SKYLOOP Antenna | Hybrid Winlink Network Part 1

Hello Operators
For some time its been a goal to add additional HF antenna capabilities to the tower. The first thought was adding a yagi! Unfortunately, using a yagi can be likened to firing artillery. Identify target, shoot, correct, fire for effect. Highly Effective! A mono band yagi is perhaps the best tool a contest or DX station operator could ask for. It is an excellent tool, but not as the only antenna, and not as a primary EMCOMM antenna.

Currently there are three yagis up on the tower. All are either VHF or UHF. My tower configuration would require giving up one or more of the VHF/UHF yagis, in order to put up a mono band yagi. Wanting effective communications for 80 meters, a large yagi would require giving up too much, even when augmented by various wire antennas.

I know there are diy hexbeams projects and on offer, but doubting their robustness or longevity tower deployed, at this latitude. Moreover, rarely if ever have I seen one configured for 80 meters. A 2 element 80 meter yagi would fit, but not in this time frame. Definitely something to look at in the future. Since I don’t know where the signals will be coming from, an omnidirectional antenna seems to be the best approach as my primary 80m antenna. Not as effective as a yagi, but with a fair sized plot of land, a full wavelength horizontal loop antenna on 80 meters could be rather effective, for my operating requirements. With that said, I have decided on a SKYLOOP antenna. One which is a full wavelength on 80 meters.

Testing a vertical
Before the skyloop arrived, I did tests with the DX Commander. The DX Commander would have made it possible to have multiple resonant bands, on a single vertical antenna. As it is with vertical antennas in urban environments, noise was a greater problem than with a horizontal loop or yagi. As often mentioned on the blog/channel, weak signal work is very important and noise provents us from hearing weak stations. Unlike DXers operating from home, remote operators do not always have 100 watt radios, 500 watt amplifiers, or the battery capacity to run such a station. Therefore we need some gain on both sides of the antenna to get pulled in or pull them out of the noise. We also need to reduce that local noise as much as possible, so we can actually hear those weak stations. Unfortunately, a vertical can’t do that!
Another issue with the vertical was burying the necessary radial network under the backyard. This requirement was very unattractive (for my wife). We also didn’t want a wire mess in the yard for the dogs and unsuspecting people tripping over. Also missing from the DX Commander (and every other vertical antenna) was the reliable NVIS performance. As we say, “Use the right tool for the job!”.
Perhaps if there was a half wave end fed version of the DX Commander with more modest radial network requirements, it would be an option. So for now passing on the vertical option, and remaining firmly on the full wavelength loop concept for this station.

Skyloop testing and advantages over a dipole

The skyloop takes a considerable amount of property to put up. This is especially true for 80 meters. Its size is the price of excellent performance. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be set up in a perfect square. This gives us to deployment options the “antenna purists” might not even consider. In exchange for its size, we get a drop in noise level, gain over a dipole, and something which can easily be hidden in the trees. Here are three benefits of the skyloop over a dipole.

  • The skyloop is an incredibly quiet antenna, reducing background noise and making it possible to work even weaker stations.
  • The skyloop has more gain than a dipole.
  • The skyloop provides better NVIS performance than a dipole at the same height

The image above left shows a traditional square sky loop antenna deployment. Unfortunately, the tree which could have supported that missing corner of the sky loop, was taken down last year. Not wanting to put up any other artificial structures for antenna support, a triangle would be a better bet. The triangle comes at a cost though! The square provides the lowest cancellation of local noise, with a larger inner area inside the wire. The triangle also has good noise cancellation, but not nearly as good as the square. Even so, the current plan for my own station is more of a triangle. The height will be somewhere between 10-12 meters (30-40 feet).
It could be higher, but using birch trees for support and living near the sea, wind is an issue. The tops of the birch trees swing quite a bit in our legendary wind storms. Supporting the skyloop midway up the birch tree, alleviates this issue.

Winlink Hybrid Network
For winlink email within Finland, 80 meters is “the band”. Almost all gateways in Finland are on 80 meters, with a couple on 160 meters and 6 meters. There are no alternate WARC band gateways. This is fine for high power stations, during non contest weekends, but can be challenging at the wrong time of day, or when operating at lower power levels. Since one of the goals is contributing to the Winlink network in Finland, 80 meters has to be my best performing band for this antenna. I’ll also need to come up with a quiet weak signal band, for low power work and/or for times when contesting is dominating 80 meters. Perhaps a 60 meter option later on. Supporting remote and low power stations off grid is incredibly important for this station. This means offering solutions to them, albeit outside of contest bands.

Just in case you’re interested, here is a playlist of my ongoing Asynchronous Communications for preparedness series.

