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Reviews For: Chameleon Antenna Tactical Delta Loop

Category: Antennas: HF Portable (not mobile)

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Review Summary For : Chameleon Antenna Tactical Delta Loop
Reviews: 4MSRP: $355.00
Description:
The Tactical Delta Loop antenna (CHA TDL), is a portable High Frequency (HF) antenna specially designed for transportability, quick setup, and a small footprint. This antenna is ideal for camping or temporary installation in a townhome or other houses with a small yard or antenna restrictions. It can operate on all amateur radio bands from 3.5 to 54.0 MHz (80-6M), but is most effective on the bands from 10.1 to 54.0 MHz (30-6M). The Tactical Delta Loop will also provide acceptable shorter range Near-Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) propagation on the 3.5 to 7.0 MHz bands (80 - 40M) making it a useful backup EMCOMM antenna preparedness. The Tactical Delta Loop can easily be configured as a horizontally polarized inverted Delta Loop or as a ground mounted vertical antenna. Some of the advantages of a Delta Loop antenna over a vertical are increased efficiency, reduced noise, and some broadside directionality. An antenna tuner or coupler is required for operation on the amateur radio bands from 3.5 to 7.0 MHz (80-40M). Setup can typically be accomplished by one operator in 5 minutes. The Tactical Delta Loop antenna is comprised of two 17-foot telescoping whip antennas, a matching transformer, a 25-foot loop wire, a ground spike mount, a “V” coupling, and 50 feet of coaxial cable. Antennas built by Chameleon Antenna are versatile, dependable, stealthy, and built to last. Please read this operator’s manual so you may obtain the maximum utility from your Tactical Delta Loop antenna. Specifications: Frequency: 6M - 80M Power: 100 SSB or 50W CW. Mounting Configuration: 3/8-24 Thread The antenna system consists of: 1 X CHA HYBRID-MICRO 1 X 25' WIRE 2 X SS17 (17' long collapsible stainless steel whip) 1 X CHA SPIKE 1 X CHA 50’ Coax with RFI Choke (OPTIONAL) 1 X CHA TDL HUB Adapter Stainless Steel Hardware
Product is in production
More Info: https://chameleonantenna.com/shop-here/ols/products/cha-tdl
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1544
K7OED Rating: 2023-03-06
Works For Me! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Deployed as delta loop in my back yard for NVIS on 75M. As the manual states - it needs a tuner for this band, but even without the tuner I copied my NCS about an S-3 from roughly 250 miles away. Not bad for such a small portable antenna that takes only a few minutes to set up! The NCS could tell I was there, but wasn't able to copy me (but I was without a tuner and pushing a whole 2.5 watts out of my FT-817).
Subsequently deployed just one of the whips as a vertical with two radials during Winter Field Day - it takes no time at all to set up in this configuration. I worked a guy 950 miles away on 20M - again with only 2.5 watts on phone so no complaints at all! I have now modified a camera tripod bag to mount on the side of my ALICE pack and carry it for hiking/camping trips.
Yes - it is a bit pricey, but I was lucky and got it on sale as part of the Chameleon holiday/end of year sale. Quite agree with what N0NZ said - YGWYPF.
KV4AN Rating: 2022-08-13
Great POTA Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I finally had time to do POTA with my Yaesu FT-817. I tried to do an activation with a minimalist manpack configuration of 8 foot vertical whip and was not successful. I'm brand new to POTA, but I decided I didn't bring enough antenna, so next activation I brought the Chameleon Tactical Delta Loop (TDL). This antenna is a real barn-burner in the loop configuration on 20-10 meters. Very strong received signals on those bands, but signals were much weaker on 40 and 30. I suspect taking the top wire off to make it a dipole would work better for those bands. It sets up and tears down super quick, doesn't take up too much room near the picnic table, and in less than two hours I had 11 good FT8 QSOs from the park - while running from 5 - 2.5 Watts. Had a park attendant stop by and wonder what the antenna was, but he was OK with it after an explanation. This is a great POTA antenna.
VE3BXG Rating: 2021-09-27
Can't handle 50 watts CW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I do a lot of Parks on the Air (POTA) activations, so am always on the lookout for interesting portable antennas. I have a portable vertical dipole that works well, but have never used a delta loop so was interested in this antenna. The first time I used it I ran 50w CW (rated capacity), operating at about 25 WPM. After about an hour the coil overheated and the antenna stopped working. I returned it to DX Engineering for a refund. Also wrote to Chameleon to inform them of the problem. Here is their response:

