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Chameleon Knowledge Base · The Complete Online HF Antenna Handbook

CHA TDL DX-Oriented Configuration

For longer paths, use the highest safe feed-point position and orient the loop or dipole broadside toward the intended region, then choose a band that supports lower-angle propagation.

TDL Handbook 02 Configurations Reviewed 2026-07-14
In plain language: For longer paths, use the highest safe feed-point position and orient the loop or dipole broadside toward the intended region, then choose a band that supports lower-angle propagation.

Lay the complete antenna out before extending either whip. A five-minute deployment stays controlled when the operator has already chosen the footprint, orientation, coax route, and lowering path.

The point is not to memorize one diagram. It is to select the documented geometry that fits the job and then preserve the parts that make that geometry a complete antenna.

What this means in the field

  • Elevation and clear surroundings usually matter more than adding an undocumented radiator.
  • On the ground-mounted loop, raising the base can improve performance but reduces the five-minute free-standing simplicity.
  • Record direction, height, band, time, and reports so the next deployment starts from evidence.

The complete TDL behind the answer

  • The CHA TDL is a fast-deploying 3.5–54 MHz field system built around two fully extended SS17 whips, a 25 ft 4 in loop wire, a TDL Hub, a HYBRID-MICRO or HYBRID-MINI matching transformer, a spike, and 50-ohm coax.
  • Inverted delta loop: the normal rapid-deployment configuration, with two SS17 whips forming the upper sides and the supplied wire completing the loop.
  • Ground-mounted vertical: one fully extended SS17 becomes the vertical radiator and the supplied loop wire becomes the counterpoise.
  • V-dipole or horizontal dipole: optional-mast configurations using both fully extended SS17 whips and the matching transformer at the feed point.

Band and matching reality

The published operating range is 3.5–54 MHz. The guide describes 10.1–54 MHz as the most effective range and requires an antenna tuner or coupler on 3.5–7.0 MHz. Installed SWR, site, geometry, feed line, and nearby conductors still matter.

Before you transmit

  • Keep the complete antenna and coax away from overhead power lines.
  • Choose a stable support and clear the area where people could contact a whip, wire, guy line, or feed line.
  • Begin tuning at low power and observe the radio, feed line, transformer, and nearby equipment for RF feedback or heating.
  • Review RF-exposure requirements and medical-device precautions before transmitting.

Make the next setup easier

Record the chosen configuration, transformer, band, tuner state, orientation, height, counterpoise or loop-wire route, coax, analyzer reference plane, and on-air result. That small field record is more useful than a remembered “good SWR.”

Configuration boundary: Use SS17 whips only. The current guide does not document SS25 for the TDL. Thread fit is not permission to substitute a different radiator.
Keep the current guide beside the antenna.

This page makes the operating decision easier to understand. The current guide still controls assembly order, dimensions, power limits, and safety.

Open the CHA TDL User Guide · View the current product page

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