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  #11  
Old 11-11-2010, 02:00 PM
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dhammer dhammer is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Keller, TX
Posts: 151
Default Certified Glass vs Exp

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
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
My guess is the Cirrus, like all other certified glass aircraft I'm aware of, has a conductive mesh in the glass layup for lightning protection. If that is the case then there isn't much difference from a metal aircraft. That's why they have all their antennas on the outside.
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  #12  
Old 11-11-2010, 04:37 PM
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flyeyes flyeyes is offline
 
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dhammer View Post
My guess is the Cirrus, like all other certified glass aircraft I'm aware of, has a conductive mesh in the glass layup for lightning protection. If that is the case then there isn't much difference from a metal aircraft. That's why they have all their antennas on the outside.
Exactly right. There are "windows" in the mesh for GPS antennae, but there is mesh under most of the skin.

One annoying problem we had initially (2003 model) was shadowing of the transponder antenna. Center would complain they had lost the transponder, but a few seconds of rudder to change aspect and they could see us again.
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  #13  
Old 11-11-2010, 08:20 PM
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ScottSchmidt ScottSchmidt is offline
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Default Bob Archer

I have not been as happy with my performance of the Bob Archer antenna and have advised others to use the whiskers on the plane. I feel like I have installed and grounded the antenna per the instructions. It works great when your close to airports and VOR's but does not appear to have as much range as an external antenna.

One of these days I am going to put an external antenna on.

Just my thoughts.
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RV-10 N104XP (1280 Hours)
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  #14  
Old 11-11-2010, 08:50 PM
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Ironflight Ironflight is offline
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Location: Dayton, NV
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Default

Having done quite a bit of exploration of this topic, I think that my conclusions are best summed up this way. If I need ultimate performance in a VHF Nav antenna, I'd go with external cat whiskers. If I am only going to mostly use it for VOR/LOC, then the Archer antenna works just fine. Personally, I have enough GPS's to see me through so long as the system is working (high probability), so the Archer suffices for me. But it is not as good as the cat whiskers. Does it need to be? That depends on how you are actually going to navigate....

Paul
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  #15  
Old 11-12-2010, 06:39 AM
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Bill.Peyton Bill.Peyton is offline
 
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Location: St. Louis, MO
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It sounds to me like the Archer antenna works, but not as well as the external, which is kind of what I would suspect. I have not used a VOR for navigation since I put my first GPS in my current plane. The only reason to have a VOR reciever it is for the occasional VOR/LOC/ILS approach these days.
Scott, what is your primary complaint? VOR reception or ILS?

My plane is for a full IFR platform, but I am still leaning toward the archer antenna.

I assume Bob Archer is easy to get a hold of?

Bill
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  #16  
Old 11-12-2010, 06:58 AM
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RV6_flyer RV6_flyer is offline
 
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Location: NC25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill.Peyton View Post
It sounds to me like the Archer antenna works, but not as well as the external, which is kind of what I would suspect. I have not used a VOR for navigation since I put my first GPS in my current plane. The only reason to have a VOR reciever it is for the occasional VOR/LOC/ILS approach these days.
Scott, what is your primary complaint? VOR reception or ILS?

My plane is for a full IFR platform, but I am still leaning toward the archer antenna.

I assume Bob Archer is easy to get a hold of?

Bill
Bill:

I respectfully disagree with your summary.

The Bob Archer VOR antenna works better than the external VOR antenna. In my RV-6, I can always pick up a signal on a distance VOR before I can pickup the ID code.

Been using the Bob Archer VOR over 13-years and would not use anything else. Yes I have strobe power supply, strobe, nav, and landing light in the wing tip with wires routed as close to Bob's instructions as possible.

I purchased my Bob Archer VOR antenne directly from Bob and picked them up at his house.
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  #17  
Old 11-12-2010, 07:01 AM
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Bill.Peyton Bill.Peyton is offline
 
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I was just commenting on the results of the replies, but I did do a search on the performance and came up with great reviews. I plan to use the Archer, and if I am not happy I can always change my mind.

What I would really like is a MB antenna to fit in the lower rudder cowl

Bill
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  #18  
Old 11-12-2010, 07:03 AM
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Sam Buchanan Sam Buchanan is online now
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Location: North Alabama
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill.Peyton View Post
I was just commenting on the results of the replies, but I did do a search on the performance and came up with great reviews. I plan to use the Archer, and if I am not happy I can always change my mind.

What I would really like is a MB antenna to fit in the lower rudder cowl

Bill
Put the marker beacon antenna in the engine cowl.
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  #19  
Old 11-12-2010, 12:50 PM
bcondrey bcondrey is offline
 
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Location: Bellevue, NE
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If you're looking to also include an MB antenna in combination with his wingtip VOR/ILS antenna, Bob Archer suggests either the copper foil (or just stripped coax) on the lower surface of the wingtip parallel to the edge of the wing. Don't recall the exact distance away re recommended. The VOR/ILS antenna would then be installed in the top of the wingtip. He said that doing this would result in slightly degraded performance. I had 2 of his VOR/ILS antennas and an MB also in one side. I had great reception with both (SL30 and 430W) and in actual flight I could never tell any difference in range.

Bob
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  #20  
Old 11-12-2010, 02:32 PM
N999BT N999BT is offline
 
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Posts: 212
Default Archer and MB

I have both a comm and nav Archer antenna. The NAV works great, the COMM not so much. I also have a stripped coax in the same tip with the NAV antenna, and that works great as well. I fly IFR and am very comfortable with NAV the antenna performance.
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