Radio Antenna

[lbunner]

I have had radio problems all year. My limited troubleshooting efforts identified the PTT as the culprit however I just spent $200 on a robust PTT manufactured by Jim Steel and flew with it last Sunday at the Pulpit. My transmissions were intermittant at best. I now believe it is the antenna. I was using a dipole antenna made from coax cable with one end routed up my main and the other along the back plate to the boot. This keeps failing at the dipole junction due to the movement of the slider on the back plate. As a result I went to using the rubber duck antenna supplied with my Alinco DJ 195 radio. Who out there has a good resolution to this problem?

[Ashley Groves]

I once had a simmilar problem. It turned I had a bad connection to the antenna in side the radio itself. It was a different model, but thought I would toss the idea into the mix.

Does your radio work when hand held (standard antenna) at distances further than you can shout?

[mcelrah]

Ya, could you hear me OK on my radio Sunday? I use the little whip that came with it (VX-150). People generally say that I'm booming... - Hugh

[lbunner]

Yeah, I could hear you Hugh although perhaps overmodulated. Could you hear me at all?

[mcelrah]

Never heard back from you - was trying to tell you when the eagle got on your tail. I just use the earpiece with a little boom mike from Ham Radio Outlet. - Hugh

[John Simon]

Hi Larry,
I got this antenna and it is FAR better than the stock rubber ducky. It's 17 inches but EXTREMELY flexible... as in you could almost tie it in a knot. Feed it up into your harness with a short extension of lightweight cable. It's 2-3x better than the rubber duck that came with mine and it's cheap.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ ... /3937.html

Comet SMA 24

Take Care,

John

[Flying Lobster]

Hi Larry,
I got this antenna and it is FAR better than the stock rubber ducky. It's 17 inches but EXTREMELY flexible... as in you could almost tie it in a knot. Feed it up into your harness with a short extension of lightweight cable. It's 2-3x better than the rubber duck that came with mine and it's cheap.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ ... /3937.html

Comet SMA 24

Take Care,

John

Interesting. Do you simply run the antenna horizontally along the back of your harness-or does it "bend" going up the main? (don't think I could do that with the Matrix race).

marc

[rongleason]

Larry, not sure what antenna configuration you have/had in the harness but here is an article describing how to build an antenna that stows nicely.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.ph ... 3&start=20

Where the antenna splits in two, inner core and shielding layer, you should put a piece of shrink wrap. Attach this split to your main with a tie wrap to secure it and it will move with main along the slider.

To secure the shielding piece in your harness, crimp on an eyelet to the end of the shielding, tie a light bungee to the eyelet and find a place in your harness to secure the other end. This way the antenna slides with the slider and stays secure

Hope this helps. It worked great in my Rotor harness.

Ron

[John Simon]

it's installed in the main and is so flexible that it's not a problem at all.

John