[alberg30] rigging

[Bob Johns]

From: Bob Johns <bobjns at nais.com>

>now if you can think of a reason to keep an insulated section in your
>backstay. (Radio?)  When I re-do my Alberg, I won't insulate the Backstay.
>
>Gord KC426

Gord and list,

Ever since I got my first loran I  have used the insulated backstay as the
loran antenna. This works because, since the loran works at 100 KHz, the
difference between a 52  inch antena or a 30 foot antenna  is negligible.
(One half wavelength at 100 KHz is *much* greater that either of them.) In
about twenty years we have never had weak signals on the lorans, from the
Chesapeake to Machias Bay in Maine.

I will  continue to use the loran until the Department of Defense stops
playing games with GPS accuracy.

Before I got the first loran I have to admit that I cursed the insulated
backstay many times because it seemed that the topping lift was always
hooking  on the top insulator. I finally mastered the use of shock cord to
take the slack out of the topping lift and it only happens a couple of
times a season now. The more modern insulators, I believe, are more
streamlined and probably would not  hook the backstay.

If signal strength is never a problem and your cruising is coastal, the
only reason for the  insulated backstay might be as a ham antenna.

Regards,

	Bob Johns, Wind Call  #397



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