Al MacDonald
July 15th 04, 03:27 PM
Greetings,
I recently added an ICOM A200 to my Pitts S-1C. The previous owner had an
ACK ELT installed just behind the seat with the antenna on the belly skin.
I originally thought this wasn't a good place for the antenna as a
relatively high speed dirt encounter would most likely take out the gear and
antenna, however further thought brought about the idea that an off-airport
landing could easily result in a nose over and voila -- the antenna location
would be perfect.
At any rate, I stole the ELT antenna position to use for the comm antenna
and now I have to figure out where to put the ELT antenna. One suggestion
was using a "Rubber Ducky" antenna on the ELT, but I don't have the room for
it where it's currently mounted. Another suggestion, that was agreed upon
by several avionics people, is to mount the Rubber Ducky on the end of some
coax cable, perhaps vertically behind the back of the baggage compartment.
This seemed like a good idea to me, as there is no metal in that area and
the antenna could be mounted vertically and it's protected by the top wing
and vertical stab. Yet another avionics person says this would not work, as
the length of the coax (unless perfect) would subtract from the signal
strength, as the Rubber Ducky should be mounted only directly on the ELT (if
one chose to use this type at all).
I've looked at half wave dipole antennas and found nothing that seemed just
right for the Pitts application, so say nothing of getting easy access to
the area behind the baggage compartment. Do any Pitts owners who run a com
and ELT have a suggestion?
Thanks,
al.
I recently added an ICOM A200 to my Pitts S-1C. The previous owner had an
ACK ELT installed just behind the seat with the antenna on the belly skin.
I originally thought this wasn't a good place for the antenna as a
relatively high speed dirt encounter would most likely take out the gear and
antenna, however further thought brought about the idea that an off-airport
landing could easily result in a nose over and voila -- the antenna location
would be perfect.
At any rate, I stole the ELT antenna position to use for the comm antenna
and now I have to figure out where to put the ELT antenna. One suggestion
was using a "Rubber Ducky" antenna on the ELT, but I don't have the room for
it where it's currently mounted. Another suggestion, that was agreed upon
by several avionics people, is to mount the Rubber Ducky on the end of some
coax cable, perhaps vertically behind the back of the baggage compartment.
This seemed like a good idea to me, as there is no metal in that area and
the antenna could be mounted vertically and it's protected by the top wing
and vertical stab. Yet another avionics person says this would not work, as
the length of the coax (unless perfect) would subtract from the signal
strength, as the Rubber Ducky should be mounted only directly on the ELT (if
one chose to use this type at all).
I've looked at half wave dipole antennas and found nothing that seemed just
right for the Pitts application, so say nothing of getting easy access to
the area behind the baggage compartment. Do any Pitts owners who run a com
and ELT have a suggestion?
Thanks,
al.