REFLECTOR: Poor Comm Performance

Andy Millin amillin at sbcglobal.net
Tue Sep 4 12:18:02 CDT 2007


Kirk,

 

Are you sure the antennas were connected correctly?  The plans call for nav
and com antennas in the wings.  More than one builder has lost track of
which is which.  You might have the antennas crossed.  A com radio might not
do too well with a nav antenna.

 

I believe the original plans called for the antenna to be placed in the
rudder well of the winglet.  If you have checked antennas (SWR), cables,
connections and radios and have isolated the problem to the antenna, then I
would think of installing one in the rudder well.  This is not a difficult
job and could be done in  weekend.  Where are you located?

 

Andy

 

 

 

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Kirk Aragon
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 12:17 PM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
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) 





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/private/reflector/attachments/20070904/471fe28a/attachment-0001.htm 


More information about the Reflector mailing list