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Rotating Red Beacon? And if so, where?

Do you have any pictures of the VTX609R installed on the belly of your RV-10?

I'd like to get an idea of how visible this placement is on the ground during the day.

I too am interested in daytime visibility mounted on the belly (I don't think night viz would be an issue). The unused forward xponder antenna holes in the baggage compartment of my -14 look like a great place to mount one.
 
Beacon

Going on the belly...
 

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Are there screws that you can attach it or only sticky tape and Velcro?

FWIW, I loved the size and price of that beacon but the sticky tape/velcro combination didn't convince me, especially for our much higher airspeeds. So I made a small aluminum mounting plate for it and slightly modified the beacon. Now I can screw it in with #4-40 stainless screws which makes a more robust installation. Here is a link to my webpage where I show how I made the base and a short video of how bright these little suckers are.

I will mount the plate on the inside of the fuselage and screw the beacon on it. I plan to connect it in parallel to my upper fuselage beacon so both come on with one switch. Once I have it installed on my airplane, hopefully in the next few weeks, I will post photos of the finished installation.
 
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RV-10 Red Beacon

Did some night flying in a friend's RV a few weeks ago. After landing the white strobes reflecting back were very annoying on the taxi back to the hangar. Decided I wanted a red beacon for night ground ops, and shamelessly borrowed some ideas from this thread. Went with the Whelen Vertex for 35 bucks on Ebay. This is how it came out.
 

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Did some night flying in a friend's RV a few weeks ago. After landing the white strobes reflecting back were very annoying on the taxi back to the hangar. Decided I wanted a red beacon for night ground ops, and shamelessly borrowed some ideas from this thread. Went with the Whelen Vertex for 35 bucks on Ebay. This is how it came out.

I use a Whelen Vertex as well. I had one on my previous RV on the VS like you have it, but on my 10, I put it below the tail. I found that it's very bright and creates a large red circle on the ground as it strobes. Not sure if it's more or less visible than on top of the VS, but it was easier to install, so there's that.

The model is a Whelen Vertex VTX609R and was about $50 online.

It's a great visual indicator for having left the master switch on as well.
 
I’ve been following this thread with interest and perusing the interwebs in search of a good/small/bright/cheap beacon. I stumbled across the Aveo Engineering MicroMax beacon. It is designed for drones but there is no reason it can’t work on an RV.

Does this flash like a strobe, or have a slower blink on-off-on? The TDS says it cycles 50 times per minute but doesn't specify if it is strobe like.

Same question for the Whelen Vertex.
 
I posted a lousy YouTube video on page 5 of this thread. Turn down your sound as there is no useful audio but you can get an idea of what it looks like.
 
Are you getting any RF interference with this unit? I was told by a friend he got bad interference on his comm radio with one of these.

:confused:

Your friend is correct, I purchased one and bench tested it, breaks the squelch and totally wipes out my VHF receiver within 8 feet.

Strobe is very bright, just needs a bit of RFI suppression.
 
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I also got several others (you are not the only one) tell me they had the same issue with this beacon. I got a LOT of RF interference when I did my install, that is why I asked. In hindsight I should have tested it before going ahead with the installation. And I consider myself quite "savvy" when it comes to RF issues. :(
 
Yep! On the belly and will put another on the fin if my current beacon there ever dies, sitting on the shelf.

Bright, syncable, low draw, no noise, programmable patterns. No external powerpack, just 4 wires, power, ground, sync and pattern change, momentary ground to cycle modes. Do not buy copies, they do make noise. You can search MSTRB. click red, 360 degree. MSTRB-360-R $55ish

Just a 1" diam hole and thin Al backing plate to size, 2 nylocked nuts, 4-40s and washers, not the included screws for option 1 in the attachment, plenty protudes through the belly or vert stab fairing.
 

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After talking to several persons about this LED issue they all recommended the MSTRB-360-R strobe as a viable replacement to my current lower fuselage beacon. I ordered one and did some RF interference testing. Using my Icom IC-A14 radio I tested frequencies 121.175, 121.500, 122.850 and 127.625. The unit passed with flying colors. I had to turn the squelch all the way down to pick up any interference from the unit. I then turned on both radios in my airplane and placed the beacon right up where the main antenna is. My airplane is fiberglass and again, absolutely no RF interference.

You can watch a short video of the testing at: https://youtu.be/fSEQ4u6RVG4

So from an RF interference perspective this is a very good beacon/strobe option.
 
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Thanks for the (lack of RFI;) ) feedback and testing.

Why the heck is most everything else either larger than needed and/or noisier?

$50 well spent.
 
Yep! On the belly and will put another on the fin if my current beacon there ever dies, sitting on the shelf.

Bright, syncable, low draw, no noise, programmable patterns. No external powerpack, just 4 wires, power, ground, sync and pattern change, momentary ground to cycle modes. Do not buy copies, they do make noise. You can search MSTRB. click red, 360 degree. MSTRB-360-R $55ish

Just a 1" diam hole and thin Al backing plate to size, 2 nylocked nuts, 4-40s and washers, not the included screws for option 1 in the attachment, plenty protudes through the belly or vert stab fairing.

Got mine when ordering from Flyleds. Going on the vertical stab. Still working on the fiberglass.
 

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Installation Update:

I completed the installation and did three test flights. I am happy to report there were absolutely no problems with the beacon. There was no interference to any comm, navigation, GPS receiver or any electronic device to include the DYNON EFIS system in my airplane. I am quite pleased with this unit. Here is a photo of the beacon installed and lit up.

Both beacons ON.jpg
 
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DCBrown198

He listed a whelan strobe for police an fire co, they are fantastic for us in the experimental world, WAY BETTER prices than Whelan aircraft, used on my RV4 ,
and are installed on my Zenth 701 Tom
 
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