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11-11-2010, 07:05 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 1,788
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Bob Archer Nav Antenna Performance
I am starting to take a look at my avionics plan and I am trying to decide on a Nav antenna. I see a lot of builders are usint the Archer antenna and would like to get some feedback. The only real alternative is the cat wisker V dipole mounted in the lower or upper rudder fairing which does not look as nice.
Performance is obivously the most important decision factor. Does anyone have any good data on this?
Bill
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11-11-2010, 07:19 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 809
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search
Bill,
There is some good information on antenna choices here in the forums. I recently read a thread where Paul Dye describes his use of an archer type antenna, both a clone and genuine archer.
The search feature should turn up that information and more.
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...archer+antenna
__________________
Tony Johnson
RV8A "Badboy" N12TJ
Treasure Island Florida
Last edited by tonyjohnson : 11-11-2010 at 07:28 AM.
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11-11-2010, 07:24 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Waco, Texas
Posts: 1,658
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I know of a few that seem happy with it, but I can't say any of them were IFR airplanes.
I've talked to numerous IFR folks who have not been happy with the performance of the antenna and I've spoken with several more who have removed it completely and installed the whiskers after the fact.
I liked the idea at first, but I'm going the whisker route. I looked at Vic Syracuse's plane a few days ago and he's got whiskers mounted on the belly and directly below the Horizontal Stab to keep people from walking into it.
That's the route I'm headed down.
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11-11-2010, 07:37 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Missoula, MT
Posts: 714
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Me too
Ditto Phil.
__________________
Bryan Douglass
=VAF= 2020 dues paid
RV-10 N242BD
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11-11-2010, 07:42 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Bellevue, NE
Posts: 524
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I had a pair installed in my RV-10 (430W and SL30) and both worked great. For maximum success you have to follow the install instructions to the letter. Anything short of that will absolutely provide degraded performance. Intuitively I would have thought that you'd want them as far aft of the lights & strobes as you could get. I discussed this with Bob Archer via email and he said that no, you want the antenna close and reiterated the wire routing instructions. He also said to install as close as possible, but not touching the foil heat shielding for the landing light. I did this and did not see any issue at all. While normally fly with GPS, I tested VORs at 75nm on both radios and had solid reception. ILS localizer and glideslope also solid with no blanking that I could detect. Not to say you couldn't get some wierd reception problems, I never experienced that though.
With that said, Bob Archer himself will tell you that his wingtip comm antenna is not very effective in an RV because you can't get enough vertical height in the wingtip.
Bob
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11-11-2010, 07:48 AM
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Super Moderator
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Locust Grove, GA
Posts: 2,627
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Just thought I would add my comments here. I have no experience with the Bob Archer antennas. In all of the RV's I have built, I have installed external antennas almost always in the same approximate locations. The nav whiskers have always been installed on the belly just forward of the tail tie down or tail wheel, using a doubler, with the point of the V towards the nose of the aircraft. At normal cruise altitudes of 8K'-12k' I can pick up VOR's 80-90 miles away. I have always equipped my airplanes for IFR, and I want them to work when needed. Also, there are still some parts of the country where you actually do still need to receive FSS voice on the VOR to activate flight plans, etc. It's nice to hear them clearly. 
The same for the com antennas---always external, and RG-400 coax. A number of times I have heard apporach say "there are multiple aircraft talking at once, 4VC go ahead." that made it worthwhile.
I did make them removable so if I ever decide to race I can remove them.
Vic
__________________
 Vic Syracuse
Built RV-4, RV-6, 2-RV-10's, RV-7A, RV-8, Prescott Pusher, Kitfox Model II, Kitfox Speedster, Kitfox 7 Super Sport, Just Superstol, DAR, A&P/IA, EAA Tech Counselor/Flight Advisor, CFII-ASMEL/ASES
Kitplanes "Unairworthy" monthly feature
EAA Sport Aviation "Checkpoints" column
EAA Homebuilt Council Chair/member EAA BOD
Author "Pre-Buy Guide for Amateur-Built Aircraft"
www.Baselegaviation.com
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11-11-2010, 08:18 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 804
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil
I know of a few that seem happy with it, but I can't say any of them were IFR airplanes.
I've talked to numerous IFR folks who have not been happy with the performance of the antenna and I've spoken with several more who have removed it completely and installed the whiskers after the fact.
I liked the idea at first, but I'm going the whisker route. I looked at Vic Syracuse's plane a few days ago and he's got whiskers mounted on the belly and directly below the Horizontal Stab to keep people from walking into it.
That's the route I'm headed down.
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I have an Archer Nav antenna in my right wingtip, with careful attention to the instructions and wiring.
performance with an SL30 is excellent, and slightly outperforms the certified setup with dual GNS430s in the Cirrus I also fly a good bit.
I have intentionally looked for airframe shadowing with weak signals (distant VORs) and been unable to demonstrate it.
In both airplanes I tend to cruise higher than a lot of others (9-12K) and usually pick up VORs at 100+miles with enough signal for the SL30 to decode the identifier. Neither of the GN?S430s in the Cirrus does as well, but I suspect that is the antenna.
In a practical sense though, VOR navigation is like ADF was maybe 15 years ago, clearly a dying art. The only practical use for the VOR is flying ILS approaches and in that case you're so close to the navaid even a crappy antenna is OK.
If you set up an airplane for "IFR light" to avoid GPS subscriptions, you might fly an occasional VOR approach but the same thing applies.
I really wish they had killed off enroute VORs rather than LORAN
Now, with WAAS approaches, there is little practical advantage to ILS except as a backup that doesn't require expensive database updates.
I'd suggest that the Archer antenna will be more than adequate, especially if you take some care with the installation.
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James Freeman
RV-8 flying
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11-11-2010, 08:34 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 769
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my experience
I have an IFR equipped RV7A with an Archer NAV antenna tied to a 530 and SL30. I have been flying for 3.5 years with good performance from this antenna. As I upgrade my RV10 to IFR this winter, I will be using the same antenna.
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Tom Lewis
RV7a N967BT 1900 hrs.
RV10 N143EB 960 hrs.
Granbury, Tx
http://bit.ly/2bnimsZ
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11-11-2010, 11:05 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Waco, Texas
Posts: 1,658
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I wouldn't expect any blanking in the Cirrus.
The fiberglass structure of the Cirrus would we transparent from an RV perspective. The only blanking that could occur would be the engine or the metal control surfaces.
Phil
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11-11-2010, 01:00 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Winslow, UK
Posts: 18
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Another vote for Bob's antenna. I have one installed (following the instructions to the letter) in the right tip of my RV-9. I have an SL-30 and get 80NM+, much better than I was expecting.
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David
G-RVDG RV-9 (ex 9A)
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