SUCCESS!!!!!!!!

The flying Delta Loop worked!  In the 2002 ARRL CW DX Contest and the CQWW 160 SSB contest, it flew well, and the results were GREAT!  Very high scores in the WPX contests of 2002 and 2003 (SOSB 160) attest to the antenna’s effectiveness.

I used a 12-foot delta kite to give a lot of lift, and to stay up if the winds died down over night.  I could have used the Sky Hook Helikite, but I was out of helium, so a kite took the load.  It worked well, staying up all night each time I used it.  The kite was tethered about 50 metres from the base of the Delta, and the apex of the antenna attached to the kite line.  Then the ends of the base were staked out, and about 40 metres of line attached to each of the bottom corners to hold the base down.

The top of the Delta was up about 80 metres, with the base about 77 meters long, and up 20 metres off of the ground.  Each side was about 55 metres long, with the matching being handled by a co-axial feed line consisting of a quarter wave of RG59 then RG58 to the shack. 

The take off angle was the best I have achieved so far.  Very little of the power is in the high angles and the signal is concentrated down at low angles where you need it.

I hope to have a bit more material like actual pictures of the monster, but it is so big, it is hard to take a picture of in flight.  

If you have any questions or comments about this site, please send me an EMAIL.  I will try to help if you need some advice on how to get the wire up in the air.  

Before you go, if you have gotten this far you are either a budding airbourne antenna nut or really bored with life and a sad case.  Click on the link below and the basket of facts you thought you never needed to know will appear.  This will be where new information is sent as I am not a real web author and would prefer to put the new information in a file at the end.

 

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