I have been researching SSB installation issues and am left with a couple of
questions.

First, antenna installation. I intent to use a long wire through a tuner to
operate on HF. I intend to use an insulated shroud (I have a cat with no
backstay) with a short feed from the tuner. I have always believed that the
feed wire should be seaparated from the rigging before it reaches the
connection point to reduce capacitive reactance. I have accomplished this
in the past with 2" spacers holding the wire off of the shroud until it
reached the connection point. Recently, I read a credible opinion that
separation of an inch or two is irrelevant at high frequencies because to
eliminate all capacitive reactance the seaparation would have to be meters.
The capacitive reactance that does exist can be accomodated with the tuner.
If this is true I would prefer to directly attach a long insulated wire to
the shroud - perhaps tape it over a 25 foot length. It would be out of the
way, safe from rf burn risk and would not require the installation of
rigging isolators which introduce mechanical weakness and expense.

My second set of questions relate to ground plane/counterpoise installation
but I'll hold of on those quetions for the moment.

Thanks for your help.