External Antenna for Handheld NAV/COM
 

Upgrading panel to IFR with Garmin 650 but want an emergency NAV. I was going to use a handheld Yaesu because I like the thought of a third emergency COM if the whole panel died, but the reception is marginal with the rubber ducky. Worked well in terminal area but marginal outside 15-20NM.

Looking to install external antenna (maybe Archer?) but not sure what to get since the Yaesu receives both COM/NAV/LOC/GS. My initial thought was it's an emergency I would rather have an antenna tuned for NAV but alternatively you could have one tuned for COM since NAV reception is not as sensitive.

I know very little about radio theory so I need some help. Thanks!

I put an intermediate connection in the antenna cable for the #2 radio and store it using Velcro in front of the pilot. If needed, I can retrieve the cable, disconnect from the #2 radio, and connect directly to the hand-held. That way, the hand-held has an external antenna and reception both directions is great. :cool:

Use the same wingtip VOR antenna for the hand held. The antenna tune is close enough to work for comm for this backup function. You just need a way to swap the feed - or put a stand alone second wingtip Comm or VOR antenna in the other wing.

Carl

I would tip the Archer - ground leg as high as possible, parallel radiating element as low as possible - to help with the fact that ATC com antennas are vertically polarized. Won?t hurt nav reception much.
But what I really would do is nothing. If your handheld functions within 10 miles of an airport, that?s all you need. Assuming the airport has an ILS. Or use an iPad or similar with WingX or similar, to get close.

Icom antenna switch box
 

I had one of these in all of my planes. No need for another antenna. Aircraft Spruce and other have these.

I did the same.

If you are going to use a handheld as your backup, I would recommend putting an Archer antenna in the one wingtip and mount your handheld to the panel so it is always charged and always connected. That way, you are messing around with antennas when you are already stressed from the power outage.

One other option is to add a backup battery just for one comm radios. If you do that, set it up so that the battery is always being charged and it takes a simple switch to drop ship's power and power the radio from your battery.

All that said, remember, you don't need a comm radio as when flying under IFR conditions, there are procedures for handling radio failures.

If you are VFR, you can land short and call ahead. Heck, if you have Bluetooth to your phone, you can fly low and call the tower on your cell phone.

Good luck!

the stress is lower if you have back up steam gauges.

Slight thread drift
 

[ Heck, if you have Bluetooth to your phone, you can fly low and call the tower on your cell phone.

[/quote]

Wondering how one might find tower telephone numbers for unfamiliar airfields while airborne. I had no idea this was possible. I can't even find the number for our local airport.

Cheers, David
RV-6A KBTF

[/quote]

Wondering how one might find tower telephone numbers for unfamiliar airfields while airborne. I had no idea this was possible. I can't even find the number for our local airport.

Cheers, David
RV-6A KBTF[/quote]

Any good program like iFLY will give you this information by touching the airport on the screen.

I saw this and liked the idea but what antenna would you connect it to COM or NAV? I?m asking because the Yaesu does COM/VOR/LOC/GS. Preference would be to NAV but if I can hook up to COM and have that ability without degrading NAV performance in a COM antenna that would be win-win.

Thanks! Tim

My older Yaesu (Vertex) does Com and Nav, but only has one antenna connection. It uses the one antenna for both. A transmitter is far more dependent on a good match than a receiving antenna is, so I conect mine to a Com antenna mounted on the outside of the aircraft. I can tell very little if any difference in using it vs the panel mounted King. Note that I don't do Omni Nav anymore - only GPS (iFly).

As I mentioned earlier, nav signals are horizontally polarized, com signals are vertical. Whichever antenna you choose, nav or com, the other is likely to be very compromised. I suggest go for the com, but also have a portable gps for navigation.

Ditto, you can use your existing Com antenna if you have a break you can access, remove from the panel mount radio to handheld. You could rely on rubber ducky antenna for limited range. NORDO just squawk 7600 and fly last assigned, expected filed route and higher of..... or get to VFR and land (or something like that ha ha). Personally I avoid single engine single pilot hard IFR, a little over/under-cast penetration or approach to higher mins is the IFR flying I do.

I only have 1 Com radio in the panel so carry a Sporty's handheld com. It works well out to at least 20 miles with the standard attached antenna. More important is to have the adapter for the headset plugs on the handheld so you don't have to try and hear it over the engine noise.

As far as cheap EFIS backup in case of power failure, I have an iPad mini and also carry an older one for a spare, both with FlyQ They talk to a Stratux (with backup batt) which provides traffic, weather and attitude as well as built-in maps and geo-referenced plates. All that redundancy seemed like a good deal for the price of a couple of iPads