SSB trans

[Roberto]

Do you buy the halyard with the wire embedded or is it some kind of trick to DIY?

FWIW, I threaded it inside a 3strand rope, with a couple of locking whippings at the extremities; the wire "disappears" inside the rope and is well protected.


Actually, I made quite a few antennas for other boats in this way, owners seem to be happy with it.

 

[prv]

Do you buy the halyard with the wire embedded or is it some kind of trick to DIY?

FWIW, I threaded it inside a 3strand rope, with a couple of locking whippings at the extremities; the wire "disappears" inside the rope and is well protected.

Not an aerial, but the wire for my anchor light is incorporated into the rope downhaul of the anchor ball. It's made from a length of old 10mm braid-on-braid, much stronger than needed just to hold an anchor ball in place. So I pulled the core out through the cover at top and bottom (just use a fid to poke a hole and hook it out), taped the wire to the end of the core, and pulled the core out and the wire in. The points where the wire emerges are covered with short lengths of serving to keep everything in position.

Can't see any reason not to do the same for an aerial.

Pete

 

[Roberto]

Can't see any reason not to do the same for an aerial.

Indeed there is no reason not to do it.
One possible precaution that comes to mind would be to use a cover with good mechanical resistance: when the "rope antenna" is hoisted it is better kept taut for the ATU to work best, so it's better if the textile cover can withstand a good amount of tension.


Especially in SSB, despite the vast amount of radical "do's" and "dont's" one often reads in the various forum, there is a good number of different possible options to choose from, be it for aerials, ground, etc etc. and hardly any "absolute truth".
Best thing is try and see what suits best one particular situation.

 

[Al.]

Thanks for all the good info, i'm going to hunt down a receiver only to start with.

I so understand, when people say, double whatever budget you first think you need when kitting out for the first time.

Thanks

 

[tawhiri]

That's interesting. How does the feed from the ATU reach the topping lift?

Pete

I only connect it to the ATU when I want to use it. Just untie from the topping lift and pull down about a meter.
The wire I used to insert was about 9 meters of the inner conductor from some old RG58 cable I had laying around.
It works but I am sure someone will recomend something else.
The other Idea I had was to change my wire backstay for Dynema and insert the wire there, but the loads are much higher.