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KISS-SSB

The Simple Proven HF/SSB Ground Plane for Boats, Cars, Jeeps, RVs, and more!


Order KISS-SSB

KISS-SSBTM   Features and Specifications

Radial Counterpoise Grounding System for  Marine, Air, or Land use.

This heavy duty performer was initially designed for boats using HF SSB marine bands but works with practically any HF radio and tuner combo. 

  • Input power up to 500 watts.
  • All Copper conductors are permanently sealed in durable PVC tubing.
  • Stainless Steel 5/16 Ring Terminal.
  • Heavy duty 47 inch 10 AWG Marine tinned copper lead connection.
  • Tested with 1.2 to 1 or better SWR on SSB HF frequencies.
  • Tested with 1.2 to 1 or better on 2mhz through 29mhz Ham freq.
  • Tested with 1.2 to 1 or better on Winlink and Sailmail frequencies.

Technical Specifications:

Frequency: 2-30 MHz HF frequencies with tuner
Radial housing length: 9’ 10”
SWR: 1.5 to 1 or better 
Impedance: (Ohms): N/A 
Connecting lead length 47 inches
Max Input (Watts): 500 DC 
Ground: N/A  
Termination: One end termination 5/16 ring terminal 
Weight 3 pounds 
Polarization: N/A 
Radiation pattern: Omni-directional

Land based radio stations with tall antennas all have radials of the frequency they are transmitting on around the base, or the guy wires or even buried in the ground. They only transmit on one frequency, so the radials are the same length, if they transmitted on many frequencies the radials would all be different lengths even though they all do connect to the same point. What makes our KISS-SSB work so well is the patented ability to put a lot of different length radials in one housing to match all the frequencies desired and not have one length trying to react to many different frequencies. Plus it puts it all in one easy package that is easy for the end user to install. Compared side by side with 100 feet of 3" fresh copper foil, and a bronze plate in the salt water outside of the boat the KISS-SSB works just as well. The advantage of the KISS-SSB is no maintenance, a lot less labor, no holes in the hull and costs a lot less. Plus after a couple of years the KISS-SSB will probably work a lot better than the deteriating copper foil and corroded bronze plate. There is a reason why the tuner manuals suggest measured radials, not one, but many, one length close to most bands used, and they all, even though different lengths, connect to the same terminal, not because they all act like one wire, but that there needs to be at least one close to a multiple of the wavelength of the frequency desired to transmit on. With this said, the KISS-SSB is in-itself a free standing reflective counterpoise and is not dependent at all on the water line or where it is installed in relationship to the water line. Nearly everyday we get orders from people that were referred to us from Icom, Furuno, Kenwood tech support staff. In 2005 when Icom was having problems with the "clipping" on their M-802's we found that didn't happen with users of the KISS-SSB, and that is because of the low SWR and the ability for the RF signal to be radiated out into space and not reflected back at the radio from boats with poor ground plane and antenna systems.

INSTALLATION

There just is not a standard way the KISS-SSB has to be installed, we have seen, tested and heard of so many ways it has been impressive. However there is one rule of thumb, the KISS comes with a four foot lead that can’t be trimmed or lengthened as the four foot lead is an integral part of the length of all the radials enclosed within the tubular housing. With that being said the KISS will be within four feet of the tuner. Plus we all know that the tuner should be as close as possible to the radiating antenna such as the back stay, or a fiberglass whip antenna on a motor vessel. Now once the four foot lead is connected to the tuner each and every boat will be different, but the rule of thumb here is to stretch it all out, four foot lead and the ten foot tube as best as possible, however if there are restraints as there normally will be you can feel free to run it back and forth in the lazerett, or coiled no less than a three foot diameter.  It is not mandatory that the KISS be stretched out straight as it only sets up the inductance to resonate the signal off of the antenna. We have tested the KISS running down the middle of the bilge and even under the engine and the results were just fine, much to our surprise. We have heard of the KISS being run inside of a fiberglass arch above the wheel house on a large fishing vessel with good results. The most common installation of course would be in a lazerett or along the deck to hull joint just below the deck with nylon wire ties keeping the KISS secured out of your way. The KISS is often used by Ham operators with antenna restriction covenants that do not have an easy wire run to earth ground. They simply run a long wire in the attic and run the KISS underneath on the joists using an external tuner in the same location. We get a lot of questions from people that just do not understand that the HF frequencies (2-30mhz) require a two part antenna system. You must have an antenna (back stay, whip or GAM) and a ground plane/counterpoise such as the KISS-SSB is. The KISS-SSB is best described as "A tuned Counterpoise". The enclosed radials are cut to lengths to resonate the frequencies used by Marine SSB, Winlink/Sailmail, NOAA Weatherfax, Coast Guard.

