Jul 06, 2020     Com Antennas - (12 hours)       Category: C22 Electrical

It took some research, some time running wires and some review of the plans. I know where the antennae are located!
- nav antennas: one in each rudder, with a coax cable currently hanging at the wing tip end of the wire conduit. The location is consistent with the plans. I will made a coax connection at the nav light end and run a line back to the strake. Add another join there and use the existing coax run to the planned radio location.
- com antennas: one in each wing, mid-wing and on the bottom, with a coax cable currently hanging at the _strake_ end of the wire conduit. I bought the good stuff - RG-400 - and the BNC hardward and ran the connection to the planned radio location.
- marker beacon: under the pilot, emerging from the floor just forward of the instrument panel. Marked "MB" and stubbed off
- glide slope: under the co-pilot, emerging from the floor just forward of the instrument panel. Marked "GS" and stubbed off.

I got my instrument ticket and figured out it's not much fun - I want IFR capability in case a mistake takes me into IFR conditions. GS and MB are parts of precision instrument landing systems, and largely replaced by LPV approaches (localizer performance with vertical guidance). Pretty much every IFR GPS is WAAS enabled and allows the 200' LPV minimum. That's background on why I stubbed out the GS and MB antennae - they are preserved for future use by someone else, or if and as those antenna can be matched to some new capability (10th gen wifi?).

I need a transponder antenna, and spent too long screwing around with ground planes and making my own antennae. See that separate entry.

Still to install:
- I need two and possibly 3 GPS antennae, feeding the transponder, the Dynon Skyview and one the GPS navigator. I know Dynon can accept the feed from the WAAS enabled GPS.
- if there is a reasonable way to do it, I'd like to have a good ELT antenna ground. I don't plan to use it, but the device is required, so I might as well one that works well. Note that the smart money says to do a check-the-box install on the ELT and carry both a cell phone and a personal beacon. Add in flight following and it's a heck of a lot better than an ELT.