"Well, you were operating right at the upper power limit for CW. Add to that the fact that ham grade meters are generally rated at 10% +- for accuracy, and the native impedance of the antenna can vary due to soil composition, the particular configuration, and the band in use. You may have been running a bit more power than you expected. Running the antenna at full tilt and with the unknown variables, I'm not too surprised the antenna had reached its limit. Backing off a few watts would have zero effect on your signal and would have most likely allowed you to continue to operate."

I didn't think this was a good response. My understanding of power ratings is that they are usually conservative -- allowing a fudge factor for just the sorts of issues mentioned, such as meter inaccuracies, soil characteristics, etc. I think it's reasonable to expect that if an antenna is rated at 50W CW then it will work at 50W CW (more or less, allowing for variations the user might be expected to encounter in normal use).

Disappointing!
N0NZ Rating: 2021-07-31
Great QRP Antenna, Glad I got one Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was looking for a portable, packable antenna for my IC-705. I came across many good comments about Chameleon Antennas on YouTube and articles on the web. After checking out their product line, and getting past the sticker shock (more on that later), I was attracted to the MPAS Lite, because of its small footprint, portability, and ease of set up with no helpers. Then I noticed the tactical delta loop (CHA-TDL). While the MPAS Lite uses one collapsible whip antenna (17" - 17') the TDL has two. Thus for the additional $15 you lose 63" of wire, but gain an extra whip, and a 25' wire that is used as counterpoise or the third leg of the delta. So for the extra flexibility, I opted for the TDL giving me three antennas (vertical, delta, and dipole). I also opted an extra cost upgrade to substitute the hybrid mini for the hybrid micro. That allows me to run a full 100W SSB XCVR as well as the 10W from the 705. It comes with a ground stake which goes in easily and mounts the antenna low to the ground. I am in the middle of the country, and the first time I set it up in the back yard to test, it literally took 5 minutes to deploy from pieces to a functional delta loop. I was pleasantly surprised. I tuned the radio to about 14.200 and there were all sorts of stations booming in S7-+20. Why not they were mostly running 500W or more most with Yagi's. I put out a CQ. My first contact was in Philadelphia PA who gave me 5-7 and amazed I was running 10W. I then dropped another couple hundred Kc and listened to a bunch reporting 500W and big antennas, and heard a CQ call, and answered it. This time I was in the weeds, but after two repeats of the call I made the contact to Vancouver, BC. The was some amazement on the air that I was running 10W. On field day 2021 it was rainy and windy, and the bands were not good. A friend of mine was trying out the antenna on 20m CW. The Delta wasn't receiving very well, so we went to the vertical. Within minutes he picked up a New England contact with a 59, and 5W output. I have tested the SWR across the bands from 80-6 both on the vertical and the delta and the worst it was was 3.4 and the best was 1.2 just on my analyzer. Bringing it down to 1.5:1 or better is not a very hard strain for any tuner. This is important to me because to get a good match the tuner has to absorb some power. The worse the SWR the more the tuner has to insert C & L into the circuit thus absorbing more power. When you only have 10W at most, it matters.

So far I have only used the antennas on the ground stake. However, it is possible to elevate them. The Delta seems to me a little fragile 20' in the air, so I will cautiously experiment with deploying when it is windy. Also I can set up a 34' Dipole and see what I get with it about 20' in the air. Not optimum, but I don't have to mess with getting stuff up in tress either, and I can deploy and recover in 5 minutes each way.

In conclusion the whips are heavy duty and not flimsy, the materials are all first class. It's a case of YGWYPF. I wouldn't hesitate to buy again now knowing what I know.