Backstay Antenna

[Brian Duff]

So,
Whats wrong with this picture? Tear it apart. FYI- there is some sort of anti corrosion paste smeared over the connection inside as well as a bunch of goop, the amoutn can be guessed by the size of the bundle....

Whats Right?

I could really use the input quickly guys...

[davidsamuelson]

Is he using co-ax cable? By the look of it, this boat was not rigged in USA. David

[Stumble]

Looks like that is a ball of tape over something... whatever it is taping stainless is a very good way to accelerate crevis corrosion.

Secondly how high off the deck is this? It looks like an SSB antenna which needs to be above maximum head height.

[Brian Duff]

Boat is from england - insulators are plenty high off deck ( i just installed them) but i didn't do the ssb antenna connection - i would like commments on this connection and its effects , both positive and negative comments please.

be detailed - i am using you guys as a panel of experts to convince this contractor not to do this to stainless steel anymore..

the guy thinks this is THE BEST antenna connection ever - it may be, for the antenna, but this is a backstay first and antenna second....right?

[Don Ferrell]

What is the proper way to connect to a backstay when using it as an antenna?

[Auspicious]

Radio guy called rigging guy -- opinion transferred!

[PV Sailing]

Originally Posted by Don Ferrell

What is the proper way to connect to a backstay when using it as an antenna?

Hi Don, go to www.yachtwire.com/ssb.pdf This is a great write-up on SSB Voodo

Cruise down to page 8 (wire connections and techniques) regarding the proper connecting directions. All in all it looks like someone had a roll of tape and just got a bit over enthusiastic. I do suggest looking at the other parts on connecting such as spacers, soldering, ect.......... All out lined in this document.

Hats off to Eric for at Farralon Electronics for the document I pass it freely here when I'm giving rig/sail seminars for puddle-jump.

Hope this helps........
Regards,

Mike Danielson
PV Sailing~~_/)~~NSM

[Brion Toss]

My only hope is that this is the pupal stage of some odd insect, and not the work of someone who is supposed to know how to do this kind of thing.
No? Well then what we have is a great deal of tape over a very limited amount of surface area, with maximal long-term opportunities for corrosion on both the backstay and the antenna wire.
If I were me, I'd confer with my favorite electrician on how to limit wire corrosion without interfering with signal quality. Then I'd treat the backstay accordingly, expose a healthy chunk of antenna wire, and seize it onto the backstay with several or many turns of annealed seizing wire. This would assure lots of contact surface without imposing backstay-strand-crushing loads or snag-prone bumps. Then I would apply a minimal amount of tape, with the idea being to keep the exposed antenna wire from corroding while covering little enough backstay that there's a chance that water and salt might evaporated/washed away readily.
In short, I'd try to accommodate the needs of both the backstay and the antenna.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

PS,
Even if the setup in the photo made any sense, I'd still be inclined to discard it because it is ugly.

[Douglas]

Was Brian Duff, refering to, ss "Oxygen Starvation", that can happen when ss is prevented from exposure to air ?

Could not, water, by , capillary action work it's way down the 1 X 19 strands inside under the taping on the backstay wire , like it can and does on a swaged terminal barrel ?

The field design and fabricating advice , that I have read, says , never "pot" a ss structural fitting , or design a ss structural fitting that , can not be visually inspected, all around ?

Often times I see a "drip loop" , incorporated, when installing wiring on or around masts and ss rigging, especially at the mast head and at the partners,,,,, would not a drip loop be good to use where the GTO-15 attaches to the backstay, just above the insulator ?

Douglas

[allene]

I am an both a Ham radio operator and an electrical engineer. I own one of the antenna tuners pictured in the referenced pdf and my boat was equipped with a backstay antenna when I got it. I have talked hundreds of miles with "long wire" antennas.

It would be helpful to know what is in that tube but if it just an insulator and you are just talking about the electrical connection to the active part of the backstay then here goes. The referenced pdf article has a great line in it. It says to connect the antenna center coax to the swage connection and not around the wire. I think this is key advice. The swage is large and a connection can be made without covering any important part of the swage. If it were me, I would wrap the wire around the swage and use a thin hose clamp. I would not try and seal it from the weather as my opinion is that you can only seal water in, you cannot seal it out. I would use 12 gauge house wire for the connection and not bring the coax above deck. Any antenna has to have two elements. One is the backstay. The other is probably the ocean through a keel bolt. The idea of keeping the antenna high to avoid getting in the field seems silly to me unless this is a dual system with both elements on the backstay. If you are using the ocean as the "ground plane" you are going to be in the field. I have transmitted with 100 watts and never worried about this. Had I had 1000 watts as many hams do, perhaps I would worry. The reason I would use coper is that it is close to SS electrically and many center conductors in cable are steel. Even if they are coper, they are small gague wires so a 12 gauge will last longer.

Just my 2 cents. I have not done this as I didn't want all the bonding my boat had and pulled it all out. I replaced the backstay to remove the two insulators. I still wonder what is in that big tube.

Allen