Semi - NORDO in a Champ to Oshkosh - Misc questions

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
A new shielded harness was put into my 7AC before I bought
it, and I've had pretty good luck for typical CDAS and CTAF
comm. I found that handheld location was pretty important,
so I don't hold my handheld in my hand :-) I've got a PTT
setup with the handheld in a cradle mounted well forward,
high on the left tubing. I'm debating adding an external
antenna, but the only real comm difficulty I've had seems to
be on the ground in certain orientations.

Are you using an external antenna?

As I remember, the 7AC has a metal fairing between the fuselage and the wing
to join the fuselage, windshield, and wing. Please confirm.

If this is so, I will design and send you the parts for an external antenna
that you can mount by drilling a half inch hole in that metal fairing. In
essence, it is a 22" brass welding rod soldered into (and hot glue filled) a
BNC-M connector. A BNC-FF bulkhead connector is inserted into a half-inch
hole drilled into the metal fairing just aft of the leading edge of the
wing. A coax cable with BNC-M connectors on either end then connect the
bulkhead connector with the radio. Simple, cheap, and effective. VSWR
bandwidth is nothing to write home about, but it will work one hell of a lot
better than the rubber resistor.

The "ground plane" for this antenna is the metal fairing. If you want to
make a marginally better ground plane, you can make a short jumper wire
between the fairing and the metal fuselage tubing. Use a metal cable clamp
to connect to the tubing and a screw-nut-crimp connector to connect to the
fairing.

You want to take it off to make the airplane look more "stock"? Unconnect
the antenna and cover the bulkhead connector with another BNC-M connector
filled with hot glue. Paint the connector to match the metal fairing and 99
out of 99 people will never notice it. If they do, just tell them it is a
new design for communicating with aliens.

Payment for the parts? How about a beer at Friar Tuck's?

Jim

A new shielded harness was put into my 7AC before I bought
it, and I've had pretty good luck for typical CDAS and CTAF
comm. I found that handheld location was pretty important,
so I don't hold my handheld in my hand :-) I've got a PTT
setup with the handheld in a cradle mounted well forward,
high on the left tubing. I'm debating adding an external
antenna, but the only real comm difficulty I've had seems to
be on the ground in certain orientations.

"T o d d P a t t i s t" wrote

I'd appreciate any tips or links to tips. I've read the EAA
info pretty closely, and the notam is 32 pages with detailed
approach sequencing and landing procedures.

I'm sure many others will chime in with their tips, but I'll get the ball
rolling.

Studying the EAA info and NOTAMS is great. Know them like the back of your
hand, because one the traffic starts packing together, you won't have time
to be reading it.

Have a sign made, indicating if you want to go to vintage camping, or North
40, or whatever. Make it big, so it can be read by flagmen 75 or so feet
away. I think Jim Weir has them as a download on the RST website.

I like your idea of coming in with a handheld. I can't imagine coming to
OSH, NORDO. Beauty is, since a lot of people say they can hear OK, but
transmitting is weak, listening is about all you have to do!

Practice spot landings, made from all kinds of speed ranges, as if you were
told to hurry up, because there is a twin on your tail. Practice going slow
up to landing, as if someone is not turning off the runway as quick as they
are supposed to. Have someone in the plane with you, not tell you if he
wants you to put it down on the numbers, at a midpoint intersection, or a
far intersection, until you are on short final, then adjust to the
instructions. Sometimes you will be told to put it down on the numbers, and
at the last minute (or 10 seconds from touchdown), be told to land long, so
you just keep it in the air, and fly down the runway.

Practice with the downwind leg VERY close in, then with one tight
descending180 degree turn, arrive lined up, on very short final.

People that are prepared to adjust and be flexible, make OSH arrival work as
well as it does. It is fun to see, and it all works amazingly well.

Make it a game, and work on all kinds of precision flight and landings, in
all speed ranges, all with your eyes outside the cockpit, because that will
be where you will be needing to look.

Comments? Other suggestions?
--
Jim in NC

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:

No. Just the rubber ducky positioned well forward and high
with the handheld. I was intending to install an external
(may still do it) but performance has been good enough so
far that I haven't felt compelled to take that step yet.

Going with the external vs. the rubber duck should make a significant
difference in reliability. I had an external for my handheld on my old
Cessna and it performed just as well as a panel mounted radio. The
same could not be said for the rubber duck. It sometimes transmitted
well, sometimes not at all, depending on the orientation of the radio
and the receiving station.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

RST Engineering wrote:
As I remember, the 7AC has a metal fairing between the fuselage and the wing
to join the fuselage, windshield, and wing. Please confirm.

If this is so, I will design and send you the parts for an external antenna
that you can mount by drilling a half inch hole in that metal fairing. In
essence, it is a 22" brass welding rod soldered into (and hot glue filled) a
BNC-M connector. A BNC-FF bulkhead connector is inserted into a half-inch
hole drilled into the metal fairing just aft of the leading edge of the
wing. A coax cable with BNC-M connectors on either end then connect the
bulkhead connector with the radio. Simple, cheap, and effective. VSWR
bandwidth is nothing to write home about, but it will work one hell of a lot
better than the rubber resistor.

The "ground plane" for this antenna is the metal fairing. If you want to
make a marginally better ground plane, you can make a short jumper wire
between the fairing and the metal fuselage tubing. Use a metal cable clamp
to connect to the tubing and a screw-nut-crimp connector to connect to the
fairing.

