Skip Gundlach wrote:
Well, my attempts at obtaining shoreside communications via one powered-up
point up the mast to this point are stymied...

google for wifi antenna and pringle's potato chip cans
I kid you not. I've lost the link now but there is a site out there
that documents how these guys made antennae out of pringles cans that
would pick up a node up to 5 miles away IIRC.