I am starting to think of replacing the standing rigging of my cutter-
rigger monohull. The current rigging includes an insulated length of
the backstay (insulators top and bottom) which I use as the antenna of
my SSB transceiver (an ICOM M710 RT with an ICOM ATU).

A dock idler reckons that I could get a superior antenna by only using
a single insulator on the backstay - just the bottom insulator. That
would mean that the upper portion of the backstay, the mast, the
shrouds, and the forestays would all be parts of the antenna.

That dock idler reckons the ATU would tune the whole rig. And that
more metal in the antenna is effectively better.

Is this madness? Heresy? Or makes sense?

Cheers

Bil