btrayfors
Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Chesapeake Region and Maine
Boat: 42' Bob Perry sloop
Posts: 4,041
Images: 4
Like Auspicious, I've been installing the KISS-SSB ground on clients boats recently. They are very well made and take advantage of what experienced hams have known for a long time, i.e., that radials work very well. Especially tuned radials (usually, 1/4 wavelength long at the operating frequency).
This RF ground solution has a lot going for it, and works very well in my experience. Don't let the size and apparent simplicity fool you: there are hundreds of feet of wire of varying lengths stuffed inside that 10' long hose. I have found that the advertised claims are valid: the KISS-SSB ground allows easy tuneups on all the marine and ham bands, it is very easy to install, it is well constructed and robust, and IMHO a very good solution for many situations.
BTW, it is a MYTH....let me repeat that loudly....
I T I S A C O M P L E T E M Y T H ...
...that it is necessary to connect or couple an RF ground to seawater in order to be effective.
There are lots of other solutions which work equally well or better, including radials, tuned radials, aluminum toe rails, pushpit/pulpit/lifelines, s/s rub rails, hull-to-deck aluminum strips (some boats have 'em), etc. etc.
Any ham who's played much with radials knows that elevated radials are more effective than buried radials.
Any person who's studied the physics of seawater knows that RF is greatly attenuated in just a few inches of seawater. It ain't the direct connection or "capacitative connection" to seawater which boosts the signal. The role of seawater is to serve as an effective mirror medium help radiate and to bounce signals up to the ionosphere.
Bottom line: radials and other such solutions work very well. So, IMHO, does the KISS-SSB ground.
Bill
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