[Elecraft] K3 on motorboat.

[W2xj]

aesthetics? 

Sent from my iPad

> On Jun 9, 2020, at 6:14 PM, Barry <k3ndm at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> Full size verticals are hard to do on small power boats. And elevated grounds are also hard. Water grounds are usually the most practical, but fresh water is not great. I counsel inverted Vs as they are ground independent. On power boats that too is a tough trick, but it can be done, depending on size of the boat. A 40 meter dipole can be made by bending the ends and can be fed with coax through a 4:1 current balun if the run to the radio is not too great. It will require a fiberglass mast bracketed to the fly bridge. There are several suppliers of good, strong push up masts available; I wouldn't go more than about 25 feet which should put the feed about 31 or so feet over the water,m close to a 1/4 wave on 40. This arrangement will allow all band operation above 40 with a K3 as the tuner is just plain magic.
> 
> 73,
> Barry
> K3NDM
> 
> ------ Original Message ------
> From: "Robert Sands" <k7voradio at gmail.com>
> To: "Frank C Richards" <prpntfmr at gmail.com>
> Cc: "Elecraft Discussion List" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: 6/9/2020 3:22:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 on motorboat.
> 
>> Verticals require more attention to ground but the goal should be to
>> increase the antenna current, thus increasing radiated signal. ground into
>> water seems like a waste but has DC grounding value. I use hung vertical
>> dipoles (20 and 15) with no need for ground and they work amazingly well. I
>> have tried letting wire or zinc ribbon  strips drop into saltwater to
>> ground verticals and there is no value I can detect over something simpler,
>> like tying to existing structures or running a above water wire
>> counterpoise. Vertical dipoles require no Rf ground and propagate at low
>> angle and high efficiency. Far effects over water are what counts, more
>> than grounding, except in verticals to get higher antenna current.
>> K7VO
>> 
>>> On Tue, Jun 9, 2020 at 7:38 AM Frank C Richards <prpntfmr at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>  Having been in the marine electronics business I was able to successfully
>>> install many HF radios on boats from large steel commercial fishing boats
>