All Discussions - CHAMELEON ANTENNA FORUM

the new sky loop

K1STS — Sat, 04 May 2013 15:12:18 -0700

OK, someone please tell me about this new skyloop and pics also would be cool

the new sky loop

K1STS — Sat, 04 May 2013 14:27:37 -0700

OK, someone please tell me about this new skyloop and pics also would be cool

EMCOMM II now on EBAY

Carl — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:26:56 -0700

EMCOMM II now on EBAY

http://www.ebay.com/itm/170995497303?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Field day ops with VL2, Mil Whip and emcomm

DENMONKEY — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 02:21:48 -0700

Hi all,

enjoyed the VK john moyle field day last week end.
I started off usingan all chameleon set up with the VL2 with the MIL whip as a vertical and the emcomm 1
I did a very quick comparison in this video

(sorry forum doesn't seem to want to let me add a live link) .
I start talking more about the antennas at around the 12 minute mark if your in a hurry . ( I referred to is as a zepp at one point :).
Neither of them were set up in an ideal scenario but they both did well.
What I took from my limited testing was that one antenna may work brilliantly in one direction or under specific conditions and the other shines for other directions or conditions. It's not always a failing of the antenna itself.
I think they both have their place and look forward to testing them more.
I think I'll give the emcomm a good test with an additional length of wire attached and see what happens. I do really like the wire used in the emcomm.

cheers Brett VK2MRX

V2L + 65ft Wire = Camping Fun

drsatch — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:54:21 -0700

Just thought I'd share a little experiment I did with a V2L.

All I did was take the upper element off the V2L and replace it with 65ft of old speaker wire using a 3/8-24 bolt to hold it in place. I didn't judge the distance very well. I just threw it up in a tree best I could. It was so long, I had to use another tree to wrap it around 90 degrees to keep it off the ground

Lots of good contacts.

Got some chuckles, but hey...whatever works!

Portugal with a V2L mobile

drsatch — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:19:38 -0700

Thought I'd share a little success story. I have a V2L mounted to my truck. No CAUM, no Hybrid, just the antenna on a mount.

I was on the way to pick up a friend from the airport and started scanning around 17M. Heard a pile-up with a guy in Portugal. Took some work, but after about 10 minutes of trying, I made the contact from Portland, Or. Got a good 5/5 report from 5200mi away.

I thought it was impressive enough performance to share.

Interesting contacts with Chameleon Antennas

n4dov — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:16:13 -0700

To increase participation, hopefully, I have started a new thread to report interesting contacts. So anyone please let us know :

Station/Country
UTC time
Band/Mhz
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK)
Report sent/received
Power
Type of CHAMELEON antenna
Your location

Thanks, David

High SWR

MGREEN — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:15:03 -0700

I use the Cha Hybrid with VI base mounted on a 12' metal mast with 4 radials attached to a metal fence post. With this set up swr was between 1 and 1.8 across all bands with excellent results. I had to change the mounting bracket as the antenna was leaning to one side and since then I am experiencing very high swr. I checked with two LDG Tuners: AT-600 and a Z-11 Pro. Using the Autek Analyzer on all bands 10 - 160m, the lowest swr was 8.4 on 15m.
With the LDGs: 10m - 1.1, 12m - >3, 15m - 1.7, 17m - >10, 20m - 1.1, 40m - 1.4, 80m & 160m - >10.
Nothing else was changed from the previous set-up. I use a FT-450D, 100' RG 213. I also observed there is no reading on the S scale and a significant drop in the rx audio. Can anyone help me sort this?
Michael/9Z4M

Mobile Mount

N9BAV — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:37:11 -0700

Anyone using the Hybrid mounted mobile on a pickup. what type of mount are you using? I think I want a hybrid for an all around antenna, use mobile, or portable in park. I am hung up on mounting. 2" receiver hitch mount? Breedlove ball? I'd like to hear from other that have mounted mobile.

Thanks

New mobil install question.

zl1vt — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:33:13 -0700

Hi All. I would like to install an HF antenna on my 4 Runner primarily for NVIS coms in rough terrain between 30 and 300 miles. I realize my radiated power will be lower on 80 and 40 with a short antenna but a compromise is what it will have to be for mobile on the move coms. I am considering a V1 for robustness and a mini hybrid connected to a Breedlove fold over mount on the roof. I was thinking about an SGC 237 connected to the bolt through the roof and the ground to the body and frame for coupling.