Pretty much what we did, only with a different connector and attachment.
The coax and mount cost $20.
This is what I use.
You will want to rivet a doubler plate to the fairing where you attach
the antenna base. You can then screw on the antenna and cut the whip to
the frequency you desire. The coax enters the cabin at the wing leading
edge meets the top of the windscreen. This is also where the coax is
coiled and stowed when not in use.

http://www.antenna.com/lm_cat/lmrpg37.html

Motorola Style Mounts
Model KRM66
Similar to K-66 except Motorola style mount and 14 ft (4.3 m) of
RG-58/U cable and PL-259 connector.
Model KRMX66
Similar to K-66 except Motorola style mount and 17 ft (5.2 m) of RG-58/U
for ASP-7450 and ASP-7650 series. Connector available separately.
Model KREMX66
Similar to K-66 except Motorola style mount and 17 ft (5.2 m) of
PRO-FLEX PLUS low loss cable. Connector available separately.

Morgans wrote:
[snip]
I like your idea of coming in with a handheld. I can't imagine coming to
OSH, NORDO. Beauty is, since a lot of people say they can hear OK, but
transmitting is weak, listening is about all you have to do!
[snip]

This is my one pet peeve... the "pilots" flying "modern" aircraft behind
you will go nuts trying to stay behind you.
EAA simply has to come up with a separate procedure for radio equipped
aircraft which are not capable of flying 80 kts.
In level flight in my Champ, I MAY get 80 mph/68 kts at max power!
Just think about all those pilots you know who will be flying a plane
loaded as they have never loaded it (full, overgross, CG???) who would
try to slow down to stay behind the aircraft (Champ, Cub, Tcraft,
Luscombe, Ercoupe, etc).
How many do you think can make the right decision in a timely manner and
abort the approach and call "Go-Around" without a sharp tower/ground
observer intervening before they fall out of the sky?
Use the published procedure. Land, call, fly NORDO following the
instructions OSH tower gives you.

This is my one pet peeve... the "pilots" flying "modern" aircraft behind
you will go nuts trying to stay behind you.
EAA simply has to come up with a separate procedure for radio equipped
aircraft which are not capable of flying 80 kts.
In level flight in my Champ, I MAY get 80 mph/68 kts at max power!

I agree. I've been that guy, stuck behind a Champ going 80 mph, and it's,
er, interesting.

Here it is, 95 degrees, I'm flying an at-gross, under-powered Warrior, my
head's on a swivel, I'm trying to see the stupid flashing strobes on the
ground, and DANG if I'm not stuck behind a guy going 80 mph instead of 80
knots.

And here I had always assumed that they were just mis-reading the scale on
their airspeed indicator...

;-)

Luckily, nowadays, with our Pathfinder's 235 horses, slow flight behind the
power curve is much easier and safer, no matter what we're carrying -- but
it would still be nice if the Champs could use the ultralight field approach
into OSH (or one of their own)...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I've e-mailed both EAA/Airventure and SnF repeatedly on this topic, asking
for them to change to 70 and 110 knot approach lanes. The 70 knot approach
would be fine for the Champ/Cub/C-152/C-172 crowd, and the 110 knot approach
would work for everything else, short of corporate jets. This would keep
some poor guy in a Glasair/Lancair/Mooney/Commanche from getting stuck
behind an 80 mph airplane.

I have personal experience here, due to a Kitfox which completely blew the
join-up at SnF one year, and cut into the approach line well after line
crossed the power plant. This was bad for a couple of reasons - 1, it
created a spacing problem and 2, the Kitfox was so slow that the airplanes
it cut in front couldn't fly slow enough to get comfortable spacing.

KB


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:B%tme.19816$g66.16952@attbi_s71...
This is my one pet peeve... the "pilots" flying "modern" aircraft behind
you will go nuts trying to stay behind you.
EAA simply has to come up with a separate procedure for radio equipped
aircraft which are not capable of flying 80 kts.
In level flight in my Champ, I MAY get 80 mph/68 kts at max power!

I agree. I've been that guy, stuck behind a Champ going 80 mph, and it's,
er, interesting.

Here it is, 95 degrees, I'm flying an at-gross, under-powered Warrior, my
head's on a swivel, I'm trying to see the stupid flashing strobes on the
ground, and DANG if I'm not stuck behind a guy going 80 mph instead of 80
knots.

And here I had always assumed that they were just mis-reading the scale on
their airspeed indicator...

;-)

Luckily, nowadays, with our Pathfinder's 235 horses, slow flight behind
the power curve is much easier and safer, no matter what we're carrying --
but it would still be nice if the Champs could use the ultralight field
approach into OSH (or one of their own)...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

You all will wait until hell freezes over to get both EAA-OSH and SNF to
understand about very slow and very fast airplanes in the mix until you
elect a person to the board who flies these approaches every year and has
done so for the last 35 years.

Just some thoughts, y'know.

Jim



"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...
I've e-mailed both EAA/Airventure and SnF repeatedly on this topic, asking
for them to change to 70 and 110 knot approach lanes.

You all will wait until hell freezes over to get both EAA-OSH and SNF to
understand about very slow and very fast airplanes in the mix until you
elect a person to the board who flies these approaches every year and has
done so for the last 35 years.

Just some thoughts, y'know.

Nice pic in the EAA rag this month, Jim!

You know you've got at least two votes from Iowa...

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"