Art wrote:
> I am considering putting SSB in my C27 this spring. It will be
> primarily for my amateur radio hobby. I was wondering if anyone has
> made an HF antenna out of the backstay by installing insulators? There
> are some simpler options, but I thought I'd investigate this since
> launch date is still over 4 months away!
>
> Art Snapper
> #6610 Sabbatical
Art,
Do a google search on backstay antennas, there is a lot of info on the web since almost all hams like to make antenna performance claims. Gordon West, who writes for Sail magazine on radio topics, as well as some west coast sailing rags, had nice things to say about the GAM antenna system. I don't have his write up but here is a link to some info about it. http://www.panbo.com/yae/archives/001056.html Its a two wire system that mounts on the back stay instead of using backstay insulators. There is a discussion thread at :
http://www.ssca.org/sscabb/index.php?action="" which is very long and a bit confusing at times, because in the best ham antenna discussion tradition, people start talking apples and oranges. I usually take Gordos columns with a grain of salt, because as a long time ham and a pretty good RF technician, I have seen him reverse and contradict himself a few times on the issues of SSB in sailboats.
Lots of chest pounding and opinions by people who have only read about the antenna, so YMMV.
IMHO probably the best thing you can do is put in a good Radio Frequency (RF) Ground. Rule of thumb is 100 sq. feet of copper foil or screen for really good results or several wide long runs of foil or braid. Dynaplates are sometimes mentioned, but they really aren't enough at radio frequencies, if you already have one on the boat, then use it, but don't get one just for the antenna. BTW Don't connect your DC ground to this system. For an idea of costs and time on one installation,
http://www.moonrise.ws/ssb_install.html another description of a ground system is http://cruisenews.net/cgi-bin/mmham/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/192
good luck, Jim
