Broken Antenna Question???

I broke off my ohh so expensive shark fin style transponder antenna My question, the plastic fin portion came off at the glue line, it does not appear that there is any physical damage to it??? I see a small hole desending in the fin, was there a fine wire that came from the base into the fin? of does the base emit the signal into the fin??

Is it possible to epoxy the fin back to the base with no ill effect??

Or am I calling to buy another

Thank you for your time,

Steve

Bummer, probably beyond repair

Hoss7 said:

I broke off my ohh so expensive shark fin style transponder antenna. Is it possible to epoxy the fin back to the base with no ill effect?? Or am I calling to buy another Steve

Click to expand...

You are probably buying a new one? You might be able to repair it but if you broke off the wire repair will be harder, may be even impossible. I am sure you can even replace the "radiating element" (wire) but without a picture its hard to say. (Do you have a pic.)

WHAT brand model of antenna is it? (so we all can stay away from it.)

Call the manufacture and talk to customer support. Tell them it broke, and politely imply and suggest they owe you another. They may bite and want it back to look for QC. If they don't bite get mad that might work. It can't hurt to ask for a free-bee.

I'm sure it should break easily. How did you break it? I had a fin txpdr ant on my first RV; it was stout. I whacked it several times and it didn't yield to my hard head. May be they make it intentionally weak, a structural fuse to protect the support structure? It just sounds like it should be stronger.

In a recent THREAD a question was asked; what is the difference between the FIN and ROD transponder antenna. The rod version is cheaper $20. The short answer IMHO is there's no advantage. The fin might be lower drag on a 480kt jet. Drag difference is nothing. Transmitting/receiving performance also the same.

Has anyone rolled their own shark-fin layup around el cheapo (but perfectly functional) transponder rod antenna? Min drag, max economy, but non-zero sweat equity. The OP has a perfect positive mold model to start with. Just a thought...

MEK as Glue

Hoss7 said:

I broke off my ohh so expensive shark fin style transponder antenna My question, the plastic fin portion came off at the glue line, it does not appear that there is any physical damage to it??? I see a small hole desending in the fin, was there a fine wire that came from the base into the fin? of does the base emit the signal into the fin??

Is it possible to epoxy the fin back to the base with no ill effect??

Or am I calling to buy another

Thank you for your time,

Steve

Click to expand...

I've seen two fixed recently with MEK (the King external plastic is ABS) to glue the broken pieces back together, and a mixture of West epoxy and 401 microballoons to fill the parts where the broken bits were lost....

In both cases enough of the antenna remained attached to the plane to be electrically correct. They both had wide, very thin metal plates inside the plastic. If yours broke off completely you will need to reconnect it electrically. Perhaps you could crack off one side and see where the little wire you mention goes to?

In both cases, the breakages were due to people rolling over under the fuselage and hitting it with their backs...... but they were older planes and the plastic had gotten somewhat brittle.

Neither of the above processes are recommended by the manufacturer...

gil A

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the info guys. I did break it off while moving under the fuse. in the shop. It came off clean, no damaging of the plastic on the fin or the base. I don't see any metal, only a small hole desending in the fin, maybe a size 45 or so. I'll try and post a picture or two in the next few days. I'll try and call the manufacturer and see where that goes???

Steve