Dan Pritchard wrote: >>On your build site under antennas & strobes you stated "a matching length rolled up into an arrow shaft (available from Wicks)as the bottom leg." How long of a tube did you use for shield leg?<<
The whole sentence reads "The antenna is a dipole consisting of a piece of 20.3" long 1/2" wide copper tape laminated into the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer, and a matching length rolled up into an arrow shaft (available from Wicks)as the bottom leg.", so the tape is 20.3", and the tube is the shortest length possible to minimize the deviation from vertical...20.3" also. There's not other length limitation other than how much room you have before you hit the bottom of the boat, so the bottom of the bottom leg (and arrow shaft) is no longer than required to minimize the angle of the antenna. This thing works fabulously...Joe Horton and I have talked to each other from 175 miles apart on several occasions, and 200 miles once on a quiet channel. More details are at http://www.n56ml.com/antennas.html, for those interested. Mine would work even better fore and aft (which is the most important direction for checking AWOS weather ahead) if I'd put the copper foil on the front of the leading edge of the vertical stab, rather than on the side. More surface area facing forward would be a good thing, but I can't complain. And despite the dire warnings of cables hampering performance, I have rudder cables, tailwheel cables, trim tab cable, and two seat belt cables running all over the place in very close proximity to this thing, so don't let that discourage building this dirt simple cheap antenna that is zero maintenance and near-zero weight... -- Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
