What’s a middle-aged nerd to do on a breezy fall day while on a weekend camping trip? How about setting up an amateur ham radio kite antenna to see if we can talk to someone in Switzerland, what else?
Why a HF Kite Antenna?
I’ve always been fascinated with the fact that – with a simple HF radio setup, using about as much power as a flashlight – we can talk to someone on the other side of the earth by bouncing a signal off the blue sky above us. Talking to distant stations, or DX, using old-school technology, still seems like magic and it’s a fun thing to mess with when we’re camping.
HF Kite Antennas Have a Long History
Way back in 1901, The father of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, used a 200 meter kite antenna to send the very fist radio signals to cross the Atlantic. During World War II, kite radio antennas were used by both Allied and Axis forces for communications on the battlefield. Amateur radio operators, taking notice of the military’s use of HF kite antennas, have been messing around with them ever since.
How We Set Up a Amateur Radio HF Kite Antenna Using Polyethylene Electric Fence Wire
Having used polyethylene electric fence wire before around our garden, we figured this lightweight wire, made of 6 inter-woven strands of stainless steel wire and polyethylene fibers – might make a good kite antenna since it’s so lightweight. Before heading out for a camping trip at Muleshoe Bend Recreation Area, west of Austin, TX, we purchased a 1,500′ roll of polyethylene electric fence wire, along with a large beach kite and a 9:1 UNUN balun or antenna balancer.
Setup Steps
- Measured and cut 200′ of wire from the roll.
- Stripped wires to expose 6 stainless steel conductors.
- Wound together wires and attached them to the wing-nut on the balun.
- Attached beach kite to the electric fence wire.
- Tied a small cord to a loop in the electric fence wire, then tied to the tailgate.
- Poked an 8′ copper grounding rod into the soil and attached it to the ground terminal on the balun.
- Sent the kite aloft and tied it off to our truck using nylon cord.
- Found a clear frequency on the 15 meter ham band and tuned the antenna to our Yaesu FT-991A using the built in tuner.
Our First DX Contact on the HF Kite Antenna – Switzerland!
The first thing we noticed after the kite antenna gained some altitude was how many signals we were pulling in on all the bands, compared to the dipole antenna we use in our suburban neighborhood.
The very first contact we made was on the 15 meter band, to a station with an HB prefix, (Switzerland). We got a good signal report and the operator was surprised to hear we were using a kite to lift our HF ham antenna. We made several more contacts on the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands, including with mobile stations, some who were fellow campers that were operating special ham stations at points along historic Route-66 as part of an anniversary celebration. The winds that afternoon were a fickle, but our cheap beach kite stayed up for about twenty minutes before having to be relaunched.
While flying our ham radio kite antenna for a couple hours we made over 100 contacts around the world, including Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy and Brazil.
Don’t Get Shocked!
Just like how an actual electric fence charger can energize the electric fence wire, so can RF or radio frequency energy from your radio. We accidentally brushed an arm against the wire while talking to a contact and got a little jolt!
How Practical Was Using Poly Electric Fence Wire For Our Ham Kite Antenna?
As far as whether poly electric fence wire makes a good HF ham antenna or not, ours seemed to work just fine. The six stainless steel wires, when wound all together at the end, seem to be enough to handle up to 100 watts of RF output. That polyethylene electric fence wire is relatively cheap and made to stand up to livestock is another plus.
Below is a list of the Items we Used to Make our HF Kite Antenna*
- One 1,500′ Roll of Besteel Poly Braid electric fence wire – Amazon – $35
- One 1:9 UNUN Antenna balun – Amazon – $15
- Hengda Beach Kite – Amazon – $29
- 8′ Copper Grounding rod – Home Depot – $18
Total Cost: $97
This was a fun thing to do on our first fall camping trip of the year and something we’d imagined trying for years, but probably won’t be our go-to setup for our HF radio setup when camping. You’ll need just the right place for flying an amateur radio kite antenna, and just the right winds and weather. For our normal “camping with ham radio” scenarios, we’ll use a little end fed dipole that we sometimes string up over a tree, if we’re so lucky as to have one near our campsite.
There are several ways of making kite antennas, so do some research before deciding on what equipment is right for you. If your radio doesn’t have a built in tuner, an external one will be necessary.
Caution – Don’t Be Like Ben Franklin
It probably goes without saying that flying a kite antennas is a great way to get struck by lightning, if thunderstorms are around. Exercise extreme caution with trying this novel kind of amateur radio antenna and lower your kite when thunderstorms approach. (Also warn your camping companions about getting shocked by RF!)
Be sure that you’re aware of any special restrictions on aerial devices that may be in place near airports, national parks, etc before trying anything like this.
How to Get a Ham License
Each year, amateur radio operators spend thousands of hours volunteering their time to help with vital communications in situations such as natural disasters, which often disrupt other forms of communication. Having a ham set aboard your overland rig is just one more way you can summon help in a life or death situation. For info on how to get a ham license, see ARRL.org
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