Best ground source for SSB on board
 

We have an Icom IC-745 on board. This boat is new to me, so I'm trying
to figure out how everything is installed, and if the status quo can or
should be changed/improved

What is the best place to connect to ground? Right now, the radio is
not grounded (at least their is nothing connected to the ground plug on
the back of the radio)

Not sure if it matters, but it is equipped with a microprocessor
controlled auto-tuner, connected to the backstay.

Thanks,

Mike.

ICOM has a complete guide to SSB installation including grounding
on their website. Has alot of good tips.

Doug, k3qt
s/v Callista

"beaufortnc" wrote in message
oups.com...
We have an Icom IC-745 on board. This boat is new to me, so I'm trying
to figure out how everything is installed, and if the status quo can or
should be changed/improved

What is the best place to connect to ground? Right now, the radio is
not grounded (at least their is nothing connected to the ground plug on
the back of the radio)

Not sure if it matters, but it is equipped with a microprocessor
controlled auto-tuner, connected to the backstay.

Thanks,

Mike.

"beaufortnc" wrote in
oups.com:

What is the best place to connect to ground? Right now, the radio is
not grounded (at least their is nothing connected to the ground plug on
the back of the radio)


The most important ground is the ground on the HF antenna tuner, which is
actually part of the antenna, itself. AS we'er talking about RF ground,
not DC, what you're trying to do is connect the little ground screw on the
tuner to the ocean. Anything you can do to make that happens improves the
antenna's efficiency. The path needs to be as short as possible WITH THE
MINIMUM NUMBER OF TURNS, please! Don't make any sharp bends going around
things, just to make it look neat. RF doesn't like to make sharp corners.
The other problem is getting an RF ground on it that isn't simply eaten in
a few months by the salt. A copper strap soon turns green, then
disintegrates, making an awful mess on the gelcoat wherever it is near. A
stainless strap, bolted to the engine block's stainless bolts, makes a good
connection, that isn't eaten, and doesn't make a galvanic battery down in
the bilge where that stainless bolt is. The wider the strap, the better
the ground, but you have to be reasonable, of course. It's all a
compromise. If you have the tuner located near SOLID, not cabled, safety
rails, don't hesitate to connect them to the ground post, too, as it adds
to the overall ground plane effect at radio frequencies. Cabled handrails,
don't connect them as the cables make intermittent connections and noise in
your receiver, screwing up the tuning on transmit, too.

If the tuner is well grounded, ground the radio as you like. It makes
little difference. I don't even have a ground on our M-802 at the nav
station. I'd rather EMP from lightning take the path through the tuner's
arc gap and down the tuner's ground strap, than a secondary path down the
control and coax cables into the transceiver, itself. I've never had a
radio that was grounded, other than through the DC power cable.

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in message
...
ICOM has a complete guide to SSB installation including grounding
on their website. Has alot of good tips.

Doug, k3qt
s/v Callista

"beaufortnc" wrote in message
oups.com...
We have an Icom IC-745 on board. This boat is new to me, so I'm trying
to figure out how everything is installed, and if the status quo can or
should be changed/improved

What is the best place to connect to ground? Right now, the radio is
not grounded (at least their is nothing connected to the ground plug on
the back of the radio)

Not sure if it matters, but it is equipped with a microprocessor
controlled auto-tuner, connected to the backstay.

Thanks,

Mike.


Yes, Icom has a PDF document on grounding. I think I found it on the
Icom-Japan website. They seem to have different documents stored at
different country websites.