PowerFLARM updates and installation notes

....
.....You want to keep it simple?

STEP 1: Buy a Portable PowerFLARM
STEP 2: Stick it on top of your glareshield
STEP 3: Make sure the antennas are pointed straight up.
STEP 4: (Optional?) Run a wire from your power-bus/battery to the
PowerFLARM.

How hard is that?

--Noel

This (Noel's comment) is what I "planned/hoped" to do in my Genesis.

Interested if there have been any reports of interference between a CAI Model 20 mounted near Portable Flarm(?). My Model 20 is mounted behind instrument pod with antenna ~flush with top. The portable would be about 10" ahead on top of pod (so antenna bases would be ~1" above GPS-20 antenna). Flarm antennas can easily stand vertical.

Any comments appreciated!

Curt - 95

On Jun 4, 9:46*am, CLewis95 wrote:

This (Noel's comment) is what I "planned/hoped" to do in my Genesis.

Interested if there have been any reports of interference between a CAI Model 20 mounted near Portable Flarm(?). *My Model 20 is mounted behind instrument pod with antenna ~flush with top. *The portable would be about 10" ahead on top of pod (so antenna bases would be ~1" above GPS-20 antenna).. *Flarm antennas can easily stand vertical.

Any comments appreciated!

Curt - 95

Curt,
I have a Model 20 located under the glareshield of my Nimbus 3. It is
less than a foot ahead of and below the portable FLARM mounted on top
of the glare shield. Only time I had a problem was at the end of one
day, when pushing back to the tiedown spot, the FLARM came loose from
it velcro mount and slide to the front of the glareshield. The GPS
location in the Cambridge took a big jump away from Garner Field
(during the Open Nationals last year, at Uvalde). Seemed to have as
good a FLARM reception and transmit as anyone else there.

I also have a flight with the portable installed on top of the panel
on my BS1. Cambridge Model 20 secured to the top of the panel,
probably not more than 2-3 inches between the boxes. No problems with
the Cambrigde log. Not sure of the FLARM performance with that
installation. Couldn't get my antenna vertical and there was only one
other FLARM equipped plane flying, so I need to make a different
mount. Anyone interested in making cables in standard lengths (6 inch
increments, maybe?) to go from the portable to a base mount for the
supplied antenna? Yes, YO, I am working on getting more seperation of
the two.

If the prefered antenna seems to be the dipole with a simple plastic
angle bracket for mounting, are we going to see this become the
standard antenna shipped with FLARM units at some point in the
future? Less m ounting height required than the rubber duckie that
had to be mounted at the top of the portable because of the batter
box. Just a thought.

Steve Leonard
ZS, VJS, KN, PN, and a few others.

On Monday, June 4, 2012 11:49:42 AM UTC-6, Steve Leonard wrote:
On Jun 4, 9:46*am, CLewis95 wrote:

This (Noel's comment) is what I "planned/hoped" to do in my Genesis.

Interested if there have been any reports of interference between a CAI Model 20 mounted near Portable Flarm(?). *My Model 20 is mounted behind instrument pod with antenna ~flush with top. *The portable would be about 10" ahead on top of pod (so antenna bases would be ~1" above GPS-20 antenna). *Flarm antennas can easily stand vertical.

Any comments appreciated!

Curt - 95

Curt,
I have a Model 20 located under the glareshield of my Nimbus 3. It is
less than a foot ahead of and below the portable FLARM mounted on top
of the glare shield. Only time I had a problem was at the end of one
day, when pushing back to the tiedown spot, the FLARM came loose from
it velcro mount and slide to the front of the glareshield. The GPS
location in the Cambridge took a big jump away from Garner Field
(during the Open Nationals last year, at Uvalde). Seemed to have as
good a FLARM reception and transmit as anyone else there.

I also have a flight with the portable installed on top of the panel
on my BS1. Cambridge Model 20 secured to the top of the panel,
probably not more than 2-3 inches between the boxes. No problems with
the Cambrigde log. Not sure of the FLARM performance with that
installation. Couldn't get my antenna vertical and there was only one
other FLARM equipped plane flying, so I need to make a different
mount. Anyone interested in making cables in standard lengths (6 inch
increments, maybe?) to go from the portable to a base mount for the
supplied antenna? Yes, YO, I am working on getting more seperation of
the two.

If the prefered antenna seems to be the dipole with a simple plastic
angle bracket for mounting, are we going to see this become the
standard antenna shipped with FLARM units at some point in the
future? Less m ounting height required than the rubber duckie that
had to be mounted at the top of the portable because of the batter
box. Just a thought.

Steve Leonard
ZS, VJS, KN, PN, and a few others.

