REFLECTOR: Poor Comm Performance

Laurence Coen lwcoen at hotmail.com
Tue Sep 4 11:53:36 CDT 2007


Kirk,

If your airplane was built according to plan then you should already have comm. antennas located in the winglets in the rudder channels.  You might want to go looking for a coax coming inboard from the wings.  As for the external antenna ground plane, it doesn't have to be flat.  Gluing aluminum foil to the inside of the cabin roof will make a workable ground plane for a rooftop antenna.  I have a SE/RG with winglet antennas and my Terra stack is good for 50 miles.

Larry Coen
N136LC
SE/RG Franklin/IVO
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Kirk Aragon 
  To: reflector at tvbf.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 4:17 AM
  Subject: REFLECTOR: Poor Comm Performance



  Hi all,

  Since I purchased my Velocity, I've noticed very poor COM performance on both COMs. Range is not much more than 3 miles with COM1 and COM2 appears not to work at all. Because of this, I will not fly into Class A, B, C, or D airspace. This limits my travel options quite a bit and I was looking for advice on new antenna placement. 

  Since I'm assuming that my radio cable has disconnected from COM2 and I'm already using an external antenna for COM1, I've looked at several internal and external antenna options, but consistently note that ground plane is needed for the correct functioning of the external antenna. I can't find a single flat place that is 42" or greater and attribute the poor performance of COM1 to this fact. I also don't like the idea of an external antenna from an aesthetic point of view and would like the aircraft to be as "clean" as possible.

  Recently, I came across Advance Aircraft Electronics (http://www.advancedaircraft.com/index.htm) and their linear antennas. It seems like these would work great in the winglets. However, since I did not build my aircraft and the winglets are already "glassed," would this be a good candidate area for installation? If so, can anyone estimate the amount of work this might entail (no repairman certificate = lots of $$$)? Is there a better location for installation?

  I haven't used my Terra stack in IMC, but intend to get my instrument rating in the next year. The poor COM performance has me worried that my antenna installations will not be up to the task. I would definitely appreciate guidance.

  Thank you

  Kirk Aragon
  N360TV (SE/RG) 







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