SSB backstay antenna length

[tharris]

Have a Kenwood SSB receiver and hope to get a transceiver one day. Getting new standing rigging made tomorrow. What is the length for a SSB backstay antenna ?

[joub]

The length of the antenna is not as important as having a good antenna tuner. Cutting the antenna to a given length will only provide operation within a narrow band of frequencies.
An antenna tuner will electrically lengthen or shorten the antenna to the proper length for the intended frequency of operation.

Space the insulators as far apart as practical...the antenna tuner will take care of the rest.

[GordMay]

As joub said; but keep the lower insulator above handhold height.

[gstraub]

While the tuner will handle most anything, you want to try to be sure that the length is not a half wavelength at any frequency you might want to operate at. At a half wavelength long, the tuner may have problems as the impedance and consequently the voltage at the output of the tuner will get very high, if the tuner even has enough range.

If the length becomes greater than about 5/8 of a wavelength at any frequency, then you will have more radiation at high angles, which is detrimental to long distance HF work. On the other hand, the lower the frequency, the longer it should be for best efficiency. I consider this aspect less of a concern for a compromise antenna.

So, it somewhat depends on what you want to optimize it for as any length will be a compromise, but almost any length will work. Take the length (in feet) you are considering (including the wire from the tuner to the backstay) and divide it into 492 and see if the result is within 10% or so of any of the frequencies (in MHz) that you plan to use. If so, I''d change the length a bit.

Gerhard