Author Topic: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?  (Read 1850 times)

Gonch

Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« on: July 29, 2022, 12:37:03 pm »
Hi all,

Just logged into Vector to see a demo display on the Polar Diagram.  It showed the results for aircraft G-BWNC - Cessna 152 - HEX = 403bae with some pretty impressive coverage.  His results look amazing, I'm just wondering if the admin/PAW team would be able to email the owner to ask where they have positioned the aerials and if they are the remote or direct attach to the PAW etc. 

Mine is getting nowhere near that, but I'm in a PA28 - so guess the wing is blocking a good bit of signal coverage.

Would be good to get some feedback from owners that are having results like this, to help improve some others.

Thanks

Dave jones

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2022, 06:00:09 pm »
Hi In my PA28 the antenna are mounted remotely internally. I attach my polar diagram for you to compare. Obviously it depends on how many flights etc. I don’t think mine is the best result but acceptable.

steveu

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2022, 11:56:25 pm »
The internal aerials show the partial Faraday cage nature of an all metal aircraft, coverage is in line with the windows...

I'm guessing the first aircraft mentioned has external aerials on the belly of the aircraft, with the slight forward drop caused by the nose leg, or on top of the cabin, with the engine causing the slight forward drop.

Big advantage of external aerials with an all metal aircraft is the enormous ground plane you get...

Other answer is to trawl the aircraft picture sites looking for a recent one of said aircraft...

Young_C

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2022, 08:59:33 am »
Hi,
I have an RV-7 (all metal) and get good results with external antennas on the belly. See attached pics showing antenna position and associated vector plot.
Best regards,
Chris
G-RVAH

Young_C

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2022, 09:00:41 am »
See associated vector plot.

Admin

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2022, 09:04:33 am »
Hi  Chris
You have paw and adsb selected
Can you post paw only for comparison
Thx
Lee

Young_C

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2022, 09:35:57 am »
OK, here is the vector plot with PilotAware only.

exfirepro

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2022, 09:42:24 am »
Hi Gonch,

Have you had a look at the 'Fixed Installation' Section of the Forum? Although there is only an enquiry so far about a PA28 fixed installation from 2018, there is a lot of information from other users which you will find relevant.

For my part, I strongly recommend that you investigate fitting external antennas on the underside of your aircraft if you are able to do so.

Having tested many other options over the years (since 2015), I now get much better coverage using external antennas (even in my flexwing) fitted under the pod with a suitable internal ground plane, than I have had with any previous antenna option or combination. I have attached a diagram of my P3i coverage for comparison.

Be aware that the apparent bias to the left in my installation is 'probably' due to the proximity of a second identical antenna used for my PowerFlarm transceiver - mounted underneath the right hand side of the pod (the P3i one is mounted under the left side). Unfortunately there is limited space on the underside of a flexwing and I already have a transponder antenna to the rear.

My advice is always to try to separate antennas as far as practicable from each other - especially if there is a potential frequency conflict, such as between the transponder and your PAW 1090 Rx antenna and take care to avoid obvious 'blocking' from undercarriage legs etc. by siting the antennas away from such obstructions where thay will have a good view of the ground and if anything biased towards the front of the aircraft.

If you are unable to fit external antennas, reasonable results can be obtained by using internal antennas mounted at the sides of the windscreen or in the side windows, clear of the door / window frames.

Let us know how you get on.

Best Regards

Peter
« Last Edit: August 03, 2022, 09:43:58 am by exfirepro »

Keithvinning

Re: Antennas - where have you stuck yours?
« Reply #8 on: August 05, 2022, 09:33:26 pm »
As Peter said permanent installations are significantly better especially with external antennas then you get rid of that nasty obscuration that is suffered by carry-on systems that are not optimal.   

Antennas can be fitted to PA28 using CS-STAN Issue 3 which was harmonised into the CAA regulations before we left EASA due to the will of the people in December 2021 CS-STAN Issue 3 0004.

CS STAN Issue 4 is more definitive but has not yet been harmonised into the CAA regulations .............they should be?

https://www.pilotaware.com/post/easa-approves-permanent-installation-of-pilotaware-in-certified-aircraft