Backstay antenna
Dear Doug,
I have had great success with full length Dyneema/Spectra backstays with integral antenna wires on all sorts of vessels.
Size the fibre correctly (see multiple threads and websites), thread the correct length of tinned electrical cable (1,84 square mm or your gauge equivalent) up the centre and away you go.
I remove about 50 mm of the copper wire from the upper end and milk the insulation over the cut end and tape lightly so you dont get a bare wire working inside the fibre.
The copper is spongy enough not to mind a bit of initial stretch.
Everyone - usually marine electricians - will tell you you need the correct sheilded cable but I have never had any trouble with this method. ( Eight Sydney Hobarts - not counting the ones we did not finish - on the boat I used to crew on, and many thousands of miles with this system on customer's boats.
It is cheap.
Regards,
Joe Henderson
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