PowerFLARM updates and installation notes

On May 31, 8:52*pm, Tim Taylor wrote:
On May 31, 6:21*pm, Ramy wrote:









On Thursday, May 31, 2012 4:47:46 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Thursday, May 31, 2012 5:17:17 PM UTC-4, John Cochrane wrote:

You have to admit that the huge honking dipole antenna, coax cable,
and mount, right in the middle of where you want to look on the
glareshield amounts to Chinese torture. Or at least will not make for
any cool industrial design awards.

http://powerflarm.us/wp-content/uplo...dipole_SH..jpg

I hope to heaven you guys can work out a prettier antenna and
installation.

Thanks to Dave and PowerFLARM US for the hard work at Perry and Mifflin to improve the PowerFLARM range issue. However I totally agree with John regarding the uglyness and size of the dipole antenna in the above URL. Forgive me for being reckless with my opinion but that installation sucks and is just not acceptable in the middle of one's vision field. My PowerFLARM order is "on hold" until a "no restricted vision" antenna is available. Please, please come up with something better.

I second that. As much as I am advocating for powerflarm, I did not envision having to look through something like that, nor even through 2 rubber duckies that going all the way to the canopy. I sure hope there is less intrusive solution, even if it will reduce the range a little. BTW, I flew with my MRX PCAS antenna horizontally for years from the same reason and there was no noticable reduction in range, but I understand that powerflarm is much more sensitive to antenna installation. I sure hope a clean installation which does not interfere with visibility is available. After all, a powerflarm is no good if it reduces forward visibility.

Ramy

I was involved with installing about seven units and all were much
more elegant than what you see on the web page. *Mine is installed
about 4" in front on my compass that is on top of the glare screen. I
only see the top 1.5 inches of the antenna which is very small and
narrow. * Many others put the bulk below the glare screen with only
the top 1.5 inches showing.

It would be nice to see the antenna have the cable come in from one
end rather than at the middle. Remember what you see so far were done
in a loaned hanger on a rainy day in the midst of a contest. *Evan's
is installed below and mine is very unobtrusive in flight.

In a Schleicher installation, about 50% of the dipole will be below
the glare shield. What's visible in my case may not be pretty, but I
don't find it distracting or obstructing, any more so than my yaw
string. I'll get some pics next opportunity. This really isn't a big
deal, imo. If you think it might be a big deal, please keep an open
mind until you see a good installation in a cockpit similar to what
ever you fly.

Evan Ludeman / T8