I'd recommend 3M Dual-Lock, much stronger than Velcro or other hook and loop fasteners for your delicate electronic gear, especially if movable between your mistresses. Typically 5X stronger.
http://tinyurl.com/7u7t6q5

Frank Whiteley

Frank Whiteley

On Jun 4, 10:42*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:

I'd recommend 3M Dual-Lock, much stronger than Velcro or other hook and loop fasteners for your delicate electronic gear, especially if movable between your mistresses. *Typically 5X stronger.http://tinyurl.com/7u7t6q5

Frank Whiteley


Just to be contrary, Frank, I do NOT like the Dual-Lock. It takes
considerably more pressure to engage than regualr velcro. And more
pressure over a larger area (the strip they supply with the portable
takes considerable force to engage if you put it on two, flat, firm
surfaces) means you have to push down pretty hard on the top of the
case of that device to get the stuff to engage. More than once, I had
it come loose and slide down the slope of the glareshield of the
Nimbus. Installation for the one flight so far in the BS1 was with
black electrical tape over the top of it. It never even thought of
trying to move. This is not a good, permanent solution for my
portable, but mine won't get held down with Dual-Lock. I am looking
in to brackets and using the small, threaded mounting holes for each
installation.

Steve Leonard

On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 8:50:22 AM UTC-5, Steve Leonard wrote:
On Jun 4, 10:42*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:

I'd recommend 3M Dual-Lock, much stronger than Velcro or other hook and loop fasteners for your delicate electronic gear, especially if movable between your mistresses. *Typically 5X stronger.http://tinyurl.com/7u7t6q5

Frank Whiteley


Just to be contrary, Frank, I do NOT like the Dual-Lock. It takes
considerably more pressure to engage than regualr velcro. And more
pressure over a larger area (the strip they supply with the portable
takes considerable force to engage if you put it on two, flat, firm
surfaces) means you have to push down pretty hard on the top of the
case of that device to get the stuff to engage. More than once, I had
it come loose and slide down the slope of the glareshield of the
Nimbus. Installation for the one flight so far in the BS1 was with
black electrical tape over the top of it. It never even thought of
trying to move. This is not a good, permanent solution for my
portable, but mine won't get held down with Dual-Lock. I am looking
in to brackets and using the small, threaded mounting holes for each
installation.

Steve Leonard

When I flew with a portable last year at Region 10 I built a little shelf that extended from the left canopy rail in front of the instrument panel. Picture of the shelf he https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V...YYYCockpit.JPG

I have no idea what the range was with this but it was good enough that I saw Frank a few times during the contest and got a collision alert once or twice in the start cylinder when he was nearby. We were the only ones with PowerFlarm...

I don't have a glareshield in the Cherokee so that is as good as it gets for placement, unless I want to mount it outside in front of the canopy and build a fairing around that...

Eventually I suppose there will be a brick in my future, but for now I'll probably keep borrowing/renting a portable for contests.

This thread is part of a larger picture - general antenna
installations. This involves all the radio devices in a modern
sailplane. The problem is the cockpit is a lousy place for antennas
since there's little room, it's full of RF noise and absorbing/
reflecting stuff like the pilot. External antennas are way too
draggy. A good guess is this problem is going to get worse as new
gadgets are added.

Long ago a solution was found for the Com antenna by mounting it in
the fin. If that works for the com antenna, why not PowerFlarm,
transponers etc? The obvious objection is access - the fin is a
sealed box. However, this sport has a lot of very clever people who
have solved worse problems.

On Jun 5, 7:29*am, Bill D wrote:
the fin is a sealed box.

I hope not! Limited access maybe, but certainly not sealed.

Andy

On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 10:10:25 AM UTC-7, Andy wrote:
On Jun 5, 7:29*am, Bill D wrote:
the fin is a sealed box.

I hope not! Limited access maybe, but certainly not sealed.

Andy

While the antennas installation issues get sorted out (hopefully) what about the display installation? I am hoping for a simple attachment of the remote display somewhere near the top of the instrument panel without obscuring instruments nor forward view and without interfering with canopy ejection in my ASW27. Alternatively I can invest an extra $75(?) for the in panel display to replace my winter mechanical vario which I never needed in 15 years (and maybe sell it for couple of hundred bucks to cover some of the powerflarm cost) but I have a feeling I may regret it one day. Thoughts?

Ramy

On Jun 5, 12:10*pm, Andy wrote:
On Jun 5, 7:29*am, Bill D wrote:

the fin is a sealed box.

I hope not! *Limited access maybe, but certainly not sealed.

Andy

I recently looked really hard at the ASW27 tail, to try to put the
transponder antenna in there. So far, I've concluded it can't be done
without cutting holes. The closest I came was putting small antennas
like flarm and transponder in the tail battery compartment and fishing
the coax down where the TE tube goes, but the tail is sealed off from
the fuselage boom so I couldn't see how to get the coax through
without cutting holes. Of course if you're willing to cut holes, it's
easier.

If anyone figures out how to retrofit antennas in the tail without
major surgery, pass it on!

John Cochrane

On 6/5/2012 7:29 AM, Bill D wrote:
External antennas are way too
draggy.

It depends very much on the antenna; e.g., the dirty looking transponder
3" stubby rod with a ball on top has insignificant drag on an 18 meter
glider. Probably for a 15 meter glider, too, but I don't recall the
numbers. Blade style transponder antennas are even sleeker.

Com antennas are much larger than the 900-1090 MHz antennas we are
talking about, and can have significant drag, but it's a mistake to rule
out external antennas for the higher frequencies.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)