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Antenna inside cowling

PeteP

PeteP

Well Known Member
I know some people have mounted thier GPS and XM antennas inside the cowl for a clean installation. I have several GPS and an XM antenna to mount and like the idea of the inside cowl mount but am worried about the long term effects from heat and also any possible signal degradation from being inside the cowl.

Anyone out tried this and have any positive or negative comments on this arrangment.
 
I've had my GPS in the engine compartment for almost 4 years and no ill effects. I mounted it just forward of the firewall on a little shelf, maybe a couple inches below the cowling so there is not any metal in the way. Never have seen a problem with reception other than when the military is degrading the signal. I also have a GPS antenna in the wingtip associated with my APRS setup, and again, no issues with reception in the fiberglass wingtip.

Don't know anything about XM.

Greg
 
x2!

Mine has been in about the same place as Greg's since 2006---absolutely no ill effects. I know many people who have their gps antenna's in the same location---can't comment on other types of antennas.

Cheers,

db
 
My GPS and XM antennae are under the cowl in the same spot on my -7A. 5 years and 600 hrs. with no issues.

Mike
 
My 430W GPS antenna is under my cowl and works fine. I originally had my backup "hockey puck" GPS (Garmin 18) up under the cowl as well. It was intermittent. I moved it to the glare shield and it works fine. I don't really know if the problem was heat related or if there was some interferrence from the 430W GPS antenna. I don't know if these antennas are purely passive devices or have some active components in them. I suspect some (or all) have a low noise preamp right at the antenna. So, there could be some interferrence coming from those devices. Of course, the hockey puck GPS has all of the components right there. So, heat could have been the problem.
 
I moved the antennas out from under the cowl in favor of the glareshield just to get them out of the way. The shelf made it a real pain to remove the cowl. No noticable difference in performance one way or the other.
 
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