The Context
As mentioned in other posts and videos, it is extremely important to be inspired to and inspire other operators to contribute additional resources to our networks. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about JS8Call, HFLink, Winlink, or any of the other network tools we rely upon. This over simply consuming resources others have deployed. Since most of my traditional ham radio activities are done man portable, my home station is generally underutilized. I do run a JS8Call station 24/7 on 40 meters. That is also sometimes augmented by an 80 meter JS8Call station. SSB QSOs or other contacts “for fun”, are generally done out in the field.

This means the home station is generally there for the EMCOMM and preparedness side of “the hobby”

The Skyloop installation is the first part of contributing back to the winlink network in Finland and surrounding countries. Other projects related to this are:

  • Off Grid battery backup for the Winlink station
  • Supplemental power generation
  • Larkbox Mini PC
  • Improved Monoband antennas for JS8Call
  • Ham Shack renovation
  • Vara FM Gateway

The tower work for this project is being supported by Chameleon Antenna. Chameleon Antenna very kindly supplied their Skyloop 2.0 for this project. The CHA SKYLOOP 2.0 is an extreme performance horizontal full-wave loop antenna. The antenna is comprised of 80 meters (265 feet) of wire, insulators, and a matching transformer. I reached out to Chameleon after deciding on the right antenna for this project.
Here is the user guide.

I understand I could have built a full wavelength horizontal loop on my own. Not having practical experience on materials and longevity, I decided to leave it to the experts who understand antenna deployment in extreme conditions. After calculating the wire, toroid, winding material, enclosure, hardware, waterproofing, building this antenna myself, with the level of quality/reliability required at this latitude, would have cost much more than buying it from someone with expertise in this field.
I think this was a good decision.

73
Julian oh8stn
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/oh8stn
Tipjar: https://paypal.me/oh8stn/1usd

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10 Comments

  1. I’ve often thought of a loop on 80m, but never found the time to make it a priority. The recent surge in Winlink activity may be just the push I need. I’m interested in what you learn. Thanks for the great info and inspiration. N4DPH

    • Yeah I’m really excited about getting this one up. Read about them over the years, but never had the chance to put Moana.

  2. I am not able to contribute dollars to your work. It seems that your site only accepts PayPal which does not seem to work. PayPal seems on work on Ebay for instance. Do you have any other means to contribute? As a new ham, I really enjoy your focus.

    • The PayPal is working perfectly. Go to patreon and of course YouTube members. Perhaps you can tell me what trouble you’re having with PayPal?

  3. With the regular DX commander, the 80m element is an inverted L so you do get some nvis performance. That said, I typically get better reports on 80m with my EFHW deployed as an inverted V in the 100-400 mile range. Love the DXC for DX, and have the Lite version with 40-20-15 for portable ops. As you note, horses for courses.

    • I also have an end fed in inverted V configuration which does very well. The DX Commander requires too many wires on the ground, and support wires in the air, for my home (dogs and people moving around). Inverted L is good but also directional. I “believe” for less money and no wires or supports on the ground, the skyloop is the better choice. It also doesn’t require the radial network. 1/4 wave vertical is extremely noisy, so lots of reasons to give the skyloop a go.

  4. Used a Skyloop 2.0 as a primary antenna for a QRP competition and it absolutely crushed it on everything. You’re going to love it once it’s in place. Good luck and terrific content! You’re a huge inspiration for my own portable station. de Tony W0NTC

    • Thank you Tony. I’m really looking forward to getting it up in the air.
      Also thank you for the kindness. Just trying to give back to the community.
      73
      Julian oh8stn

  5. Hi Julian, I have used a 265 foot loop at only 24 feet, and have had great performance over the last 25 years. All that is needed is 16 AWG wire, feed with 450ohm ladder line and use a 4:1 balun at your house them bring it in with coax. I cover all of Arizona with a big signal on 80m as part of state wide RACES net, and into surround states. On 40m, in the morning, I get pile ups on me in FT8 from southeast Asia and also VK and ZS land. I can work the world on 20 and below no problem. Put one up and you will love it. I also built a 2 element 20m beam using Hustled hi power resonators, which works great and I can run 500watts to them. That being the case, you could also do the same for 80m, and make a great directional compact higher gain nvis beam. Regards Brad KE7MU

4 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  1. The Ultimate Wire Antenna | Chameleon Skyloop 2.0 – OH8STN Ham Radio
  2. Chameleon SKYLOOP | Horizontal Loop Antenna – OH8STN Ham Radio
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  4. Chameleon Antenna SKYLOOP follow-up – OH8STN Ham Radio

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