Comm Ant. Top or Bottom?

"Wayne Paul" wrote in message
...
Mine is a bent 1/4 wave length antenna mounted on the top of the metal
tail cone. My radio is a 1 watt Filser ART 57. So far I haven't had a
problem communicating airborne aircraft or ground stations.
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP...P-14_N990d.jpg
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP...0_Borah_Mt.jpg
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP.../N990_rain.jpg

Wayne
HP-14 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/



"Stuart Fields" wrote in message
...

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
stol wrote:
On Jan 21, 10:34 am, Gig 601Xl Builder
wrote:
It's time to mount my comm antenna and I am getting mixed reviews
which
is better top or bottom. Since I doubt I'll be doing any rough field
landings that isn't an issue. I'm sort of leaning to it just doesn't
matter.

On my 801 with a Icom- 200 I mounted it on the bottom. You spend 99%
of the time flying and the radios you are transmitting to are on the
face of the earth, ie, under you, so the bottom seems logical.. Mine
works great down there. YMMV.

Mine is mounted *inside*. :-)

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/antenna.htm

Ron Wanttaja

I had a bent Com antenna on the bottom of my Baby Belle helicopter. A
survey of its characteristics, looking from the coax fitting that
connects to the Microaire, showed a minimum VSWR of 3 accross the band.
This ain't good. I lost 25% of my range with this. I bought a straight
antenna and couldn't mount it on the bottom due to clearance and Voila
VSWR accross the band was less than 2. Beware of the bent antennas.
Antenna mfr says VSWR 3 is normal.
Wayne: All my experience with antennas says that you are not getting as
much as you can due to the high VSWR. That said, if you are getting
everything that you want, why change? Those photos are great. I can
understand why you fly one of them "quiet things". Still haven't gone for a
sail plane ride but it is certainly in my "round to it" bucket.

stu