PowerFLARM antenna mounts

On Wednesday, July 11, 2012 2:02:33 PM UTC-7, noel.wade wrote:
On Jul 9, 10:34*pm, "Matt Herron Jr." > wrote:
> I won't be buying powerFlarm until the antenna installation is as unobtrusive as my Transponder.

Please see the latest response from the FLARM folks. BUT, please
remember that:

1) The PowerFLARM runs at a *much* lower power level than
Transponders. That means that antenna placement and visibility is
always going to be a slightly touchier issue than with transponders.

2) The Dipole is only 3 inches long (tip to tip) and very
unobtrusive.
I again refer you to the in-flight photo of my installation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/noel_wade/7518094912/
And again, here's Tim Taylor's installation:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10893...22263754238914

So...
Is the FLARM antenna situation annoying? Yes.
Are there a few details about the PowerFLARM that I wish were
different? Yes.
Is it OK to grumble about this stuff? Sure.
Are people blowing the issues up larger than they need to be (on both
sides)? Yes.
Is the antenna situation a good reason to avoid buying it? Hell No!

I challenge anyone to find a PowerFLARM user who has installed the
system (after the initial range issues were sorted), and doesn't want
it or doesn't like using it.

--Noel

Noel, both your's and Tim's instalation looks great from an obvious reason: the antenna is installed behind the compass! But many of us don't have compass on top of the glare shield, which makes a big difference.

However I suspected that the claim that the whole dipole antenna must be above the glare shield is exaggerated, and this seem to be confirmed by the Flarm folks. I would like Flarm to clarify if in their opinion it is sufficient for collision avoidance to have the whole antenna below the glare shield.

Ramy