BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - stainless steel foil instead of copper for grounding Ham radio?

Larry

Bruce in Alaska wrote in news:fast-
:

If the "Plate" is to used to be one side of a Capacative
Coupling
for the RF Grounding of an MF/HF Antenna System, then your
"Best
Solution" is to use a material with the Lowest Resistance,
Highest
Surface Area, encase it in the Thinest Dielectric Insulating
Film available, and mount it as close as possible to the
SeaWater.
No High Voltage Capacitor, required, as the Dielectric Film
will
be the DC Current Insulator.

Next time you're at sea and bored to tears, connect 100' of
plastic covered wire to the ground post on your tuner, sealed up
on the open end, if you like. The plastic is the "thin
dielectric film" in Bruce's eloquent description. It keeps the
water from eating the wire. Toss it overboard and let it trail
out in the ocean behind the boat, but DON'T FORGET TO REEL IT IN
BEFORE YOU ENTER HARBOR!

There, now you have a great "ocean RF ground" without rummaging
around down in the bilgewater and rats.

Try it before and after with someone at a distance you know and
see how much difference he sees in your signal "out there". It
makes about 5 S-units on Lionheart. Works great, cheap, easy to
deploy and retrieve, not to mention fun.

Oh, before I stop, I wanna mention:

DON'T PUT ANY SHINY CAN TOP AS A DRAG CHUTE LITTLE SEA ANCHOR TO
HOLD IT OUT TIGHT! "Something BIG!" ate my cat food tin can! It
also ate about 35' off the end of my wire! Musta been a WHOPPER!

"They", whoever "they" are, can't grab just the open-ended wire.

Larry
--
Maybe "they" were attracted to my melodious LSB on 75 meters!