What's new
Van's Air Force

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

APRS antenna question

Tony Spicer

Well Known Member
Taking the Technician test Saturday. When the call sign shows up I'll order this:

http://www.byonics.com/mt-rtg

Spent the weekend combing the archives for antenna choices and reading the stickies. RV-4 with tip tanks, so it will have to go somewhere on the fuselage. Not too keen on sticking it on the belly. Using one of these mounted on the turtledeck under the canopy would be a clean install:

http://www.byonics.com/mt-antennas

For sure not as good as a 1/4 wave on the belly, but acceptable?

Comments appreciated.

Tony
 
Taking the Technician test Saturday. When the call sign shows up I'll order this:

http://www.byonics.com/mt-rtg

Spent the weekend combing the archives for antenna choices and reading the stickies. RV-4 with tip tanks, so it will have to go somewhere on the fuselage. Not too keen on sticking it on the belly. Using one of these mounted on the turtledeck under the canopy would be a clean install:

http://www.byonics.com/mt-antennas

For sure not as good as a 1/4 wave on the belly, but acceptable?

Comments appreciated.

Tony

Should work fairly well, coverage at low altitude won't be as good as it would be with a longer antenna. Give it a try. :)
 
Sleepy a friend of mine has one in his gear leg fairing, and its working well. Checked with my MFJ-266 antenna analyzer and the VSWR was less than 1.3 with an expected node directly behind.
 
The wing antennas like J-poles are usually horizontally polarized and you lose 30db by that alone. Why don't you spend $25 like I did and buy one of these stainless VHF whips--like the 45 degree one, and trim it to about 19.5 inches?

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/av/antenna_transceiver.html

You will get top notch performance for very little money.

Yep, Hugo, you are correct. That would be the easy way to do it. Excepting I'm of the opinion that an antenna is one of the ugliest things that can be hung on an airplane. If it can be hid, it's worth a try. My bud Pooner says it will work just fine in the gear leg, so I'm going to give it a go.

Tony
 
Back
Top