On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 17:02:47 +1030, "David Swindon"
wrote:
One suggestion that I have had is to rig a whip antenna off the
stern and use a change-over switch to manually select either the backstay or
whip

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Having the whip antenna as a backup is not a bad idea for an offshore
boat, and you may find the performance to be just as good or better.
You could do the change over manually to eliminate the need for a
switch. The only drawback I can think of is the possibility that the
mizzen boom is long enough that it could contact the whip.