I am looking for the best efficiency possible and would like to hear your opinions. I read with great interest the threads about people getting rid of screwdrivers and going to the V1. Thanks.

antenna cable

MGREEN — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 04:31:36 -0700

Can RG 8x cable be safely used with power levels to 500 watts? I notice that RG 8x is about half the cost of the others. What do you recommend?

Hybrid use with DX Engineering Radial plate

leerhp — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:36:07 -0700

I have e the Hybrid, V1 and Mil Whip combination (and will probably add the capacity hat). The Hybrid is attached to a pipe using a truck mirror mount, which is attached to the DX Engineering tilt-base, which is attached to a wood structure. The DX instructions for the radial plate call for the Pl-259 from the antenna to be attached to the radial plate via an SO-239 bulkhead fitting: "This will ground your coax to the radial plate before it goes to the antenna."

I assume this serves to connect the hybrid to the radials. Is the base of the hybrid, and the truck mount and the pipe grounded additionally? Does one insulate the hybrid base from the truck mount/pipe? Or does it get connected to the ground rod?

By way of radials, how many and how long? I am thinking of 32 radials, 65-feet long. I am blocked on one side by the house. Thanks

Steve, KA4SWL (newbie, especially to HF) I apolozize in advance in advance if this turns out to be a double post. I don't think thios got posted the first time.

ARRL 10M Contest 7-8 Dec (next weekend)

VE7GNR — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:06:55 -0700

Hi All:
I'll be setting up my Icom 703Plus + Hybrid + V1 + MIL whip next weekend for 10M ARRL contest. Anyone else participating?
Cheers,
Garnet
VE7GNR

Using the hybrid to adapt a loop ?

PierreF8APV — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 03:29:00 -0700

Hello all.

Is it possible to use the hybrid device to adapt a loop ? Someone test this setup ?

Best 73

Pierre de F8APV

Photos

n4dov — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:19:55 -0700

I have added 18 photos to the Photo Section of the Chameleon Antenna Yahoo User Group, of my various Chameleon Antenna set-up over the last couple of years. 73s David N4DOV.

Calling out 28.400 USB

kc7zwg — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:48:14 -0700

On 28.400 USB right now, would be excellent to make a CHA-CHA contact!

it is 12:45PM Pacific Time, I will be here until 1:45PM PST.

Go for it!

kc7zwg

Military Extension Prototype

[Deleted User] — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:52:43 -0700

I posted this on the yahoo group and will add the pictures below:
I took Carl up on testing his prototype. I have a vertical now that I use Buddipole arms on between the mil whip and the Hybrid. I saw this as an opportunity to make my vertical out of all Chameleon products. I've included pictures of the set up in the photo section. My vertical is mounted to an aluminum pole that is about 9' high. It is grounded to an 8" ground rod at the bottom. Additionally I've taken a 6 meter antenna, removed the plastic washer and turned it upside down, which provides some counterpoise directly under the Hybrid. Buidling from the mount up you have Hybrid-Spring-Extension-Cap Hat- Military Whip. SWRs are 160-6.6, 80-2.7, 60-1.8, 40-1.6, 30-1.1, 20-1.8, 17-1.4, 15-1.3, 12-1.8, 10-3.1. It tunes all to 1.1, even 160 with my internal Kenwood TS-590s tuner, as well as the LDG tuner it is hooked to now. SWRs are from the lower part of the bands - I run CW. I did some Reverse Beacon Network Calls and hot hits on 40, 30, and 20 at 9:30 in the morning. I got AB, UT, TX, PA, OH, and NC stations. This antenna will take a beating on the north side of the house where 60 mph winds are not unusual when fronts move through and sometimes higher. The Hybrid you see in these pictures hase been there for about a year as a vertical mount and survived some pretty tough weather. We'll se how this one does. Carl makes quality products, and this prototyp extension was not an exception. By the by, I put a tape down beside the pieces parts - my extension was about 7', the military whip is about 11' and if you count the heavy duty spring as a radiator, that is about 18.5'. The cap hat makes the antenna longer electronically. I have fairly good SWR over a whide range of bands, and each is tuneable to 1.1.