In "VERY" Technical Words:
The KISS-SSB simply acts as inductively loaded dipole elements in parallel with the tuner bringing the backstay element to resonance effectively making a loaded, off-set fed vertical dipole.

Using the coil loaded 1/4 waves so that there is a current max at the feed point hence maximum radiation and the only ground loss being the ohmic loss in the inductance of the coil.  By staggering the coils down the length of design there is also some capacitive loading from the non-resonant elements helping bandwidth and it obviates the issue of undesired resonances as well.

Testimonials

Va7uw <va7uw@yahoo.com> 
15:03 6/26/17 (17 hours ago)
Hello again,
Figured I'd give you an update, I got my KISS Counterpoise last week, did a make-shift install with my AH-4 tuner in the lazerette of my steel sailboat, the Counterpoise running along a shelf beside it, and a 14Ga wire running up my mizzen mast as an antenna.
I've noticed a 4Db increase in RX signals, and a considerable increase in TX ability! I even connected to an Australia winlink on Pactor 3 on 20m at about 10 at night local time! I've never connected to that system EVER!! And I had my radio turned down from 150 watts to 25 watts!!
I'll be showing off this system as often as I can!!
Thanks so much for such a simple, easy install, and incredibly advantageous system!
Cheers,
Mike Christensen
Subsurface Dynamics

Thank you Mike for going out of your way to send us a very nice testimonial! We must admit that the naysayers have nearly disappeared but their ugly comments online stay for ever on the internet, the strange thing is that not one person that used or tried the KISS-SSB was ever unhappy (nearly 8,000 sold now) but the few old ignorant ones that just assumed the KISS would not work years ago had to get on their soap box and complain. One of them was the owner of Sailmail / Winlink (Stan Honey) of all people. But we figured out why, his main tech guy (Shay Westin) also owns a boat repair yard in San Diego and of course makes a lot more money on haul-outs and ground plate installations so he poo poos the KISS that only costs $150 and 45 minutes of labor. You would think that he of all people would promote easy SSB installations and see more customers using his Sailmail / Winlink sites? I love it when I hear just how simple people like you just raised a piece of copper wire and used the KISS for nearly perfect antenna/counterpoise match, That is what ham radio is about! Ten years ago we were not sure if we should call the KISS-SSB just that, but now we are glad we did, keep it simple stupid is so very much appropriate.

Thanks again, and now go enjoy Paradise! Carl Nichols RadioTeck / KISS-SSB



Hello and good day.  10/12/15

I recently purchased a Kiss- SSB and installed it on my Tayana 55 Honalee.

I am located in Guna Yala (San Blas), Panama and did tests with a station in Tampa, FL. Before installation of the Kiss my tuner was grounded to the ship's bonding system which included the tanks, mast, rudder, etc. I was told that my signal was good and I was readable. I then hooked up the Kiss and disconnected the bonding system and I was told that my signal came up.

That should have made me satisfied but the biggest improvement was the elimination of the background noise on the SSB by not being connected to the bonding system which added noise from the solar panels, wind generator, inverter and lighting!

I am very happy with my purchase and will no longer have to crawl around the hull cutting my hands and knees installing/replacing copper foil!

Allen Badner
sv Honalee
Guna, Yala, Panama



​To RadioTeck / KISS-SSB 8/14/15

I wanted to let you guys know about something many of us cruisers were discussing over drinks. There were 8 of us talking and 5 of us use the KISS-SSB for our ground plane, 3 use the cooper foil to a copper plate. Five of us feel that the KISS-SSB works perfectly, we decided for the fun of it to test it against the conventional copper foil and dynaplate. Three of us took and disconnected the copper foil and dynaplate and connected a KISS-SSB in it’s place and tested it with another cruiser 450 miles away from us, in all three tests the KISS-SSB was heard with a stronger signal and the reception improved. We then proceeded to switch back and forth between the two on all three boats to make sure it was not just propagation, and every time the KISS-SSB worked better. 

The reason we did this testing is that one of us had been talked out of using the KISS-SSB by Offshore Outfitters in San Diego, Shea Weston, and was told it would not work with Sailmail, thus charged an arm and a leg for copper foil, a haul out and a dynaplate, thousands over and above the cost of using the KISS-SSB. Guess what, even that boat had significant better results with the KISS-SSB ground plane. We then connected up his fresh copper foil and tried to connect up to a Sailmail station in New Zealand and it would not connect up, we then quickly disconnected the copper foil and connected up the KISS-SSB and was able to connect up to the New Zealand station and at a decent speed rate.

