator...
The aerial box close-up. On the background you might see the other wooden stake to keep the counterpoise wire (which is hard to see) on its place. Farther away there are two ponies, but they have NO active part in this aerial system.
a birds-eye view