NEW Product Idea Survey - Base Station Rotatable Dipole 6M - 160M (1500W SSB)

Carl — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:57:37 -0700

Hi everyone,

I'm actually drawing some concepts of Base Station Rotatable Dipole Antenna for 6M to 160M.
The antenna will be about 40' to 60' wide (20' to 30' each element) maximum.

Is that something that you would be interested to get for your base station antenna system?

The price would be around $350 to $399 USD. The mast and the electric motor won't be included or even sold by us.

Cheers,

Carl

NEW CHA EMCOMM II (6M to 160M)

Carl — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 16:37:02 -0700

Due to the AMAZING success of our EMCOMM LIMITED EDITION (6M to 80M) (Fall 2012) and due to the numerous emails asking us if more EMCOMM will be available again; we're glad to announce and introduce the NEW CHA EMCOMM II (6M to 160M).

More info here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChameleonAntenna/message/90

Cheers,

Carl

Is my hybrid-mini bad?

k6ozy — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:54:40 -0700

I received my Hybrid-Mini yesterday with a MIL whip. I put the antenna up on top of a 16' aluminum mast and it was as deaf. I did not have counterpoise wires deployed, but the 16' pole was entirely connected to it as a counterpoise. It was extremely deaf. S0 S1 max even with the PRE amp on the KX3. I detach it, move back to my 40/20 EndFed, the signals are all there. Thinking this was a lack of counterpoise wires, I proceeded today deploying it as the endfed I intended. I strung the 60' wire up into the tree and attached the Hybrid-Mini on another tree at about 5'. I connected the radio again. It was still deaf. I attach my SWR meter and the SWR is > 10 on every band. Something is not right here. Again, the antenna is deaf with the noise floor at S0 - S1 on all bands with only the strongest S9+10 making it through.

Is the Unit bad?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8707212@N06/8231233532

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8707212@N06/8230170613

Antenna Coupling

pbuick — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:13:57 -0700

I have seen a lot of comments and arguments in threads here and on forums and even in articles about coupling (or matching) the antenna to the feedline. As an electronics engineering technologist, I have having an extremely difficult time in discerning the difference between the following:

Putting a matching coil (sometimes with other components) at the base of an antenna (with or without taps).
Adjusting a coil at the base of or in the "middle" of an antenna (ok, and a bit of length change) with a screwdriver motor. (Yes I understand that center loading is better than base loading and top loading is even better, but usually impractical.)
Putting a box at the base of an antenna with a set of inductors and capacitors to switch in components to build a matching network on the fly.
Using stubs of coax to act as inductors / capacitors, in particular when used to transform the impedance at the base of an antenna.

Perhaps I'm missing something? Isn't an inductor an inductor and a capacitor a capacitor regardless of the form it takes and using any form of one or the other to "match" the radiating portion of the antenna to the feedline doing exactly the same thing? If so, why are there so many heated arguments about the different ways of introducing a matching network? Why are there people saying that some things are "sky heaters" or "dummy loads" and yet others are miracles in their eyes?

I will be buying a good coupler soon from a reputable manufacturer and plan on testing with it. Soon after that, I plan on buying more Chameleon equipment and perhaps some base vertical antennas to also test with. I am somewhat invested with the idea of HF mobile / portable for day-to-day and emergency operations over rather large areas due to the sparse population of where I live. I would love to do testing where I used to live in the Rocky Mountains, as getting out of the rather deep valleys is a significant challenge!

Thanks for any insight anyone may be able to provide on whether there *are* any real differences and what they are if so.

VE6PDB

CHA Hybrid Install

hurdele — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:07:13 -0700

I have one of the older Hybrids that we are using with a field install (for emergency deployment). We use the green military poles and put about 90ft of wire approximately 20ft in the air. It works well on all frequencies except 80 mtrs. I cannot get the LDG AT-200Pro to tune it. Any suggestions?

Antenna Coupling

pbuick — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:25:19 -0700

Putting a matching coil (sometimes with other components) at the base of an antenna (with or without taps).
Adjusting a coil at the base of or in the "middle" of an antenna (ok, and a bit of length change) with a screwdriver motor. (Yes I understand that center loading is better than base loading and top loading is even better, but usually impractical.)
Putting a box at the base of an antenna with a set of inductors and capacitors to switch in components to build a matching network on the fly.
Using stubs of coax to act as inductors / capacitors, in particular when used to transform the impedance at the base of an antenna.

