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Old June 6th 12, 04:47 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Eric Greenwell[_4_]
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Posts: 1,939
Default PowerFLARM updates and installation notes

On 6/5/2012 7:29 AM, Bill D wrote:
External antennas are way too
draggy.


It depends very much on the antenna; e.g., the dirty looking transponder
3" stubby rod with a ball on top has insignificant drag on an 18 meter
glider. Probably for a 15 meter glider, too, but I don't recall the
numbers. Blade style transponder antennas are even sleeker.

Com antennas are much larger than the 900-1090 MHz antennas we are
talking about, and can have significant drag, but it's a mistake to rule
out external antennas for the higher frequencies.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)