 We will pass the word on how installing companies are attacking, and being dishonest to cruisers wanting a working SSB onboard by saying that your KISS-SSB does not work and that they need to spend thousands of dollars more for the copper foil and dynaplate system. 

 Keep up the good work and great customer service, we’ll pass the word for you!!

 William Marns, S/V Shasta

I felt compelled to write you back and let you know that my wife and I couldn't be happier with your KISS grounding system. We removed all the corroded copper foil, it makes everything under the sole boards look so much better now without all that clutter. It only took about twenty minutes to install your Kiss-ssb system, and it presents itself very well. We have an Icom 802 onboard and a built in SWR meter, after testing on most SSB channels we found that not only did your system work as well as you advertised, but it worked even better. All frequencies were 1.2 to 1 or better. I was talking to a friend later that afternoon on 6A and before I even told him of my new ground plane system he stated that my signal was really good and that the audio was better than what he was used to hearing from my rig. I went on to tell him about your system and he said that he is going to contact you for one himself. Even faster connection speed to Sailmail too! Thanks for delivering a product that lives up to it's advertised words and is reasonably priced. We will help you pass the word and wish the best for you getting your wonderful product in the mainstream. In this day and age it is very refreshing to be so pleased. Mike Blount, Pensacola, FL


Wholly Cow, what a difference, my radio is thanking you!! My poor old radio that I was about to replace, most certainly is grateful, almost as much as my wallet! After years of using an older SEA SSB transceiver, that always ran hot and the signal was always one of the worst out there, other boaters are asking if I have a new radio. It was a pleasant experience to rip all of that old copper foil out, and as soon as we do a haul-out remove the Dynaplate. Installing your KISS system was a very simple few minutes and I must admit, the name says it all. My radio runs cooler and people are saying that I have a very strong signal, what more could I ask for. Keep up the good work, and thanks for keeping the price down. Robert K. San Diego

I do not normally ever write a company back, but I want to say thank you for spending the time with me on the phone and giving me so much of a better understanding of my Marine SSB antenna system. It took me nearly two hours to remove all the old copper foil, and then only 20 minutes to install the KISS SSB system. I tuned in most all of the SSB channels and am very pleased with the results, just like you said everyone was 1.2 to 1 or better. I called a friend after I installed the kiss that lives on his boat nearly 500 miles away and while we were on our cell phones we made contact on the 8A channel of the SSB. I could hear my own voice that he was receiving on his ssb on my cell phone, it was strong and clear. Thank you very much for your support and such a great product that really does work well. The kiss works better than a dynaplate and costs less. Thank You !
Brian Hebner, Pensacola, FL

Considering all the gloom and doom in todays economy it has been a pleasure to use and install a product that works perfectly, it was simple to install and saved me money and time. You guys did name this product spot-on. I'll pass the word, it's KISS-SSB.
George D.   Maine

I am a full time fisherman off of the coast of Maine. Our SSB radio is our lifeline to land when we are out there. After years of fighting the old copper foil and two bronze plates that just seem to want to be self-destructive it has been a pleasure to eliminate all of that and just put in one of your simple KISS radial systems. When I am out fishing sometimes for weeks I make a daily contact with my wife at home on the SSB there, every time we talk now she just keeps saying how nice and strong our signal is. The other boats are also saying how much better our signal is, I am sure you will hear from them. Thank you for a great product, if you come this way I've got a lobster for you.  Mike Long

I have a complaint, after all these years, and many boats with copper bonding ground planes why is this just now available? It's good to see that we still have good ole human inginuity, your kiss ground plane system is the best thing since sliced limes for a Corona. I would suggest that you guys promote the kiss system to the 170 some boats that do the annual Baja-Ha-Ha, there was sure a lot of boats in that fleet that had some weak signals in the daily roll-call.  We are setting to do the "Puddle-Jump" in a few weeks and it is nice to know that our radio is working so well now that we scrapped the copper bonding system and put in a kiss-ssb. As a lady 2nd mate it is a nice peace of mind knowing that we have a radio that can reach out 1,000's of miles. Keep up the good work.  Linda H.  S/V Sabatical

I felt compelled to write you guys and let you know just how pleased we are with our KISS-SSB ground plane system. If you recall our problem was with not being able to use our autopilot while we were on the SSB radio as it would upset our set direction and the autopilot would steer off course. With that being said that meant that every time we went to pick up weather or checked in with a cruising net someone had to hand steer for up to a half an hour sometimes. Now that we have done away with the copper foil and bronze plate system and changed over to using your KISS-SSB radial system our autopilot doesn’t skip a beat and we no longer have to hand steer when we are on the radio. Plus our contacts that we make daily have all told us that our signal is nice and strong. We are sure our signal strength is maybe even better now when we connect up to Sailmail, we now get a lot faster connection. Thanks for putting out a well made product that lives up to everything you promised !  Bill H.  New York

