ADSB aerial fault

[Rogerpenney]

My unit stopped receiving mode S and C targets, the log was saying ADSB fault. Having examined the aerial and taken the base off it I found there is a magnet inside which you don't need in an aircraft next to your compass. The lead is small coax and the centre cable had broken off the bottom of the mast where it is soldered. The outside braid was just in contact with the baseplate and not soldered on.
The cause of the problem appears to be that where the cable enters the bottom of the aerial there is nothing to prevent movement up to the soldered joint and as there will be a lot of movement with the cable it is bound to break the soldered joint. The whole thing is cheap and nasty and not made to last.
I have only used it for 20hrs and it lives in my flight bag when not flying, I have been careful with it.
I am going  to try and get it soldered back on and make the cable entry more secure and see how long it lasts but I am not holding my breath.

[Rogerpenney]

The fix is.......take base sticker off aerial which reveals a small metal disk plate with a small magnet in the middle, remove magnate if you dont need it to affix to a metal surface, remove metal baseplate, solder inner core back onto base of aerial rod, solder outer coax onto inside of metal baseplate, then put a cable tie inside on the cable so that the cable cannot pull out through the hole in the plastic base, before you refit the metal baseplate fill the whole bottom of the base with epoxy or similar which will stop all movement of the cable.
I then powered up the PAW and ADSB came back on strong and clear. If you are moving the unit about and it is not fixed in the aircraft this aerial is a weak point and the cable will not stand being moved around, it will fail just as mine did.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Antennas available for 99p from Hong Kong on e-bay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Gain-Signal-5dBi-Antenna-Aerial-Digital-Freeview-For-DVB-T-TV-HDTV-Black/112435558439