The KISS SSB Counterpoise - Revealed ( with Pics )

[SoonerSailor]

There has been a lot of discussion about the KISS SSB GROUND PLANE SYSTEM on this forum. It seems to have features very attractive to yachtsmen who are faced with the seemingly dark art of installing a HF SSB radio that performs reliably and well, all with a minimum of time, effort, and hopefully expense. As most of us here know, the important issue of what constitutes a good and proper RF ground (or counterpoise) on a seagoing vessel has long been a point of contention and controversy. Most of us want a solution that is high performing, easy to install, maintenance free, and reasonably priced. The KISS SSB has been promoted as that solution and we have heard from a number of satisfied customers on these forums that will offer their anecdotal evidence in support.

There remains the mystery of what it really is. The KISS SSB is described (at Home ) as having "over 600 feet of exact length wire radials built in it." and "perfectly measured lengths of copper and marine sealed coils".

I have always been a skeptic. The theory behind its operation, as proposed by the seller, did not make sense to me, and I was not convinced that it could be any more effective than any bundle of random length wires attached to the autotuner ground lug and tossed into the bilge. I decided to spend the money on one and open it up to see.

The 4 foot wire that attaches to the tuner ground lug passes through a plastic plug into the approx 1" diameter plastic hose. Within this 10 foot long hose, the ground wire is soldered at one point to seven differing lengths of insulated copper wire that run the length of the hose and are folded back on themselves once or several times. Thats it. No other electrical or electronic components. The hose does seem to make for a well sealed bundle of wires, but I don't think any real RF engineer would consider this folded bundle wires capable of functioning as a collection of 1/4 wave radials tuned for specific bands. The beauty of your autotuner is that they don't have to be to be capable of providing some function.

I'll leave it to the reader to decide if its worth the money. A number of people believe it works well for them. Many others believe it is over priced for what it is. I'm not presently in a position to evaluate its actual performance, so I'll just leave you with some pictures.

KISS SSB
Half Open
Guts Removed

Chip