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Has anyone connected to the lead ballast, for use as a part of a SSB radio ground plane or for a ground for lightening protection ?
If so, how did you do it ?
Douglas BCC Calliste
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Yes, I have tapped the lead for HF and lightning grounding. I used a large diameter bronze lag screw, which I screwed through the fiberglass in the bilge into the lead. I then ran 2 inch (or so) wide copper foil along the inside surface of the hull to the chain plate bolts and to the HF gear. However, I used a balanced HF antenna, an inverted-V dipole. This antenna does not rely upon the HF ground to act as a ground plane – so in my case I only needed a safety ground. When I got the boat, it had a 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot bronze plate screwed into the lead from the outside of the hull. This provides lightning a path from the lead to the water, without having to vaporize any fiberglass! Lightning scares me (might have something to do with the wood mast), so when in port, I hang chain from the cap shroud into the water.
Regards,
Jeremy Calypso #6
-----Original Message----- From: Douglas Walling [mailto:dwkayaks@spiderweb.com.au] Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 1:28 PM To: bcc@yahoogroups.com Subject: [bcc] SSB Ground Plane
Has anyone connected to the lead ballast, for use as a part of a SSB radio ground plane or for a ground for lightening protection ?
If so, how did you do it ?
Douglas BCC Calliste
<span style=“font-size:10.0pt;font-family:“Courier New”;color:black”>Your use of |
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Douglas,
The factory boats have a 1.5 or 2 inch copper foil that runs from the lead ballast to the navigation station and to the starboard
aft bulkhead behind the fuel tank. This is where they put the SSB tuner in the factory boats. The copper foil runs under a
layer of glass on the inside of the hull.
Steve
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