On Feb 27, 8:27*am, wrote:
I am installing a regular rod type antenna on the wooden turtledeck of
my plane where it will attach to only wood. I got the antenna from a
friend who didn't have the attaching hardware.
Do I need to do or know anything special to attach this antenna to
make sure it operates correctly? *Does it need to have a metal plate
on the inside of the airframe to attach to or does it need to somehow
be connected to the metal part of the airframe for proper reception/
transmission? Can I just use local hardware store parts?
I will be running the cable to my handheld radio.
Thanks for any assistance.
Stan
(mechanical novice)

Stan,
The metal plate you're thinking of would be called the Ground Plane I
beileve. I've run into this issue putting an antenna into my wood
glider. What I did was make a simple ground plane antenna that uses 4
wires for the ground plane. I got a BNC connector from Radio Shack (I
could give you the number) and 5 thin welding rods. 1 rod gets
soldiered on top as the antenna and the other 4 project downward at
roughly a 45 degree angle from each corner. You might have seen
antennas that look like this on top of airport hangers or FBOs. You
clip the rods to the proper length for glider frequencies (I could
also give you that number). The great thing is that these are really
cheap, really lightweight, and the whole thing is flexible enough that
you can wedge it in some pretty tight places. Mine fit right into the
space under the turtledeck of my Woodstock which is a pretty tiny
glider. Zip ties hold it in place. With my ancient Narco handheld
plugged into this thing I can talk to people 200 miles away when I'm
at altitude. Once while landing out I was still talking to my crew
when I was down to 300 ft and they were over 20 miles away on the
ground! So, these cheap antennas really work.

Matt