On Tuesday, July 14, 1992 at 5:01:58 PM UTC-5, Sherwood Botsford wrote:
I take groups of teens on extended wilderness trips. (Canoe expeditions in Northern Sasketchewan and the North West Territories) For communication we use
a single side band radio (SBX11A) operating at 3.3 Mhz.
The antenna for this is quite long. (45 meters minimum) and is supposed to be
suspended a minimum of 23 meters off the ground. This is difficult to do in boreal forest without running a clear cut operation. Currently our success rate
on establishing contact is running about 20% on any given day.
One of the alternatives I'm investigating is using a kite to suspend the antenna. Usually we have steady wind in mid-afternoon on the lakes. I would like a stickless design, as it would be easy to wad up and stuff in a pack.
Ideally I want the antenna to be vertical, but any angle over 45 degrees will do. The kite should be fairly stable, and needs to be able to support a couple
pounds of line. (Antenna is 20 guage wire) I also need it to be easily adjustable to run in a variety of wind conditions.
I posted earlier in rec.aviation (Hadn't occured to me that there was a rec.kites) and received several good suggestions. (Thanks) I figure here that there may be people who have already done this, and would point out the gotchas.
sherwood
Third place to post: Ham Radio sites. 3.3 MHz is just below the 80 Meter band (3.5-4.0 MHz).
Kites: Try "Into The Wind" (Boulder, Colorado).
You might want to attach a boaters foam key ring float to the kite so it stays close to the surface if it hits water.
Wire: I would try thin braided copper or bronze lake trout line.
If you do this over a lake you may get the fresh water equivalent of what HAMs call "a Salt Water Linear".
This weekend is Field Day. Good Luck.
John_Nix_KC0KBG@techie.com
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