On Jun 30, 12:54*pm, Brad wrote:
Do you pilots with carbon airframes, and antennas in the rudder find
this to be an ok solution? Do you find that the antenna gets blanked
out if the pilot you are talking to is in front of you and therfore
have the carbon fin blocking the signal?

I fly an all carbon sailplane sailplane, but use a handheld with a
rubber duck antenna, what I find is that the fuselage can blank out
transmissions at some points of the circle.

Stemmes (and probably other ships) have the same configuration - all
carbon fiber except for the rudder which is fiberglass so the com
antenna can be mounted there. Works well EXCEPT when directly ahead
since then the vertical fin absorbs much of the radio energy. When I
call inbound to an airport, I always turn at least 20 degrees from the
tower. Seems to work OK.

Martin
WT