On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 02:06:37 GMT, Ken wrote:

I will be running 28 ga. magnet wire along (& around) a 350 ft. kite
line tied to a windborne kite -- for 160M work.

The other leg will be bare copper wire that runs 50 ft to the ocean.

In case nobody's told you prior to this, don't use the wire alone to
connect to the kite. Use conventional kite line (I use 100# test
dacron) and support your antenna on the kite line.

Make sure your ground wire is plentiful and of a decently large gauge,
just as you'd use at home. Sea water is a good conductor, but you
still need surface area. If you're on board a ship, you're probably
better off attaching to the ship's ground. However, every situation
is different...

I am not sure if this is a longwire antenna with counterpoise or a
tilted vertical with ground plane.

Depends on how high an angle your kite flies :-) I have used a
Stratoscoop III, a Jalbert Parafoil, and various box and delta kites.
Of these, the Stratoscoop III is definitely the highest angle flier,
but it's not a stable kite at those angles. The box kites and Delta
kites proved most reliable, and the Parafoil pulled the hardest,
though it flew at relatively low angles. I should have tinkered with
the Parafoil, but I had other kites at the time, so I chose to use
them instead.

Anyhow, I have been told that the wind will cause static charge to
build on the magnet wire and that a path to ground must be provided.

1) Is this true?

YES. BEEN THERE, LEARNED IT THE HARD WAY. DON'T REPEAT MY MISTAKE.

2) If it is true, would the problem be solved with, say, a 1,000 ohm
resistor between the longwire and and sal****er ground leads at my
tuner?

I used a 100 k Ohm resistor. The value can be pretty high as there is
very little current. Later I used an RF choke with equal protection
and equal success.

73, and have fun!


Jake Brodsky, AB3A
"Beware of the massive impossible!"