Antennae in cowl cheeks

Has anyone put a comm antennea in the cowl cheeks, of course they need to be fiberglass and I was thinking copper tape type on both cheeks and some how connect the 2 If it has been done and works I would like to try it it is all about weight for me. Ideas?

Antenna will not work well in close proximity to the engine.

Gear Leg Stiffener Antenna

When I bought my gear leg stiffeners, the instructions said that an antenna down the stiffener would work well.

I'm not far along enough to try it yet, though.

Dave
RV-3B, building wings and tanks

My FM radio antena is inside the cowl. It works OK, but seems to have short range.

Cowl cheeks

I should have said cowl cheek extensions behind the firewall

She got legs...

Rdwrv4 said:

Has anyone put a comm antennea in the cowl cheeks, of course they need to be fiberglass and I was thinking copper tape type on both cheeks and some how connect the 2 If it has been done and works I would like to try it it is all about weight for me. Ideas?

Click to expand...

Robin,
Never tried the cowl cheek but I tried several other locations on my RV4. Wingtip (archer), Gear Leg(copper). I also tried a Handheld antenna mounted onto the aft fuse underneath the rear canopy. All worked OK including gear leg however, my frequent unimproved strip forays(my home strip the worse) often broke the BNC connection where the fairing met the fuse. Ended up with an external bent wire antenna on belly aft of rear cockpit.

Still there and working after 15 years...
V/R
Smokey

PS: If I were building I would glass one of these into my upper cowl...http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/antennasystems.php