Thanks for any insight anyone may be able to provide on whether there *are* any real differences and what they are if so.

VE6PDB

FORUM PARTICIPATION

Carl — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:32:07 -0700

FORUM PARTICIPATION

Although
the stats show that there are many visitors and readers on the forum
there does not seem to be a lot of response to the posts. As you read,
if you have a thought to share, idea to present, or even a dis-agreement
to something you find, please feel free to post your thoughts. We
encourage everyone to write whatever is on your mind.

In my
opinion, a forum should not become a newspaper where there are a few
writers and the rest merely read. Instead, it would be more useful,
informative, and interesting if everyone would write something from time
to time. I urge every member here start a new topic when you want to or
respond to any post in any manner that suits you. If you would rather
just read that is fine. However, the reason I made this post is to
remind everyone that this an open forum and as such everyone has the
same rights and responsibilities here.

Thanks for reading this.

Cheers,

Carl

On the road testing the V1L with Hybrid, your help is needed

ka3nxn — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:45:27 -0700

Hi Gang,

Jaime-KA3NXN here. I am going to be running some tests on the road at the end of this month with a V1L and Hybrid base on a modified 3 magnet mount. Thanksgiving week we will put about 400 miles on the setup driving from central VA to Central NC. This is a preliminary test for the following week. The week after Thanks giving we will be doing a 2000 mile round trip from VA to MO testing this same setup with corrections and modifications that were implemented from testing results on Thanksgiving week.

I am looking to see if any of you would be interested in setting up a sked on a few frequencies on several bands to see how the system works.

The tentative on the road schedule

Thanksgiving week:

Wednesday 21st on the road for 5 hours starting at approximately 15:00 EST

Sunday 25th on the road for 5 hours starting at about noon EST

Week of November 26th

Tuesday November 27th, on the road for about 12 hours starting at about 15:00 EST

Saturday December 1st, on the road for about 13 hours starting at about 07:00 EST

I will post bands and frequencies at a later date.

Let me know if you would like to participate.

Jaime-KA3NXN

Megan-KD4IDU

CHAT-box thread

n4dov — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:46:01 -0700

Starting a new thread here for Chameleon-"istas" about amateur radio related matters, thoughts etc.... kinda like the old shout-out box which Carl is trying to rework into the new forum website. So until then will give this a go.

CHA ZEPP ANTENNA INSTALLATION TIPS

Carl — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:33:05 -0700

CHA ZEPP ANTENNA INSTALLATION TIPS

There are several basic methods to installing the CHA Zepp antenna. The most common methods are Vertical, Inverted “L” or Inverted “V”.
The best rule of thumb is to get the antenna as high as possible off the ground.
Try to keep the entire antenna away from metal objects, including metal siding of houses or metal poles, water pipes, rain gutters, balcony handrails, metal stairs, etc…
The CHA Zepp has been designed to be installed directly into your antenna tuner with the provided 1’ coax jumper cable. Adding longer coax cable might attenuate RX & TX of the antenna and performances might be affected.
The provided UNUN is designed to keep the RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) out of the coax shield cable.
If the CHA Zepp is not tuning properly you can try to either remove the UNUN and plug directly into your antenna tuner and/or move the antenna.
An Inverted “V” configuration elevated at about 20’ – 25’ above ground will give an average radiation (50% -50%) between DX and NVIS for limited antenna space (Very compromise antenna installation).
An Inverted “L”,”U” or horizontal configurations are NOT very good for DX. Those configurations are mostly NVIS setup and will radiate straight up for local communications (0 – 400 Miles).
For DX communications reposition the CHA Zepp into a Vertical or Sloped configuration.

How many people are using the HYBRID or the HYBRID-MINI with at least 500W SSB?

Carl — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:57:22 -0700

Hi,

How many of you are using the HYBRID or the HYBRID-MINI with at least 500W SSB?

CHA MIL Whip REVIEW - Could you review your CHA MIL Whip please?

Carl — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:11:18 -0700

Hi everyone,

It's been awhile since the MIL has been introduced to the public but nobody has left ANY review of it yet!!!!!!

Could you please drop a review of your MIL here:

Chameleon MIL Whip = http://www.eham.net/reviews/addreview/10415

It would be VERY appreciated!!

Cheers,

Carl