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My RV-8 Build Log
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Date: 10-13-2014
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Number of Hours: 2.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: ELT Antenna Location
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Began the task of locating the ELT antenna. Once again, on the RV8 there is no ideal location for this antenna.
For metal airplanes, it's supposed to be mounted on the outside of the aircraft, with the antenna pointing to with 35 degrees of vertical when the plane is in level flight... yeah, right.
Several folks have mounted the antenna under the empennage fairing horizontally, but I think these are the 121.5 antennas only, which are not as tall as the 406 antennas. Mine is too long for the empennage fairing location.
Several folks mount the antenna on the right side rear armrest next to the back seat bulkhead, and it's curved around the bulkhead held by clips or some arrangement. This is not really my favorite idea.
I thought I would see if I can mount the antenna between the front and rear seat. Testing fitting here means the antenna tip is about 6 " above the roll bar, I think quite the obstacle for getting in the plane as it would be all too easy to bend/break.
Another thought is to move the antenna up to the rail height, fabricating a mounting plate to hold the antenna. It actually clears the canopy in this location, and I might have used this location if I could also locate the ELT/battery unit under the floor just aft of the left side foot well of the rear seat passenger - however, that means to service the ELT, I would have to make that floor section removable, it is called out to be riveted in place. This can be done with lots of nut plates and screws, but it would be a tedious job to do so, especially since the cascading consequences mean the flap actuator bar that traverses the rear cockpit would either have to be removed, or another customization made to enable the bar to remain in place to also allow the floor to be removed.... OK, not to mention too much about the side panels and rear seat. It would be just too much work to have the ELT located under the floor.
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ELT Antenna Location?
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Crazy Idea... CLears the canopy, so it would work.
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