On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 12:06:48 -0800, Bill Turner
wrote:

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 15:17:53 GMT, 'Doc wrote:

Since the backstay (or
frontstay) is ~there~ anyway, why not use it? Certainly not the
'best' thing in the world (whatever that is), but 'better' than most
alternative$.

There are insulators designed just for backstays which one could place
at the 16.4 foot level for 20 meters, or multiple locations for multiple
bands. In a home situation, I wouldn't care much but on a small boat on
the open sea, KISS could save your life, IMO.


Some people have a 'phobia' about tuners. If you don't want to
use one, that's fine.

The word "phobia" means a fear of. I'm certainly not afraid of tuners,
but I believe making the antenna right is better than using a device to
compensate for one that isn't. "Bias" would be a better word.

Once the antenna is resonant, a simple L-C network will transform the
impedance to 50 ohms resistive and you are all set. Simple, cheap and
reliable, all the things a tuner is not.


They do make 'things' much easier and the
difference in performance is 'acceptible' in most cases (acceptible
being relative).

Sigh.

It's kind of difficult to get a resonant quarter wave into a back stay
as you don't usually know where ground is. Ground can be any number of
feet from where the feed point is on a boat. Every thing above real
ground is antenna.

73
Gary K4FMX