Montana Motor Stables: Chameleon Antenna SKYLOOP follow-up by Julian OH8STN

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Chameleon Antenna SKYLOOP follow-up by Julian OH8STN

Hello Operators.

Since early on June 29th, I’ve been running a test with JS8Call. Having switched from primarily operating on 40 meters with the mode, now running 20 meters during the day and 40 meters at night. This isn’t even one complete day yet however, I thought you’d get a kick out of the results so far.

I understand not everyone can put up a skyloop but it solves so many problems.

Lower noise floor
Higher gain
Better reception
Doesn’t require very much height

For JS8Call, dividing operations between 20 meters during the day, and 40 at night opens up opportunities this station never had on 40 meters alone. As you can see from some of the graphics, 20 meters indicated in yellow, shows a deeper penetration into North America than 40 meters indicated in blue.

In contrast, my station rarely makes it into Australia on 20m, while on 40m, it’s a daily occurrence.

If I were Chameleon Antenna, I would make different versions of this antenna for various bands. A full wavelength 20-meter Skyloop might not be effective on 80 & 40, but it would be effective on 20-6m. I also think chameleon antennas should consider an extremely Lite version of the skyloop for man-portable ops. Something with lighter line, smaller transformer, 50-watt capabilities, and various band options.

I don’t know guys. I keep pinching myself thinking I’m going to wake up from a sick mind-twisting dream. I’ve simply never had such an amazing antenna for HF. I firmly believed we had to have yagi antennas and large towers to get such capabilities. The horizontal loop in a Delta configuration seems to be pretty amazing. The square configuration is supposed to be even better! How it can get any better, is beyond my imagination.