Project: Classic181   -  
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Builder Name:Kevin Knutson   -  
Project:   Hatz - Classic   -   VIEW REPORTS
Total Hours:2982
Start/Last Date:Sep 09, 2016 - No Finish Date
Engine:Lycoming O-320
 
Friendly URL: https://eaabuilderslog.org?s=Classic181

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Nov 23, 2021     Dipole Comm Antenna - (5.5 hours)       Category: Avionics
Bonded a composite (looks like carbon fiber) dipole antenna to a thin mahogany lamination. This will be installed in an aft fuselage bay just aft of the storage cabinet. Steam-bent the mahogany laminations, formed around a circular form, epoxy varnished, then bonded the wafer-thin flexible antenna to the lamination to provide support..
Turns out I didn't take any pictures of any of that. This will be the VHF Comm antenna

Ideal orientation is vertical, but space limitations required the bend to fit the aft fuselage, getting it as vertical as possible given the space available. Also radio theory (as in Theory) claims placement inside a steel-tube fuselage is the equivalent of putting it inside a Faraday cage. I don't deny that, but depending on design, fabrication and I'm sure a host of other factors a Faraday cage can be more or less effective. In Practice, (as in out here in the real world) there are several examples of this working. Is it an ideal situation? No.
However, it's probably ok. Comm radio use in an open-cockpit biplane is an exercise in compromise anyway (insert long list here) and as such is likely as not to be limited to in-the-traffic-pattern operations. Limited transmission range or odd signal blanking will likely be good enough... most of the time.
Thinking of installing a Trig Comm radio. I have one in the RV that works well. Control head fits a 2-1/4" hole in the panel and it's maybe an inch deep. The remote T/R box it connects with is maybe 2-1/2" square by about 6 inches long and can mount anywhere.


 


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