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team karst · 11-03-2021, 07:41

I'm in a similar position, 380 Lagoon with no backstay(s). Considered a whip, but they do need two points of support, preferably 5' or more apart. I ran power boats with both the 2 piece 23' whips and the 3 piece 23' SSB whips. I destroyed the 3 piece model at the lower ferrule; it just couldn't take offshore, high speed abuse. The 2 piece is a bit more rugged. But, I ran 20kts offshore and thats pretty brutal to long hollow poles supported at the end. My sailcat won't be quite as bad, I predict.
In any case, I'm considering a wire from one aft hull to the shroud, but I need to miss the boom and mainsail. I do luv HF for the waterway net, and 14.3MHz and wefax, which BTW, now have apps that allow you to just hold your phone/ipad close to the speaker to plot out weather maps!

oprlid · 11-03-2021, 07:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by team karst

I'm in a similar position, 380 Lagoon with no backstay(s).

Well - the same problem I have with backstay antenne.
If you would like to see how someone else has done it on a 380 Lagoon

https://linocat.blogspot.com/search/...QqCc84K3L6t8Jp

He had that system for a couple of years and it worked quite good.

team karst · 11-03-2021, 08:11

Plusses and minusses. If u do loose the rig, there is some chance a whip may still be operational��

I envision the tuner in the port ER, short run to the whip and a short run to the saildrive earth. I have a icom M710 RT, so i can even put the transceiver chassis near the port house battery complex, and have just the control head at the nav station.

Brian.D · 11-03-2021, 08:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by oprlid

I is a Shakespeare Style 390 SSB Antenna
23' LENGTH ( approx 7,3 Meters) ,
2-30 MHz HF band with tuner,

Got it. But it just looked like a 12' antenna. Hard to tell by perspective. I just imagined a person at 5+ feet standing next to it.

team karst · 11-03-2021, 08:21

I believe the top section of the 390 is a 8’ loran C whip. Keeping that otherwise obsolete piece in production.

MicHughV · 11-03-2021, 08:26

Yeah, my pvc pole antenna contraption was on a ketch rigged boat.....the mizzen had no backstays.
My main had double backstays, but they ran real close to the mizzen shrouds, missed them by only 2" or so. I was concerned this might confuse the tuner, or the radiation pattern of the antenna, so I nixed the backstay idea. This lead to the pvc pole lashed to my stern pulpit idea. It worked like a champ. Never ever had a problem with it and was able to send and receive pretty much everywhere I went.

At one time, I extended my wire antenna from the top of the mizzen mast to the top of the main mast, thinking the added length would help propagation, but this angle between the two masts was too flat to have much use, so I took it off.

But getting back to Aruba. I'm sure that Aruba will have a ham club or active hams, so it might be worth it to see if some local hams can be found. You never know, they might have a whip laying around somewhere or know where one could be found.

I did see a boat once that had a wire topping lift rigged with insulators on each end. When the owner wanted to use the radio, he ran a GTO wire to the bottom of the topping lift from a tuner located under a cockpit seat. He told me it worked fine. A bit inconvenient at times, but worked for his purposes.

In the " old days" I would sometimes see a variety of homemade antenna's on sailboats, so there are other options. Probably wouldn't look good on a cat though.

The few times I've come across a whip antenna on a sailboat, it seemed that the upper part of the antenna is constantly in motion. Even a slight rocking at anchor is enough to to have it swaying around like a drunken sailor.

MicHughV · 11-03-2021, 08:40

I've attached a pic of my pvc post idea. You can see it's not very obtrusive.
That other blob attached to the top of the pvc pole is a satnav antenna...now obsolete.

Brian.D · 11-03-2021, 10:27

Contact the Aruba Amateur Radio Club and see if you can chat with some Ham Radio Operators. Explain what you are trying to get. Maybe they might have a source where you can find 23' whip antennas.

https://www.qsl.net/aarc/