I read all these and decided to play it safe and install both a dynaplate and 3" copper foil from the tuner (at140) to the transciever (Icom 802) to both SS water tanks and a few bronze thru hulls on the way. I was careful to avoid DC grounds ... I'm still tracking down some EMI interference (switching everything off but the radio eliminates a lot of the noise) - BUT even with everything shut off - I have poor reception (IMO) and no-one has responded to my radio checks - which makes me believe no one can hear me...

I'm in the chesapeake Bay - have only heard Gulf coast weather, barbados net, and one of the WWV's - I did pick up BBC one time, but never again - all very faint. Most frequencies - just noise .. tried away form the marina, on the hook, in the morning, in the evening, etc - no difference...

Any thoughts?

 

Sounds like you have an antenna issue. The ground you use wouldn't have any effect on the receive. Couple of items to check. Make sure you hooked the antenna to the correct connector. The 802 has two connectors on the back, one for antenna and one for DSC. Both look the same. If that is correct, start checking your antenna connections.