Hi Bill, I guess Vertex spent a lot of time developing their antenna. It's probably unreasonable to expect to improve on an antenna design done by the RF expert who designed the radio.
If you feel the need to remote mount the antenna, probably the best way to do it is to get a pair of appropriate connectors from Radio Shack or wherever - what are they BNC ? - and 10 feet of 50 ohm coax, make up an extension cable, then use the Vertex antenna on the end of your extension cable. Forget ground planes and all the hocus pocus just tape the antenna somewhere back behind the seats and try that out. If it works, neaten it up, if not well total expense 10 bucks... Pete william Clapp wrote: > Just got back from a flight to a neighboring airport where 100LL is cheaper > and giving the folks a couple low passes. Am trying out my new Vertex > handheld. It works real well with my intercom and I can transmit about 60 > miles out. The only problem I have, and I had it with another handheld, is > that I cannot squelch out the static. If I use the whip antenna it silences > the static no problem. But when using the aircraft antenna, it wont silnce > with the squelch. SO I know it is an antenna problem. I made the standard > copper tape antenna but forgot to us the teroids (?) Is there a fix for > this problem? > >