Thanks so much Phil. I am heading to Oz in a couple of weeks, and trying to work out the 'ultimate' portable and light antenna to take to Oz. I think I'll take some tape measures, metal tape and ethernet cable and see what I can build hahaha. Hope to hear ya from VK3 buddy. Cheers
A little bit of a technical explanation would go a long way to help folks understand just what is 'magic' about your tarp. I have to assume you have taped some wire to the trap to use as an antenna - that that has to be an assumption, sadly, as this vid never really goes into it. The "dunno what park" really adds to the mystery. Just the same, it is clear you are having a lot of fun with your radio buddies. Good-o. BTW - if the tarptenna was explained earlier/elsewhere, a link would be appropriate.
Hey there mate, I set up a poll on my youtube community and it looks like I will be livestreaming on the TarpTenna at 23:00UTC today. I'll post the link below. It is neck and neck with the Tent Pole Beam - another wacky antenna. So here are the answers to your questions mate, and I apologize that my video skipped over those important bits.... The 10x12 tarp with metal tape taped to close to the outer edge of the tarp is approximately 41-42 feet in length. I didn't realize that a 10x12 tarp is actually, 9.5 x 11.5 thereabouts.... So the tape is taped around the perimeter just inside the eyelets but doesn't touch them due to capacitance coupling etc. So at the 'feed point' the two ends come within 4 inches of each other and are terminated..... From there I have taped ethernet wire of 3 feet onto each 'end' of the tape at the feedpoint. That in turn is connected to a BNC binding post, into the tuner which is TURNED OFF for 15 meters, and then the 25ft coax runs to the radio..... the "magic' part is with old metal tape on a tarp, it is a FULL WAVE LOOP on 15 meters..... you want other bands? You disconnect the black connector side of the bnc wire, and then connect a 17ft long wire, and now you can tune it for 10-40 meters. AND..... another crazy thing is that with the tuner OFF with the 'long wire' configuration it is 1:1 on 40 meters. I am going to post a link to the livestream today mate, and will walk around the feed point with an up close explanation. Thanks for your comment mate. Cheers ! https://youtube.com/live/mXckE8uBg1k
