Mama mia! That’s an antenna! This is the skyhook that the very hip people in yesterday’s video (scroll down) are using to send very cool messages to Gliese 526. With a setup like that, they may have a shot at a QSO!
More on the antenna here: http://www.jamesburgdish.org/
As I suspected, real hams (not the hipsters!) are doing the tech work.
Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20