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GPS Ant

N395V

N395V

Well Known Member
Has anyone glassed/epoxied their antennaes flush or otherwise enclosed them.

I am tired of having them stuck to the turtle deck and glareshield but also do not want those bumps sticking up from the fuselage.

Any suggestions?
 
Mount it on a bracket, on the firewall, just under the top cowling. GPS signals pass directly through the fiberglass/epoxy just fine.
 
Fly in the Ointment?

I thought of doing this and called Garmin. They were OK with it but told me that the antenna is only tested to 180 degrees F. I do not know how hot the area next to the firewall gets. In flight probably not 180 degrees but after flight probably pretty close to that if not more. So I started asking myself if that heat would degrade the antenna over time. I don't know.

Sorry to be the potential doubt inducer here. :( Maybe someone has run tests to see how hot the area gets after shutdown on a hot day.
 
has anyone instrumented it?

gvgoff99 said:
I thought of doing this and called Garmin. They were OK with it but told me that the antenna is only tested to 180 degrees F. I do not know how hot the area next to the firewall gets. In flight probably not 180 degrees but after flight probably pretty close to that if not more. So I started asking myself if that heat would degrade the antenna over time. I don't know.

Sorry to be the potential doubt inducer here. :( Maybe someone has run tests to see how hot the area gets after shutdown on a hot day.
Click to expand...

This is a good quesiton - how hot DOES the area in front of the firewall get? If you've sealed the baffles properly, you'd think that it is cooler behind the baffles, but I really have no numerical idea. Has anyone ever put a temp probe there in flight?

My GNS 430 antenna is mounted here, and hasn't had any problems, or shown any signs of distress.

Paul
 
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Gns430

Ironflight said:
My GNS 430 is mounted here, and hasn't had any problems, or shown any signs of distress.
Click to expand...
I'm happy to hear your GNS430 antenna is mounted in front of the firewall! :)

Seriously, there is not much space between the panel and the forward baggage area on the 8, so I'm surprised you could get all that stuff in your panel!
 
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HHmmmmm....

Don't know what you're talking about Mickey.... :p :D

(One other reason this format is better than Yahoo!)

Paul
 
FlyerJumper said:
Why not in the wing tip? Seems like there's plenty of space out there.
Click to expand...

The signal on the cable to the GPS antenna is very high frequency and suffers disproportionally to long cable runs. For instance my GNS 430 install manual recommended a max run of something like eight feet.
 
wing tip mount

I've had the antenna for my GTX 250 XL mounted inside the wing tip of my RV-6 for its entire life (8 years and 700 hrs). Made a ground plain which the GPS ant is mounted to an inch or so below the fiberglass tip. Works perfect and always has.
 
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