Mount external Stratus L-band antenna?

[0TreeLemur]

Our C had an Appareo transponder connected to a Stratus 2i ads-b receiver.   This was awesome, because the Stratus was connected to one of the ships' an external L-band transponder antennas. 

Our J has no such thing.  I have a Stratus 3 sitting on the glareshield and the ads-b reception (FIS-B and TIS-B) is not nearly as good.   It doesn't detect as many nearby aircraft either.  So I bought an external L-band ads-b antenna for it, which came without a mount.

How do folks mount their external antenna?

[47U]

18 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

How do folks mount their external antenna?

Which antenna did you buy… a blade-style or stick and ball.  Where do you plan to mount it?  Some considerations in AC43.13-2B,  Chapter 3.

https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC 43.13-2B.pdf

You’ll need your A&P to sign the logbook.

 

[EricJ]

Somewhere on the belly.    Separation from the transponder antenna is needed, and if you have a DME antenna down there, it'll need to be away from that as well.

I just hung two monopole antennas inside the cabin behind the B-pillars and ran RG-400 behind the panels back to the cargo pit where my stratux lives.   When I had my panel redone I had lighter jacks put at both rear seats, so the stratux is plugged into a USB socket in one of those.   The way it's oriented I can use the AHRS as a backup if needed.   That works pretty well both through the stratux app site and my EFB.

I bought a DME antenna that I was going to put on the belly with the others, but it is shielded from a lot of aircraft above.    My in-panel Freeflight Ranger ADS-B in antenna is down there, so between it and the in-cabin antennas I get pretty good coverage diversity.   It is not unusual that airplanes show up on either one and not the other.

[0TreeLemur]

Should have been more clear.  I got one of these but didn't pay that much for it.  It comes with no mount, or it got lost at my A&P's shop...

By "external" I mean not internal to the stratus, not on the outside of the airplane.  

There is an extra L-band antenna on the bottom of my bird from a since removed DME.   I'll connect to that someday when she's sufficiently disassembled.

 

[KSMooniac]

I'm using a GDL-39 3D that is velcro'd to my hat rack on the left side, with external antennas that I velcro'd to a bent sheet metal bracket that I fabricated and painted to match my interior.  I then screwed it to one of the little screws holding the window trim in place (on the aft vertical side of the window) and ran the wires behind the interior panels to the hat rack.  Both GPS and ADS-B seem to work well enough in that location.

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Should have been more clear.  I got one of these but didn't pay that much for it.  It comes with no mount, or it got lost at my A&P's shop...

By "external" I mean not internal to the stratus, not on the outside of the airplane.  

There is an extra L-band antenna on the bottom of my bird from a since removed DME.   I'll connect to that someday when she's sufficiently disassembled.

 

That's similar to the two monopole antennas I used that I described earlier.   I ran some coax behind the side panels and hung the antennas just behind the b-pillar (the bulhead just behind the passenger door).   You can see them both hanging there in the pic below.   Those work fine, and previously there were just attached to my stratux, which would work fine even if just laying in the back seat.    I added a tiny piece of tin sheetmetal and screwed it to the window sill like described above to hold the GPS antenna.   It all works very well like that.

The dark patches in the rear windows are just peelable tint for people to relocate wherever they need it during a flight.

These antennas work fine and are very similar to what I have:   https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-ADS-B-Discovery-Antenna-Bundle/dp/B01J9DH9U2