Powerflarm transmit antenna defect

On Saturday, May 21, 2016 at 8:00:38 AM UTC-4, Dan Daly wrote:
On Friday, May 20, 2016 at 5:55:11 PM UTC-4, wrote:
snip

Answer some of the questions below and I posted lots of photos and other information to this link, please take a look and share any thoughts.

https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

1. Is the firmware the most recent (6.06)? Yes
2. Are your antennas vertical when in flight? Yes
3. Did you follow the antenna separation criteria in the manual? I read it and tried to, though there are so many variables it is hard to know what trade offs are more important than others. With so many rules it is almost impossible to obey every rule simultaneously. There are metal parts: the instruments, canopy support brackets, wires, lead weights for nose ballast, nose tow release, and other antennas, etc.
4. Is the PowerFLARM GPS antenna at least 12" from the other GPS antennas in your system? No, they are about 4inch 96mm apart atop the vario and ASI, I never would have guessed that this would be a related to a reception issue for the Flarm communications. Best I can tell both antennas seem to get along fine and get good reception, they are both for new instruments so I hope that the newer gps antennae interfere with each other less than older generations. Maybe this close placement is something I should test.
5. Are the connectors correct (RPSMA to FLARM A, SMA to ADS-B)? Yes, factory supplied
6. Are the connectors tight? Yes, finger tight, no wrench used
7. Have you swapped your antennas from a known good installation set to see if the problem is with them? No, not many other flarm equipped gliders around, and doubt others would appreciate me removing theirs.
Do your antennas work in a known good installation? No, have not thought of testing, but with few other flarm targets around except in a large contest that is hard to study.
8. Are your antennas on the glareshield or elsewhere? Yes, see pictures, temporary location on top of glareshield.
See PowerFLARM application note rf antennas on cumulus soaring website. I have referred to this but as I mentioned above it is hard to obey all the rules simultaneously so I need advice on what other things to try, other placements and other ideas.
9. When you do the RF analysis, how many flarm/flarm interactions are you seeing? Yes, see page 1
Are their installations good (i.e., do they have good RF analysis charts)? There were lots of others, i don’t know how well their installs are done, but at Perry it is a pretty good example of average or the target normal audience that I would fly with.
10. Is your glider carbon fibre, glass, metal, wood? Fiberglass, with metal bits in various places like other gliders.
11. Have you shortened your cables to the antenna or GPS? No, they are stock.
Are the antenna wires near any wires which carry large current? Near other instrument power feed lines with 12v, not sure i would call any of that “large current� in this context, but that is a relative term. Nothing draws a lot of amps like an electric motor glider might.
12. Is there any metal object forward of your FLARM A antenna (eg., compass)? Yes, see other pages
13. If you are grandfathered, have you installed a FLARM B antenna? What does Grandfathered mean? What were the results? See page 1


thanks
Chris