HAM and Kites

Kite to Kite QSO date : Aug 29 1993 16.15 GMT
Freq: 3756 kHz, Mode: LSB,  report 5, 9 + both ways

Operator Wim PA0WHZ
Location : dijklichaam A4 Delft Zuid
Set: ft757 antenna .5 wavelength

Operator Colin G0STW / portable , Dave G4YJQ /portable
Location : England, city dump near Harwich
Set: unknown

On the 29th of Augustus I had the privilege to witness a not so common QSO I went to a location just south of the city of Delft, on top of a pile of sand that was to become a road. Here I started kiting with my own build kite type "Sanjo rokkaku" This is a 1 line kite which is quite stable. The pulling force is so tremendous that I used my Peugeot 205 as an anchor pin. Shortly after I was all set, Wim PA0WHZ arrived with his Mercedes van. Then and there we decided to see if connecting half a wavelength of antenna wire to the kite was feasible.
After some try outs we found the right spot for the Mercedes van. (somewhat between the Peugeot and the kite) . The vertical antenna was connected to the slightly sagging kite line, on the ground we had about 4 to 5 radials.
Shortly after Wim was in the air there was the QSO with G0STW who told us on his first run:
“We are located on the city dump, and our antenna is fixed on a kite"
When we heard that we agreed : "This is no ordinary QSO”
After PA0WHZ told G0STW about our antenna situation. Colin and Dave must have agreed with us

Chris van Gorp PA7RHM


Kite cam movie on youtube

Chris with his Sanjo

The Sanjo