EricJ Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 (edited) 58 minutes ago, Marauder said: Nope. It went into the electronics graveyard with the rest of the misfit and dead toys. I do know that were using some sort of signal strength gizmo to look for loss along the antenna path. They tracked it down to the splitter and it was removed. The signal loss was also noticeable with the splitter removed but to a lesser extent. I ran all new RG-400 and let the shop makeup the new BNC connectors. This was the stuff I was finding when I pulled the RG-58. Thanks, I may have my KX99 to take apart in a month or so depending on what shakes out. Kinks and crimps, or even just sharp-ish bends, can be bad in coax. Otherwise age related issues are usually more around corrosion or dirt in connectors. Holes or frays in the shield don't help anything either. RG-400 is good stuff, so that kind of abrasion on the old stuff is as good a reason as any to replace it. Edited March 17, 2018 by EricJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry 5TJ Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 On 3/16/2018 at 2:24 PM, Yetti said: I think these are aircraft approved https://www.radiotwoway.com/rdd5227a-152-162-mhz-1-4-wave-stainless-antenna?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=1o5&scid=scplp15709&sc_intid=15709&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1q3VBRCFARIsAPHJXrF3n8gTLGhel8OvYDYKwHrpjjACeV3LXZJ8KZwQpWUt9paYz0_ZNhoaAu1nEALw_wcB Wrong frequency band: You need 118-136 MHz. I used one like this http://m.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/av-17.php?clickkey=9801 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShuRugal Posted March 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 Wrong frequency band: You need 118-136 MHz. I used one like thishttp://m.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/av-17.php?clickkey=9801 $120 for a god-damned dipole whip? You can literally make one out of a coat hanger that has identical electrical properties. Where do these people get off??Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry 5TJ Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 35 minutes ago, ShuRugal said: $120 for a god-damned dipole whip? You can literally make one out of a coat hanger that has identical electrical properties. Where do these people get off?? A wire coat hanger will work better than a plastic one. Cut it to about 23” in length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yetti Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 I was under the impression that ~12" was VHF quarterwave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry 5TJ Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 5 minutes ago, Yetti said: I was under the impression that ~12" was VHF quarterwave Only at latitudes where the speed of light is much reduced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry 5TJ Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 Here’s a CB who has crafted a nice wire antenna on the bottom of his plane. Note he’s increased the thickness-length ratio, no doubt for improved bandwidth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtVandelay Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 Here’s a CB who has crafted a nice wire antenna on the bottom of his plane. Note he’s increased the thickness-length ratio, no doubt for improved bandwidth. That looks aerodynamic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Jerry 5TJ said: Here’s a CB who has crafted a nice wire antenna on the bottom of his plane. Note he’s increased the thickness-length ratio, no doubt for improved bandwidth. Needs more duct tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvesg Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 3 hours ago, Yetti said: I was under the impression that ~12" was VHF quarterwave If you go with the real definition of what VHF is, the length of a quarter wave can be anything from 1/4 of a meter to 2.5 meters approx. depending of the exact frequency. This is from 8 to 80 inches in US measurement. Yves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 15 minutes ago, yvesg said: If you go with the real definition of what VHF is, the length of a quarter wave can be anything from 1/4 of a meter to 2.5 meters approx. depending of the exact frequency. This is from 8 to 80 inches in US measurement. Yves This is why many VHF antennas, like TV rabbit ears, are telescoping/collapsible so that the length can be optimized, if needed, for a particular channel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted April 11, 2018 Report Share Posted April 11, 2018 On 3/15/2018 at 7:43 PM, Marauder said: If you ever lose receive & transmit capability for the radio that the KX-99 is attached to, it is that box that is the problem. Mine failed that way. The resistance was extremely high on failure. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro Dropped my airplane off for some avionics work today and I asked about the KX99. They confirmed that it is a switch and not a transformer/splitter, and therefore fairly desirable compared to a splitter (lossy) or diplexer (expensive). When yours failed it may have been the switch not completely making contact, which would have resulted in an open circuit and therefore high resistance. I'm going to keep mine for the time being. If it ever fails then repair can be attempted or just replace it with a bulkhead fitting and connect the handheld to the antenna cable directly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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