Pensacola FL Sailing Blog - sailingnightwatch

Then comes a whole new concept, kind of. I think I had heard of this sometime before but forgot about it a long time ago. Counterpoise Grounding. This helps the transmitting power leaving the antenna bounce off the water and gives you better everything that makes a Ham’s eyes twinkle.

These are several wires that form an array in the bottom of your boat. These are based on the frequencies you wish to transmit on. They must be below the waterline, even when healing, if you want to use you radio while underway. Problem. My boat has both fuel and water tanks that are part of the hull. They come right up to the bottom of the saloon sole, which is a few inches below the waterline. A challenge. That is a whole other posting. Now there is a school of thought that says if you use grounding plates, you do not need the counterpoise grounding system. There is another school of thought that says you use both grounding plates and counterpoise grounding.