Tim; In the KR your handheld would receive and Tx better than in a spam can
because the canopy doesn't interfere with the radio waves. The silver paint
would likely cause some interference.
The ground makes the ant. work better thus building a ground plane and a
proper ant. into the plane will greatly help Tx and Rx.
The Ant. is the single most important part of a radio system. Amatuer
radio operators have a whole class of people who specia`lize in working the
whole world on three watts of power or less. They make up for the lack of
power by using very large, very efficient antennaes. Mine used to be thirty
feet in diameter and weigh 60 lbs.
Pay attention to your antennae.
VE3MZR
W.G.(Bill) KIRKLAND
wkirkl...@rogers.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Timothy Bellville" <soner...@worldnet.att.net>
To: "KR builders and pilots" <kr...@mylist.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: KR>paint
> Hi Mark,
> Well I'd be lying if I said you didn't scare the hell out of me about
using
> silver paint.( I have two Gal.)
> Do you see any problems using a handheld with it's own antenna not
grounded
> to the airframe?Would it be the same as in a Spam can? I don't plan on
using
> the Nav on it as this is a day VFR only plane(mine, not the design)
> As far as the feather fill, I too am not trying to achieve perfection but
> get close as I can within reason and feather fill is said to be great at
> sanding and filling imperfections, But I still want the UV protection from
> the smooth prime.
> Thanks again,
> Tim Bellville
> KR2 N7038V
> ---- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark Langford" <n5...@hiwaay.net>
> To: "KR builders and pilots" <kr...@mylist.net>
> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2003 9:20 AM
> Subject: Re: KR>paint
>
>
> > Tim wrote:
> >
> > > I plan on using "Nevada silver" as a base and considering a
checkerboard
> > > pattern on the nose.
> >
> > The thing about silver is that is entirely composed of metallic aluminum
> > chips. You might argue that it's very thin, and you'd be right, be so
is
> > aluminum foil, the stuff that people use to make ground planes out of.
I
> > was thinking about painting my plane the same color as my car, which has
a
> > little metallic in it. An electrical engineer buddy whose specialty is
> > antennas modeled my vertical stab and antenna in some software that
> analyzes
> > antenna patterns at specific frequencies. While the signal improved
> > slightly out front (for 123 kHz), it just about got killed completely
from
> > behind, thanks to the vertical stab and rudder behind it. That's bad
> > enough, but then it dawned on me that the other half of antenna dipole
is
> > buried INSIDE the fuselage, and beneath the aft deck, so you might as
well
> > throw that leg away entirely! That's when I went to just plain red.
> Based
> > on his analysis, and the experience of others, silver paint would
> seriously
> > degrade antenna performance, which is why I'm probably going with a very
> > light gray on top instead. My thinking is that white or light gray is
> easy
> > to see from above, and a dark color such as red is easy to see from
below.
> > If neither of those arguments hold water, then it's just because I like
> red!
> >
> > > As A side note, do you see any problem using feather fill over
> > smoothprime?
> >
> > I don't know about Feather Fill, but I sprayed an entire layer of
urethane
> > primer over Smooth Prime on my plane. Not that it proves anything, just
> > that I don't think there'll be a problem with what I did. Can't say
about
> > Feather Fill, since it's polyester based. Wouldn't you want to follow
> > Smooth Prime with the primer or sealer that's recommended for your top
> coat?
> > For example, DuPont's Ultimate 2K urethane primer is OK for use directly
> > under DuPont's urethane colors, and it has a great build and is easy to
> > sand. It's working for me. Feather Fill might be just fine, but I
don't
> > know. I guess I should let somebody that knows what they're talking
about
> > answer that one...
> >
> > Mark Langford, Huntsville, AL
> > N56ML "at" hiwaay.net
> > see KR2S project at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > see KRnet list details at http://www.krnet.org/instructions.html
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> see KRnet list details at http://www.krnet.org/instructions.html
