Marine HF - switchable, distinct, short & long range antennae

[klewless]

Hello, Klewless here. Longtime lurker, first-time poster.

Although a licensed and experienced user of different bands and gear for professional (CCG 60 t limited Master) and volunteer (longtime 'lifeboat' crewman) applications, coming to terms with a personal, recreational Marine HF setup is the most daunting challenge of my comms experience.

Let me thank anyone who reads this ahead of time: I greatly appreciate you and the forum. Note also, that criticisms are welcome.

Sooo... I'm looking at spending the equivalent of one year at a technical college on SSB gear. Icom m803, or possibly the GMDSS vers., w/Tuner, Pactor 4, prof. Dynaplate installation, etc.

I figured that before asking these questions in person and looking like a moron to my installer - 'a someone' who speaks regularly with my local Transport Canada Examiner - I'd instead chance looking like one here and just hope and pray it never gets back to my local overlords.

Alright, I want to ask about the possibility of having two antennae for my HF. One for short-range, the other, for long-range. I anticipate making use of both and given the investment I would like to develop as much value as possible from the system. Anticipated areas of travel include both polar regions, Pacific N, E, S, W. Perhaps something like a backstay antenna or a vertical antenna strung up between masts on a ketch, and a horizontal twin dipole.

Only one antennae at a time would be activated so it seems to me they could not interfere with each other. I assume the switch would occur post-tuner, and I'm curious what losses such a switch might incur if this installation in the end does have potential. From my technically ignorant perspective, this switch seems the likely flaw, but at the same time, I can't imagine something hasn't been devised by this point.

Concerning earth/grounding: It doesn't seem feasible to deploy dual groundings on a 50ft sailing yacht, but so long as the system switches completely, physically from the second antenna, it seems to me one ground system ought to suffice. I realize that different ground systems also predictably offer advantages for longer and shorter wave comms, but having two groundings on the boat does not seem feasible. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

Thanks for your time and interest.

[wholybee]

The simple answer is that for short range you use VHF, and VHF has its own antenna.

But, regarding the SSB. You can have more than one antenna. They can share the same ground/counterpoise if the type of antennas dictated that. You could either switch between antennas on the output side of the tuner, or use a coax switch at the radio output and use 2 tuners. I would suggest that latter, since the 2 antennas would probably be very different, and one might not even use a tuner, or a completely different type of tuner.

That said, a sailboat is a unique situation. There is basically only one type of antenna you should use, a random length wire antenna. Usually this is the backstay, sometimes it is a long fiberglass whip. The design and length of this antenna would not change for the intended range. So, really no reason to have a long range and short range antenna.

You _could_ conceivably build an antenna specific for ground wave communication, or specific take off angles to achieve certain characteristics for distance. But such antennas don't translate to an installation on a boat very well. And aren't really necessary when VHF is readily available.