PDQ OWNERS FORUM

Posted by Bill on April 28, 2004 at 06:51:00:

I am contemplating installation of a ham or marine ssb on a 36.

I will install the tuner in the sb aft locker. probably adding backstay insulators.

Not sure what to do in respect to a ground plane though. I'd prefer to do this without having to haul so a dynaplate is something I hoped to avoid.

Can anyone shed light on their installation please?

Posted by Roger Ford on April 28, 2004 at 13:04:00:

In Reply to: SSB/Ham Installation posted by Bill on April 28, 2004 at 06:51:00:

In that PDQ's have few bronze thru-hulls (we have one for the AC and the others are marelon) that could be connected with foil tape. I think a dynaplate is the only reasonable option. I have heard of cruisers dropping the dynaplate in the water by it's wire when it couldn't be mounted; however, that makes emergency use somewhat complicated.

I had the factory install a dynaplate in the stbd hull of my MV34, so that the mounting studs enter just in the middle of a dry bilge locker beneath the sole of the cabin, and will mount the antenna tuner to those four studs. More to the point for you, I had them lay copper foil in a grill pattern over the inside of the hull forward of that, and will be connecting it, with copper foil, to the 'counterpoise' of the antenna tuner, together with the dynaplate. Icom has some good reprints of info about using copper foil inside new or already built hulls. I haven't completed installation because the current priorities are for shorter cruises, in Puget Sound and on the Columbia River, and the weatherfax, email and cruisernet needs will set in seriously when we retire in a couple of years and head out for Mexico's west coast and beyond...