Got your KISS SSB Ground Plane earlier this year and finally had a chance to try it out both in San Diego and also in Mexican waters.​ I was coming through "loud and clear" to several contacts on 40 meters which were in TX, CO, NV and So. Cal. while at the Police Guest Docks on Shelter Island, San Diego Bay. In Mexican waters , off the Baja Coast and south of Ensenada, I was "5 and 8" in the southwest part of the states.Just wanted to let you know it was working great. I had been worried about the limited space I had below the cockpit floor of my small sailboat (Cape Dory 25) but apparently the installation, though simple enough, was adequate for some great transmissions!I run an Icom 700 series transceiver through an Icom Antenna Tuner AH-4 and then to my insulated backstay. Thanks for a great product. Feel free to use this email in any promotions or recommendations​ Sincerely,.One very happy customer!​ Dana Vincentsv "Gladys Erzella"Cape Dory 25, 1977 Hull #541 San Diego Bay

Hi: Just wanted to let you know that the new KISS-SSB ground plane I installed this season is working very well.  My SSB was able to reach out better than ever during the Bermuda Race this year..  Much better than when I first installed the unit in 2003 using that dumb copper foil grounded to the fuel tank and engine.  When I ripped out the old copper foil it looked liked Swiss cheese with holes everywhere!  My SSB struggled to get a signal out a year after the initial install and now I can understand why. Thank you for your great product. Regards,  Hiro

We are just back from a trip to Maui and back to Seattle on our little 35 foot race boat, Terremoto!  The race over was grueling.  Susan broke 4 ribs early on but wouldn’t let us stop.  We pressed on with just 3 able bodied crew and won!  We were the first boat to cross the finish line.  The smallest boat in the history of the race to win line honors and the 8th fastest of the 22 races run before us.  It was a great climax to the 12 months of preparation that proceeded our finish. I am telling you all of this because we had your KISS counter poise as part of our SSB system.  The KISS worked perfectly.  We were often the boat relaying messages from others because our SSB radio with the KISS counter poise worked so well.  The radio boat on the Vic Maui race said they could hear us better than 99% of the other boats. Our boat was the smallest in the race.  So, weight was a huge consideration.  The KISS allowed us to save a lot of weight by not having to install copper sheets in the bilge.  If we would have installed 100 sq ft of metal in our carbon fiber boat, which was built to be super light, it would have reduced our advantage significantly. Anyway, thanks again for all your assistance during the installation process. We couldn’t have been happier with the results of the radio – and the race ;-)  Scott and Susan Terremoto!  First to Finish the 2010 Vic Maui Race http://team-moto.org 


Hi Carl,
As promised, I said I would give your KISS-SSB a try and let you know how it worked out. I've finished up the radio install and gave the radio a little workout. I kept in mind that I was in the middle of the marina area, and typically the reception isn't worth snot, so I really wasn't expecting much. 
Boy was I surprised. I use an ICOM M802 and a Pactor III modem in my setup. The radio tuned on all bands in under three seconds and all the contacts reported very clear signals. And I was even able to send an email through the Winlink station in San Diego on 40 meters. I never was able to do that one the old boat with the foil to a thru hull as my ground. 
On the first set of trials, I had no flashing lights on the electrical panel. Funny thing happened when I switched out all my G4 bulbs with LED replacements. One or two of the cabin lights will flicker. And it changes which bulb flickers with the band being used. Only happened on a rainy day, so I'll have to see what happens on our next sunny day on the boat. Good news is that should be tomorrow. But either way, I have far less RFI and a better signal out, and couldn't be more pleased with the KISS-SSB. 
That other Karl who spells his name correctly...
Karl Kirkman S/V Maka Le'a

I've now had some time to use the KISS counterpoise for a bit and test it with airmail, jvcomm32 and just using the radio.It performs flawlessly. Thanks so much for creating such an easily installed device that works so well. Ken 

David and Donna sykidnapper
4/13/12 
Hi
I have just finished installing one of your KISS-SSB ground planes into my wooden yacht, here in Mooloolaba, Queensland Australia. It is so good to see the old corroding copper strap gone. I gave Taupo Maritime Radio in New Zealand a call on 16 megs, they said that I had a very strong signal. Wow I am impressed, as I normally have a great deal of trouble raising them from here in the marina. A fantastic product. I will certainly be spreading the word.
Cheers