On Apr 9, 6:41*am, "Wayne Paul" wrote:
Markus,

The antenna recommended by Paul Remde, or similar antenna, mounted on the
top of the fuselage aft of the cockpit will provide excellent radio
communication.

I really think that you overly concerned about the minimal drag produced by
an externally mounted antenna on your Lark. *Granted the antenna produces
drag; however, on a gliders with similar polars to the Lark the performance
differences is undetectable. *The only reason to hide your antenna is that
the Lark looks sleeker without it mounted on the top of the fuselage.

Wayne

"Markus Graeber" *wrote in message

news:15119856.896.1333962866197.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@yncd8...

On Sunday, April 8, 2012 11:04:13 PM UTC+2, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
Once upon a time, I tried many different com antennas on an HP-18, an
all-metal sailplane with fiberglass nose and turtledeck. The most
effective antenna was a bent 1/4-wave whip mounted over the aft
fuselage.

For the HP-24, I install a 1/4-wave dipole inside the rudder, but that
is not a realistic possibility for the Lark.

Thanks, Bob K.

Thanks Bob, I was actually thinking about the possibility of installing the
antenna in the rudder since it has fabric cover. The other more extreme
option could be to replace the vertical stabilizer leading edge aluminum
panels with fiber glass but that might have some structural side effects and
I am not sure how much aluminum ribbing will affect an 1/4 wave antenna
install.

Certification wise it's not a problem since gliders are treated here similar
to experimentals in the US...

Markus

Markus,

The antenna will only work well in the rudder if the rudder frame is
non-metalic. More modern ships often put the comm antenna in the
fiberglass rudder as close to the trailing edge as practicable in
order to keep it away from other conductive things. This is a
reasonable compromise, though often with a narrow null or "radio free
zone" directly ahead of the aircraft.

bumper
zz
MKIV and QV