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KISS-SSB HF Antenna Counterpoise Fact or Fiction

Happy_Hamer

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Mar 22, 2001
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I was scrounging around eBay looking for antenna alternatives while in the field with my QRP rig and found this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KISS...910370#ht_2342wt_1167?clk_rvr_id=239878739523

I was like WHAT THE HELL! $150 for wire?!

Here is their website

Home

So then I started searching for more info on this thing.

And found someone bought one and disassembled it, with no further data, like wire lengths and the such. The author claims he found seven different wires connected to the one wire for the tuner. And took pictures.

The KISS SSB Counterpoise - Revealed ( with Pics ) - Cruisers & Sailing Forums


I joined the forum and asked a few questions there and decided to bring the topic here for our antenna gurus to look at.

Was Phineas Taylor Barnum correct?
 
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Yes, I agree 100% with SP5IT.
Can there even be $20.00 worth of Material there ?
7 Radials, a 10 foot chunk of hose and some RTV to seal up the ends.
Even at that I am not sure how well it is going to work after you bunch up the wire and shove it in the hose....seems to me you would be better off laying out the radials full length.......... ??




73
Jeff
 
It's like a big tank circuit. Probably not the best, but I'm sure it does exactly what it was designed to do...make someone some money.
 
It's like a big tank circuit. Probably not the best, but I'm sure it does exactly what it was designed to do...make someone some money.
On our sailing vessel we used the conventional 75 plus feet of copper foil for a couple of years and then thought we would give the kiss-ssb counterpoise a try. The difference was like night and day, everyone in the nets have commented on our "new radio" but I had to just tell them it was the new counterpoise. My hook-up speeds through the Pactor Modem to both Sailmail and Winlink are a lot faster now also. The stray RF onboard is even gone, no lights flashing and the auto-pilot does not go crazy when I use the SSB. It may be VooDoo, but it sure has helped us, and many others we know out here cruising on the boats. I even knew of a guy that used a wire in a fiberglass flag pole and the kiss-ssb in a loop at the base covered by decorative rock and is working the world. Count me as skeptical and then converted over.
 
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It is what it is described as, a simple counter poise. It is not voodoo or magic.

Any op with a simple understanding of antenna theory knows that the radiating element needs the other half of the antenna to function correctly.

Without the "other half of the antenna" IE counterpoise, The RF radiated from the radiating element will look for anything and everything to use as the other half IE coax, ships wiring, etc etc.

A simple artificial ground from MFJ can be purchased on the used market for around $60.00 a random piece of wire attached to it tuned properly no TVI RFI and ALL OF THE CROWD WILL compliment you on your new radio.
 

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