On 31 Jul 2003 09:54:33 -0700, (Jay) wrote:

You're not going to know until you put it in there and measure the
VSWR. But the good news is you can tune the antenna/feed-line after
its mounted but before you button things up. The question I'd have
about using a foil antenna attatched to a structure that flexes (like
a wing spar) is you may someday have a break in the foil after the
foil fatigues and then have a flakey antenna the behaves differently
in flight than on the ground when you're trying to debug it.

The wing and horizontal stab in the G-III do not flex any where near
what you will find in a standard aluminum wing and horizontal stab in
something like a Bonanza. The spar in the wing is *massive* and that
horizontal stab is rigid. You can stand on one side and not see it
flex. I'd not want to do that on my Deb.

Roger


(BD5ER) wrote in message ...
My Internet search didn't turn up what I was looking for so I came here for
advice. The task at hand is the installation of a foil antenna in a composite
canard which would ordinarily be a rather routine task for the plane - a
Quickie - but in this case there are some carbon fiber rods at 25% chord that
make placement impossible without having the foil either near some of the
carbon or metal components.

My question: How much does the carbon fiber rods affect the antenna
performance compared to a few bits of isolated metal (elevator hinge) and does
it make a significant difference if the carbon fiber is PAN or Pitch?

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)