rf - Free and Open Source Software

How to Fly YOur
Kite
M. B. Crowley, EI4R
78 Church Street
Listowel, Co., Kerry
Ireland
(Or a vertical long wire on last year's EI(J RF Expedition)
The loc-ation of the expedition "BEAR"
island (rechristened "BEER" island) was
good, but the shack QTH was surrounded on
three sides by mountains. The problem was
to put out sufficient wire for our I.7 MHz
bands; and 260 feet of wire can present quite
a problem on such a location. A vertical
aerial would be fine, but 260 feet of support
pole was out of the question on an island expedition.
Gas-filled balloons are not easily
come by where we were located. The solution-yes-a
kite.
Having in mind from my boyhood days
the dimensions of a small kite without frills
or tails that, once aloft, in a light breeze
could be tied to a convenient peg and forgotten
about, it seemed to me that this was the
ideal solution.
One of our boys gave me some 260 feet of
braided copper wire from the old emergency
TX "The Gibson Girl" used by aviators in
the Second World War. This wire seemed
ideal to fly the kite with and weighed only
one pound.
Having some half-inch (average) diameter
bamboo, garden variety poles on hand, and
having persuaded the XYL to let me have
some old bed sheets from her junk box, the
next undertaking was to scale up the original
version of the kiddie kite.
From the diagrams it can be seen that the
dimensions and shape are straight forward
and present no mathematical problems to
scale up to the required size. In my case, this
amounted to bamboo poles of 5 feet in length.
The materials required are four bamboo
poles, one large section of sheeting and two
smaller sections of sheeting. Three lengths
of tough light cording are also req uired. The
illustrations give the dimensions of these
pieces. When cutting the cloth, do not forget
to include that extra width of cloth on
the leading edges of the wings, which, when
folded back on itself and stitched, will hold
the two pieces of cord that strengthen the
wing edges.
It would at this stage be advisable to secure
the services of the XYL or YL to machine
stitch the edging. Go careful here, for this
sort of favor could cost you later; why else
• • ,
.­-_.
..-
. ~ ' ,..-..~
.~
.",,,,, "
...~...... _.. ..­
do I write this article for 73 Magazine?
The center pieces are stitched with a larger
overlap to hold the bamboo poles, which
should slip into place with a reasonably tight
fit, the ends being then stitched over by hand
needle to hold the poles permanently in place.
The overall weight of the kite and poles
was 3 pounds. The down wire should be tied
approximately a quarter way down the tie
cord. Unwind about 50 feet of the downwire
and have a helper push the kite up into the
wind with the downwire held tight. In a
modest steady breeze the kite will lift gently
and the remainder of the wire can be paid
out. If the kite pulls too hard and slips
sideways, tie the downlead further up the tie
cord until balance is achieved and the downwire
is near vertical. In a light breeze and
from the pull on the downwire, it seems to
me that this size kite could support about 3
pounds of downwire.
One word of warning. If the breeze is
strong, do not allow the junior operator to
play around with this size kite. There are
easier ways of flying nowadays. Once the kite
is aloft, with the required length of wire, tie
the downlead to a convenient tie point,
through an insulator. A lead to the shack
from the tie point will give you a vertical
antenna without match, provided the wind
remains. Force 9 winds should be avoided
as your favorite rig may disappear out the
shack window. Happy flying hours, fair
winds and tight wires.
...EI4R
..... 0
MAY 1969 77