Painting the antenna with anything other than a metallic-based paint (very rare)
will have no measurable effect on the antenna. Stop changing out parts and
start measuring. Any avionics shop worth a damn will have either a Bird b-d
wattmeter or a VSWR meter. I prefer the Bird, but anything is better than
guessing.
Jim
Jon Kraus
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:
-Good idea.... For some reason in '98 when they painted the aircraft
-they thought painting the antenna's was a brilliant idea too.... Maybe
-that has something to do with it and the 170B handles it better.. JK
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com