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Wingtip NAV antenna

jacksel

Well Known Member
Can anyone recommend a good wingtip NAV antenna (VOR/LOC/GS)? Or tell me if there's no such thing? The one I have installed in my RV-7 is marginal and not getting it done. It's a strip antenna with balun loop. VOR is only reliable within 10-20 miles. I can barely capture a LOC at ~8 miles and get no GS except a frequent false GS when I'm almost overhead the airport.
 
Might be worth checking the installation. The interwebs are littered with accounts of under-performing wingtip antennas, that are later found to be installed improperly. Grounding (poor, or wrong element grounded), coax polarity, coax routing, *other* wire routing, other stuff 'in the neighborhood', etc etc.

The coax and its connectors can have issues, also, of course.

Just a couple of thoughts...

Charlie
 
Can anyone recommend a good wingtip NAV antenna (VOR/LOC/GS)? Or tell me if there's no such thing? The one I have installed in my RV-7 is marginal and not getting it done. It's a strip antenna with balun loop. VOR is only reliable within 10-20 miles. I can barely capture a LOC at ~8 miles and get no GS except a frequent false GS when I'm almost overhead the airport.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/archer_antenna4.php?clickkey=29765

11-21025-1.jpg


Notes from when I installed the Archer antenna in my RV-6 many years ago. It still works great.
 
I agree that installation issues are a big part of the disappointment with the archer antenna. I pick up many nav stations at 100 nm.

Larry
 
I agree that installation issues are a big part of the disappointment with the archer antenna. I pick up many nav stations at 100 nm.

Larry

But it sounds like the OP doesn't have an "Archer-like" antenna from his description.

A simple wire type embedded in the wingtip would be expected to work poorly.
 
I installed a commercial whip antenna on the last wing rib. Bent slightly backwards to fit in under the fibreglass wingtip. Trimmed whip to length using antenna anlyzer and achieved great match. Will be used for secondary comm, no in flight results to report back on yet.
 
I installed a commercial whip antenna on the last wing rib. Bent slightly backwards to fit in under the fibreglass wingtip. Trimmed whip to length using antenna anlyzer and achieved great match. Will be used for secondary comm, no in flight results to report back on yet.

Since com transmissions (unlike VOR) use vertical polarization, you also should have mounted it as high (or low) on the rib as possible; and then bent it (close to the rib) down (or up) as much as possible.
 
Finally changed antenna

I had a low power radio and wingtip antenna in an RV4. Tried every possible positioning in the wingtip, and as vertical as possible with no good results. Reception seemed OK, but transmission range and angles limited. Went to a bent whip on the bottom under the pax seat, and a Garmin 200 radio. Now all is happiness, flight following radio com excellent, and the only limitation is not to park just underneath the tower. Ugly antenna now almost out of my sight under the aircraft, no measurable extra drag and the top of acft behind the pax seat is used for my adsb-out gps antenna. (It is actually under the canopy and works fine.)
 
Since com transmissions (unlike VOR) use vertical polarization, you also should have mounted it as high (or low) on the rib as possible; and then bent it (close to the rib) down (or up) as much as possible.

Thanks for the heads-up Bob. I was trying to get the antenna further away from the cockpit due to the EFIS screen radiating interference. From experience with antennas on small metal structures instead of on the ideal flat metal ground plane I have found that the polarisation is not as clear cut as one would think.

Nevertheless not flying yet, so will experiment and see how it works. My thinking was that it could always be used for VOR/LOC later on (currently no nav radios). Valtronics makes a remote mount Nav receiver which could always be installed later and driven from the EFIS.

Regards
P.
 
Which radio?

Jacksel, I'm curious about which VOR radio you're using. I have Bob Archer antennas in my wingtips. They barely worked with my VAL Nav2000, but work great with the VAL INS429 I installed later. John
 
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