What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RV9a VOR/ILS Antenna location

whd721

Well Known Member
Does anyone have have any Photos or installation guidance on the installation of a Comant CI-157P antenna on an RV9A?
Where, how and advice.

Thanks
 
I have the Bob Archer in the right wingtip. It has great reception of both VOR?s and ILS transmissions. It is easy to install.
 
Friends don't let friends stick ugly VOR antennas on their nice RVs. Put it in the wingtip. Either buy the Archer antenna or build your own.

My wingtip antenna picks up VORs at 100nmi and the ILS out beyond practical usefulness.

Carl
 
Same here - built my own Archer-style (one in each wingtip so I have a backup - they weigh nothing) and the reception is excellent on both VOR's and ILS.
 
I have one (archer wing tip) that I am about to sell, so PM me if you go this way.

Larry
 
I think if you search this site for Archer you'll find that the NAV gets generally positive reports but the COM does not.

For that reason I use belly whips for my COMs and the Archer for my NAV.

YMMV.
 
Last edited:
With an A model your tail is high. I like putting a di-pole twin whiskers on top of rudder under tip fairing. This is a great location and drag increase is tiny (fraction of a mph). The thin metal rods are not noticeable. Performance for VOR, LOC, GS I think will be better than the wing tip antenna.

The other place is under the horizontal tail on the belly. The Horizontal stab covers it so it's less obvious. You have to be careful not to poke your eye if crawling around under tail say for tie down. I had my RV-4 under belly/horz stab. It worked great. xxxx = VOR/LOC/GS antenna. (you can get a split-coupler to do all three). See links. No offense to internal wing tip antenna but it's a huge compromise. I suppose it is academic with GPS but for such little penalty in drag the standard dipole out in breeze is going to give better performance.

https://goo.gl/images/XKiWEp
https://goo.gl/images/pwmfds

.........................____
......................./xxxx|
....................../.........|
...................../...........|
___________/.............|
...................................|
....................................|
_____________________|
......................xxxxx

https://goo.gl/images/bCRRSs
https://goo.gl/images/Q4q9Hd
 
Last edited:
Thanks to all that replied.

In the long gap between my original post and today, I had come to the same solution posted by gmcjetpilot above.

I now have a Comat 157p and plan to mount it on the rudder. I was pleased to find the current model has a hockey puck that is only about 1/4" thick. It should be nearly invisible way up there.

Thanks again.
 
I have my VOR/ILS antenna on the top of the vertical fin. I obtained piece of square tube (approx 3/4-1? square not sure), mounted it to the top rib under the tip. Then mounted the antenna to the tube. This way the antenna is raised up a bit so you don?t have to cut the flange off the the top rib. It is all well concealed except for the rods sticking out which shouldn?t be much drag as they are swept back at about 45 degrees. Works perfect.

Bevan
 
...I now have a Comat 157p and plan to mount it on the rudder. I was pleased to find the current model has a hockey puck that is only about 1/4" thick. It should be nearly invisible way up there.

Thanks again.

Hopefully you intended to say you?re going to mount it on the vertical stabilizer. You don?t want an antenna on a moveable control surface.
 
The vertical stab would be the correct answer.

Typing in this little box seems to lower my IQ by a bunch.
 
Back
Top