Ham radio integrated into the comm configuration

Want to combine my hobbies as I acquire a C-172 - has anyone mounted a
ham radio in their bird and wired it through the comm panel?

Problems?

Successes?

Don

Would that be legal, with the FCC? That's an awfully tall antenna mast!

--
Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict....

wrote in message
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Want to combine my hobbies as I acquire a C-172 - has anyone mounted a
ham radio in their bird and wired it through the comm panel?

Problems?

Successes?

Don

Mike W. wrote:
Would that be legal, with the FCC? That's an awfully tall antenna mast!

The FCC doesn't care, it is the FAA hoops that are a pain in the ass.

--
Jim Pennino

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Mike W. wrote:
That's an awfully tall antenna mast!

Aircraft that used these frequencies usually streamed a wire antenna behind the
plane.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

George Patterson wrote:
Mike W. wrote:
That's an awfully tall antenna mast!

Aircraft that used these frequencies usually streamed a wire antenna behind the
plane.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

The ham bands go to 250 GHz; how long would that wire be?

--
Jim Pennino

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wrote:

The ham bands go to 250 GHz; how long would that wire be?

You might check with John Price -- he has one of the old L planes and is trying
to get the radio gear working. He says he can use it as a ham operator. IIRC
from "Fate is the Hunter", the antennae used there were about 250' long. John's
site is
http://home.att.net/~jm.price .

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

George Patterson wrote:
wrote:

The ham bands go to 250 GHz; how long would that wire be?

You might check with John Price -- he has one of the old L planes and is trying
to get the radio gear working. He says he can use it as a ham operator. IIRC
from "Fate is the Hunter", the antennae used there were about 250' long. John's
site is
http://home.att.net/~jm.price .

That's a 1/2 wave at the lowest ham band which starts at 1.8 MHz.

The majority of airborn ham HF operations run between 14 MHz to 30 MHz,
i.e. the 20 to 10 meter bands, where the antennas are a bit more reasonable.

A slightly loaded ADF antenna works just fine at those frequencies.

In the olden days, there were motorized reels to deploy long wire
antennas during cruise and reel them back in before landing.

Actually, not so olden, as I remember seeing them on 727s that were
HF equiped in the early 80s.

--
Jim Pennino

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wrote:




The ham bands go to 250 GHz; how long would that wire be?

About an inch.

Hi George,

I would have to do that if I was going to operate in the HF realm (30
MHz and below), but I want to use a 2m radio and that will just be a
19" vertical on the top of the plane.

Don

Before you mount the antenna on the top of the plane, think about your
radiation pattern. The radiation pattern of a moderately swept (i.e. "bent
back" to look sexy) whip over a large ground plane (like an airframe) is
like cutting a grapefruit in half and skewering it with the whip. Note most
of the radiation going UP away from the whip.

Now think about who you are going to talk to. Astronauts in space or ground
based hams? The point is that an antenna on the belly is a LOT more
efficient in getting your radiated power where you want it.

Now a practical matter. Some day you are going to want to sell that
airplane. An airplane with a ham radio antenna on it may not be attractive
to a potential buyer. However, if you go down to the airplane junkyard and
buy a used inspection plate, bring it home and paint it to match the
fuselage, take the REAL painted inspection plate off and put it in a safe
place, then mount the ham antenna onto the paint-to-match junker inspection
plate, you have a removable antenna when the time comes. Just take the ham
antenna off and put the "real" inspection plate back onto the fuselage.

(For those of you who are mounting GPS antennas, don't make the opposite
mistake. I was doing a plans check for one of the locals the other day and
he had the GPS antenna mounted on the belly. Damned few GPS satellites
below you at the altitudes most of us fly at.)

Jim


wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi George,

I would have to do that if I was going to operate in the HF realm (30
MHz and below), but I want to use a 2m radio and that will just be a
19" vertical on the top of the plane.

Don