Chris Marren wrote:
Can anyone (maybe a Dutch gliderpilot) offer advice
to fitting a 175watt Becker transponder to a Ventus?
This is new to us in the UK. Type of aerial and the
best location for it? Does a carbon fibre fuselage
give problems? I'm thinking of putting the aerial in
the wheel bay.

The wheel bay is a bad location if it's a carbon fiber fuselage, and
even in a fiberglass fuselage, all the metal bits could easily interfere
with the signal in many directions.

On my ASH 26, the factory mounts it a couple of inches behind the wheel
well a few inches off center. No ground plane, as they say the carbon
fiber fuselage is adequate. Seems to work. The antenna is the common ~3"
wire rod with a little ball on top. Cheap, and it bends easily if it
hits anything. The airfoil shaped units won't bend, and might damage the
fiberglass, so I decided not to use that style. Swoopy looking, though.

The Feb and March 2002 issues of Soaring Magazine had a complete article
on transponders, antennas, and installation.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA