Connect it all to the existing counterpoise in as many places as you
can. The more ground the better......

When you put to sea for a long period, throw over 100 ft of any plain
hookup wire bigger than 18 guage and trail it out behind you as far as
you have wire for, a trailing wire counterpoise. Hook it to the
ground on your antenna tuner, at the antenna tuner and just let it lay
over the deck to the stern. Works great. Use insulated wire so the
salt doesn't eat it and dip the open end in 3M 5200 sealer long before
you use it to seal it up. The drag on the wire, alone will trail it
out but let it go deep. If you're sailing in shallow water, tie
something to drag it on the end so it will lay out flat. Obviously,
this is for OPEN water use, but you knew that...(c;

This also works at anchor. If you have an anchor chain, ground the
antenna tuner to the chain, maybe hooking it to the windlass if you
have one. If your anchor line is rope, just dangle the ground wire
over the side until it NEARLY touches the bottom, so it will follow
the boat around the anchor with the tide but not become fouled. That
helps increase your counterpoise efficiency, too. The use of more
dangling counterpoise wires, the better! An AM broadcast station
typically has 36 counterpoise wires laid out every 10 degrees, made of
bridge cable and welded to a common ground ring to hook the
transmitter to.



On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 10:09:45 -0500, Earl Haase
wrote:

Thanks for the input and info about the Icom 802. I have a couple of
other questions.

First question
Does anyone know anything about the Furuno 1503EM?

Next question.
My Chris Craft had a counterpoise installed into the fiberglas bottom of
the boat when it was manufactured. I started asking around about how
much area this covered but have not gotten an answer yet. All I have so
far is that copper mesh was installed on another boat after the first
layer of fiberglass, after the gelcoat. So the question is - can I
install copper mesh as straps on the floor of the bilge and still have
it work. Meaning it will still act with the sal****er and not be
defeated by the existing copper that will be between it and the sea?
These boats were built with solid fiberglass. In other words, there was
not any foam core used. Just layer after layer of FG.



Larry W4CSC

"Very funny, Scotty! Now, BEAM ME MY CLOTHES! KIRK OUT!"