Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio setup?

Evan Gatehouse

"Evan Gatehouse" wrote in message
news:B3kPi.10444$th2.2814@pd7urf3no...
Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio
setup?

No.

Lew

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 01:43:27 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


"Evan Gatehouse" wrote in message
news:B3kPi.10444$th2.2814@pd7urf3no...
Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio
setup?

No.

Lew


Why not?


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

Evan Gatehouse wrote in
news:B3kPi.10444$th2.2814@pd7urf3no:

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in
the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio
setup?



Yep.

Larry
--
You can tell there's extremely
intelligent life in the universe
because they have never called Earth.

Evan Gatehouse wrote:

Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio setup?

Evan Gatehouse

You may get some electrolysis where your copper ground connects to the
foil, if you have any water in the bilge and it's saline you certainly
will. You'll probably end up with a fairly high resistance (bad)
connection in short order.

Cheers
Marty

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:48:49 -0400, Martin Baxter
wrote:

Evan Gatehouse wrote:

Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio setup?

Evan Gatehouse

You may get some electrolysis where your copper ground connects to the
foil, if you have any water in the bilge and it's saline you certainly
will. You'll probably end up with a fairly high resistance (bad)
connection in short order.

Cheers
Marty

Higher resistance then the connection to the stainless back stay?


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

wrote:

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:48:49 -0400, Martin Baxter
wrote:

Evan Gatehouse wrote:

Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio setup?

Evan Gatehouse

You may get some electrolysis where your copper ground connects to the
foil, if you have any water in the bilge and it's saline you certainly
will. You'll probably end up with a fairly high resistance (bad)
connection in short order.

Cheers
Marty

Higher resistance then the connection to the stainless back stay?

Only if your backstay spends long periods of time submerged, but then
you'll probably have other larger problems. ;-)

Cheers
Marty

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On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:51:03 -0400, Martin Baxter
wrote:

wrote:

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:48:49 -0400, Martin Baxter
wrote:

Evan Gatehouse wrote:

Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio setup?

Evan Gatehouse

You may get some electrolysis where your copper ground connects to the
foil, if you have any water in the bilge and it's saline you certainly
will. You'll probably end up with a fairly high resistance (bad)
connection in short order.

Cheers
Marty

Higher resistance then the connection to the stainless back stay?

Only if your backstay spends long periods of time submerged, but then
you'll probably have other larger problems. ;-)

Cheers
Marty

------------ And now a word from our sponsor ----------------------
For a quality mail server, try SurgeMail, easy to install,
fast, efficient and reliable. Run a million users on a standard
PC running NT or Unix without running out of power, use the best!
---- See http://netwinsite.com/sponsor/sponsor_surgemail.htm ----

To obtain capacitance coupling to the ocean the plate has only to be
below the external water line and I have not seen too many boats with
bilge water that high.

Further if the plate is only acting as the ground plane in an antenna
system then to avoid electrolyses the RF ground should be connected to
the plate through high voltage capacitors thus no DC current on the
plate.

If connections are made with proper tin plated wire and terminals
there is no reason that corrosion should be any more a problem then
with any other electrical systems mounted below the cabin sole.



Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

In article ,
wrote:

To obtain capacitance coupling to the ocean the plate has only to be
below the external water line and I have not seen too many boats with
bilge water that high.

Further if the plate is only acting as the ground plane in an antenna
system then to avoid electrolyses the RF ground should be connected to
the plate through high voltage capacitors thus no DC current on the
plate.

If connections are made with proper tin plated wire and terminals
there is no reason that corrosion should be any more a problem then
with any other electrical systems mounted below the cabin sole.



Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

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.

Bruce in alaska
--
add path before @

On Oct 11, 2:14 am, Evan Gatehouse
wrote:
Never seen this discussed befo

Could I use thin stainless steel foil instead of copper foil in the
bilge as a ground for a long wire (backstay antenna) ham radio setup?

Evan Gatehouse

Silver would work best. Stainless if alwful. A world leading antenna
designer says stainless loses HF attenuation faster then just about
any other metal as the signal follows the outside of the surface
unlike electricity, and the corrision(micro) coating on stainless is
the worst at conducting HF waves. He's running a silver wire thats
teflon coated mil spec stuff the length of my backstays. He said I
will have 3X's the ability of the typical SS backstay set-up. And BTW
tarnished silver is the best, even better than gold.

Joe