anyone using premade antenna cables?

[avee8tor13]

Is anyone using premade antenna cabling for GPS, NAV/COm and if so, where would one buy these?

Thanks all

[kevinh]

Originally Posted by avee8tor13

Is anyone using premade antenna cabling for GPS, NAV/COm and if so, where would one buy these?

Thanks all

Premade would probably have problems passing through the grommets. Making them is super easy - Bob Knuckol's book has good instructions.

[L.Adamson]

I just installed a 2nd radio & audio panel. I previously had pre-made RG 58 cables, but have replaced them with RG-400U COAX cable & 400U Male BNC connectors that I got from AirCraft Spruce. This cable has a multi strand center core & is certified for aircraft installation. You'll need a crimper thats made for these. I was given some crimping instructions that are from Dan C.'s RV7 website.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Originally Posted by kevinh

Premade would probably have problems passing through the grommets. Making them is super easy - Bob Knuckol's book has good instructions.

Ditto-Bob's article (available on his website) makes this a piece of cake. I was surprised at how easy it was. FWIW, the crimper that Stein sells in his kit includes the dies needed to do RG400 coax.

Short of that, I'm sure you can give SteinAir a call and they can whip one up for you. I would think any avionics shop at your local airport would do it as well.

[avee8tor13]

I was wondering if you must use the Garmin cable to the GPS and Com antenna.

Thanks all for your responses.

[Jim P]

You shouldn't need to use teh Garmin cable. RG-400 with the appropriate conectors should work fine. Just ready the install manual so cable length is OK.

[SteinAir]

Originally Posted by avee8tor13

Is anyone using premade antenna cabling for GPS, NAV/COm and if so, where would one buy these?

Thanks all

Use RG400 for all of them. We do build up a fair amount of pre-made cables, but I don't push it very hard for good reason. If you have both ends crimped on the cable, it's sometimes hard/impossible to route the cable where you need it to go with a BNC/TNC crimped on the end. I usually encourage people to try to make them themselves. For what I'll charge you, you can buy the crimper...and the plus is you have yet another tool in the shop!

I figure if you can build and airplane you can learn how to crimp a BNC. They only cost about a buck and a half (more at other places), but either way it's not that expensive.

My 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein