"Mark / Amy Read" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have installed my ICOM SSB as Chuck described, where the lower
Isolater is 12 to 16 inches from the bottom of the deck. The wire from
the ICOM tuner runs right up the backstay to the Isolater. I used zip
ties to hold the wire in place, and then used rigging tape to hold it
all in place. I have not used any type of PVC pipe or other cover for
the backstay for heat protection. My thinking is that it only gets hot
when you are transmitting. Someone would really have to lean way out
to touch it and it would have to be at that random moment when I am
transmitting on the SSB. The rigging tape wrapped around the backstay
for three or four feet is more than enough to keep from any accidental
burns.

All of this is to say that I am very pleased with the unit and the
installation. One final thought for putting the lower insulator low to
the deck is that this increases the length of your backstay (antenna).
The longer your antenna the farther your signal will go and the better
you can get signals.

-Mark Read
www.GoReads.Com

Sounds great, Mark!
As a practical matter, having the backstay isolator mounted lower won't
change the effective antenna length much at all, since the radiating antenna
length starts right at the antenna tuner, and includes the entire length of
the feedline as well as the backstay.
The only difference might be the added capacity to ground for the
distance the antenna feedline and the lower, grounded part of the backstay
are parallel. The reduction in that capacitance (and slight radiation
pattern alteration) is why most installers recommend some sort of spacing
between the two where they run near each other.
Old Chief Lynn