Bubblehead

Bubblehead

Well Known Member
Doug has suggested I post this. I'd like to find 5 RV owners/builders to critique a GPS/XM antenna bracket I have designed and am thinking of offering for sale. In return for spending a few minutes picking my idea apart I'll give each person their choice of a free bracket of the final design or a gift certificate to Vans, Aircraft Spruce or other business of their choice.

The bracket mounts to the firewall and holds the XM and GPS antennas used with Garmin 496, 396 and I think 296 units. With a little modification it would probably hold a lot of other GPS antenna too. It's similar to brackets others have already designed for RVs but a little different. While I had the RV-8 in mind when I designed it, the bracket would work on any RV model as well as many other homebuilts and production aircraft. Anything with a fiberglass cowl could use it.

It's a simple bracket that anyone who has built an RV could make but I think I can make the price so attractive that many will just buy one. I'm also hoping that what I learn from this one might lead to other designs of more broad appeal.

As with many products RVers offer, it's less about making money than about offering a good product for others to use.

If you're interested, please drop me an email or pm via my profile and let me know a little about yourself. I'll pick 5 and let everyone know. The five will receive some electronic images, probably by pdf or edrawings and a little background and my design critieria.

What I'm trying to do is bring a great product to the community while avoiding that awful "why didn't I think of that before" moment!

Thanks,

John
N247TD RV-8
 
John, I have a few thoughts. I firewall mounted the TSO antenna supporting the Garmin 430 in my -6A and it works just fine. Prior to installing though, I did contact Garmin because I had some concerns about the relatively high heat it would be exposed to under the cowl. Garmin assured me it would be okay and to date have had no problems.


That said, the antennas supporting the *96 series of GPS's are of a completely different design.

I would like to firewall mount those antennas in the -8 project. Before doing so, however, I'd have to know if the antennas are up to the task of being exposed to that high heat environment, especially that expensive GXM30 smart antenna. What did Garmin say about the suitability of exposing the (portable) antennas to conditions expected to be endured under the cowl?
 
Rick,

Did Garmin mention if there is a difference with the WAAS antenna vs the original 430 antenna? You do have to have a certain length of cable for the unit to function which will leave quite a "wad" (12 ft?) of cable beneath the panel.

I will also have the 430 and 496 combo and still evaluating antenna locations.

Thank,
David Lee
 
odlee said:
Rick,

Did Garmin mention if there is a difference with the WAAS antenna vs the original 430 antenna? You do have to have a certain length of cable for the unit to function which will leave quite a "wad" (12 ft?) of cable beneath the panel.

I will also have the 430 and 496 combo and still evaluating antenna locations.

Thank,
David Lee
Click to expand...
Hi Dave,

Its been a few years since I mounted that pre-WAAS GPS antenna. As I recall, I used RG58 cut to length which happened to be approximately 18" or so in overall length.
 
Good question on the heat and the antennas but many people have mounted the GA 26C and GXM30A under the cowling of various RV models. There are a lot of postings on VAF about the installations and I have not heard of any problems. If anybody has had a problem, please let me know.

I'll check with Garmin to see if they have any temerature limits on these particular antennas.

Rick6A - do you have dimensions and mounting screw size and location info on the antenna for the 430? If so, please send them to me and I'll incorporate the pattern into my mount!

Are there other GPS/XM antennas out there this design should accomodate?

One of the things I don't like about these antennas is the size of the connectors. The USB connector is not too bad but the BNC on the GPS antenna requires a big hole in the firewall. It looks like the antenna is a sealed unit, but has anyone cut the wire at the BNC, routed it to the cabin and then put a new BNC connector on? Is that difficult? The older 195 had a nice small connector on it.
 
I velcroed mine to the top of the glare shield just under the canopy on my RV6 Tip-up. Easy and neat but I'm begining to wonder if they are too close to the compass that is mounted just in fron of them on the edge of the glare shield. Anyone got experience of mounting them there and close to the compass?

Jim Sharkey
 
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