Windshield Antenna Kits

[Scrabo]

I notice that there is a Windshield antenna kit fir ICOM handheld radios.
According to a certain website...

" This antenna kit attaches to the inside of the windshield and dramatically
improves portable nav/com's transmit, receive, and
VOR performance based on extensive field testing. It is portable and ideal
for those who can't use an ANT-SB.
Simply attaches one's own flexible antenna to inside of windshield with BNC,
coax, suction cup adapter."


So my question is simple, why just ICOM radios ? Surely any handheld with a
BNC connector should be it ?

This is the site that I found it listed on...
http://www.aircraft-spruce.com/catalog/avpages/antennakit.php

Rob.

[G. Burkhart]

Same thing from Sporty's:
http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&did=19&product_id=997

Radio Shack use to sell them too. I bought one 10+ years ago and used it for
a handheld CB with fairly good results. It had better reception and
transmission than keeping the antenna on the radio but not as good as a
'real' antenna.

I recently stopped at the local avionics shop and talked them out of a used
com antenna and plan to mount that and use it for my Icom handheld in case
my main com goes out. A used com antenna is usually cheaper (if not free!)
than the ANT-SB.

Jim's setup (http://www.rst-engr.com/kitplanes/KP0203/KP0203.htm) is a lot
cheaper than the $75 ANT-SB and does the same thing.

"Scrabo" > wrote in message
news:EqkIc.2159$f9.1838@fed1read02...
> I notice that there is a Windshield antenna kit fir ICOM handheld radios.
> According to a certain website...

[RM]

Using duct tape, I tried this with my infamous Yaesu. I just taped an
antenna horizontally along the top of the windshield and ran a coax
to it. Sad to say, the improvement was less than dramatic. While someone
with the proper equipment might have been able to measure a difference,
in the air I found the silly little toy was still totally useless as a
nav device.

Note to the rental company: sorry about the duct tape residue. I really
tried to get it all off before the next guy had to take the airplane.

I know others here don't think much of Sporty's, but my experiments showed
that the Sporty's, just using its rubber ducky and not even horizontally,
was actually usable as a nav radio.


"Scrabo" > wrote in message news:<EqkIc.2159$f9.1838@fed1read02>...
> I notice that there is a Windshield antenna kit fir ICOM handheld radios.
> According to a certain website...
>
> " This antenna kit attaches to the inside of the windshield and dramatically
> improves portable nav/com's transmit, receive, and
> VOR performance based on extensive field testing. It is portable and ideal
> for those who can't use an ANT-SB.
> Simply attaches one's own flexible antenna to inside of windshield with BNC,
> coax, suction cup adapter."
>
>
> So my question is simple, why just ICOM radios ? Surely any handheld with a
> BNC connector should be it ?
>
> This is the site that I found it listed on...
> http://www.aircraft-spruce.com/catalog/avpages/antennakit.php
>
> Rob.