comm antenna

[REBEL777]

having problems with comm ant in my varieze. just purchased a miracle air whip and just wanted to know if anyone out there has installed one of these ant. and exactly where did you put it. any info would be appreciated

[Ghost]

Rebel,

 

I installed the same antenna in my VariEZe. I am still in the Re-building phase, so I haven’t flown with it yet.

 

I did however connect it to my hand held ICOM, and it worked fine. The antenna looks like is should work very well in our applications, however it was designed for Ultralights. The instructions are very clear on the fact that you need to avoid all metal and electrical wires.

 

I did my best at minimizing this concern during my installation put I could not avoid the antenna from going behind the battery. I hope that’s not the cause of your problem, because if it is, I am going to have the same problem.

 

Please post something when you figure out the problem.

 

Ghost

[schmeddz]

Best place is down one of the legs. (If you can.) When I was installing antennea for friends that's where I'd put it. Glass in a large diameter straw down the leg or a nylon tube. It will give you the longest range to ground stations when in the air. There's also less interferance or directional damping. I used to talk at least 50 miles out with a properly tuned antennea with a hand held. This was in addition to the panel comm which had a little more power. That Miracle whip looks neat. But can you spead it on a piece of cherry pie?

[REBEL777]

]Rebel, I haven't recieved the antenna yet. I do have a battery up front in the nose, I tried the foil tape on the gear leg but with problems, my hand held talked further than panel mt. the floor area under my rear there is no metal or wires.will let you know if it works.

 

I installed the same antenna in my VariEZe. I am still in the Re-building phase, so I haven’t flown with it yet.

 

I did however connect it to my hand held ICOM, and it worked fine. The antenna looks like is should work very well in our applications, however it was designed for Ultralights. The instructions are very clear on the fact that you need to avoid all metal and electrical wires.

 

I did my best at minimizing this concern during my installation put I could not avoid the antenna from going behind the battery. I hope that’s not the cause of your problem, because if it is, I am going to have the same problem.

 

Please post something when you figure out the problem.

 

Ghost

[argoldman]

]Rebel, I haven't recieved the antenna yet. I do have a battery up front in the nose, I tried the foil tape on the gear leg but with problems, my hand held talked further than panel mt. the floor area under my rear there is no metal or wires.will let you know if it works.

 

I installed the same antenna in my VariEZe. I am still in the Re-building phase, so I haven’t flown with it yet.

 

I did however connect it to my hand held ICOM, and it worked fine. The antenna looks like is should work very well in our applications, however it was designed for Ultralights. The instructions are very clear on the fact that you need to avoid all metal and electrical wires.

 

I did my best at minimizing this concern during my installation put I could not avoid the antenna from going behind the battery. I hope that’s not the cause of your problem, because if it is, I am going to have the same problem.

 

Please post something when you figure out the problem.

 

Ghost

 

Casper the friendly,

 

 

While although the foil tape alone on the leg (built as a dipole),sounds like a good idea, and will work well for a while, As the leg flexes and goes through various other contortions with our smooth (?) landings and various surfaces upon which we taxi, the tape will tear/break etc and all of the sudden, performance will be compromised. It will probably be thought that the radio itself is at fault, but bench tests perfectly. A short circuit test of the antenna lead will show no fault and after pulling much hair out (assuming there was some to begin with) finding the antenna at fault, one would tend to duplicate the installation on the remaining leg only to suffer the same problem. The width of the tape is necessary to make more of the frequency spectrum that we use "tuned".

 

One suggestion is to, using a solid copper wire the appropriate length affix the copper tape on it making solder connections between the wire and tape periodically down the foil. (prebend the wire where you want to glass it to the leg and solder the tape to it (non sticky side, with the tape on the inside curvature ( mounting it on the outside of the leg, or reverse on the inside)-- then stick the tape to the leg and glass) This arrangement will most likely take all the abuse that you can give it. If the tape does happen to tear, the continuity will be maintained by the solder connection to the wire.

 

Tape by itself, once torn will show itself electrically as an antenna the length only to the first tear and will not be in tune and range will be lost