I like the idea of having the radio behind the instrument panel so I tried to mount the J-pole antenna where I could disconnect/connect to it from the cockpit. I mounted the antenna by taping it to the windscreen at the top-most point, where it meets the rollbar. I only did one flight, but it doesn't look like it did too well. From the track you'll see that only every third or fourth point was received. I guess this makes sense since only a small portion of the antenna (roughly 1/3) is visible laterally - the rest is blocked by the steel of the roll bar.
Maybe it would work better if the antenna were taped to the inside curve of the roll bar, exposing maybe 2/3 of the antenna. The performance of the antenna when taped to the canopy behind the pilot's head was quite good, so these results were disappointing. I keep thinking that mounting the antenna in the wingtip should leave it blocked by the body of the airplane for one lateral direction, but Pete's results show that that is not the case. I guess that is where I need to put it.
Rick Grenwis
http://aprs.fi/?call=ka4hrd&mt=m&z=13&timerange=10800
Maybe it would work better if the antenna were taped to the inside curve of the roll bar, exposing maybe 2/3 of the antenna. The performance of the antenna when taped to the canopy behind the pilot's head was quite good, so these results were disappointing. I keep thinking that mounting the antenna in the wingtip should leave it blocked by the body of the airplane for one lateral direction, but Pete's results show that that is not the case. I guess that is where I need to put it.
Rick Grenwis
http://aprs.fi/?call=ka4hrd&mt=m&z=13&timerange=10800