Today's Message Index:
----------------------
1. 12:55 AM - Rudder pedal bent tubes (Ronald J. Parigoris)
2. 08:18 AM - Re: Radio reception problems (Fred Fillinger)
3. 09:03 AM - Re: Re: Radio reception problems ()
4. 09:49 AM - europa club subs unpaid (Rowland Carson)
5. 09:53 AM - RE : DV Panels (mau11)
6. 01:40 PM - Re: Re: Radio reception problems (Fred Fillinger)
7. 08:53 PM - Monopole Antenna for Troubleshooting (Fred Fillinger)
Message 1
INDEX | Back to Main INDEX |
NEXT | Skip to NEXT Message |
LIST | Reply to LIST Regarding this Message |
SENDER | Reply to SENDER Regarding this Message |
|
Subject: | Rudder pedal bent tubes |
--> Europa-List message posted by: "Ronald J. Parigoris" <rparigor@suffolk.lib.ny.us>
If you did not bond in your floors yet, I suggest you assemble rudder pedals
first, then mount the side with 2 tufnal bushings to a piece of rigid plywood
or something, and leave the side with just 1 bushing free. Now rotate pedals
in 2 bushings and make sure the free end is straight, inline and tracks true.
If not you can easily bend it to do so.
I did not check check this and bonded in my floors, with both my pedals not
tracking exact and thus setting the tufnal bushings in not ideal locations.
After a night of shimming, sanding, bending and fiddling with different
orientations of bushings, things are OK.
A 5 minute exercise to check, bend straight and make sure it tracks would have
saved a lot of hassle.
Ron Parigoris
Message 2
INDEX | Back to Main INDEX |
PREVIOUS | Skip to PREVIOUS Message |
NEXT | Skip to NEXT Message |
LIST | Reply to LIST Regarding this Message |
SENDER | Reply to SENDER Regarding this Message |
|
Subject: | Re: Radio reception problems |
--> Europa-List message posted by: "Fred Fillinger" <n3eu@comcast.net>
> --> Europa-List message posted by: "Bryan Allsop"
> Perhaps we could focus on the antenna. What design shortcoming would
> cause a weak receive in this specific frequency range. It is not
there at
> less than 120MHz, and it is not there at more than 124MHz. Indeed!
It's not design shortcomings, but installation issues. A dipole is an
actual reference antenna, as a baseline to publish specifications for
any antenna (the spec is "dBd"). Ergo, you don't need an RF test
chamber to market one. Build it, and it will work!
This then means that any issue is installation location in the
airframe, which may require experimentation in different locations.
An antenna analyzer looking at any antenna expected to receive a band
of freqs shows what's happening. Suspend the test item well out in
the open and introduce like a long metal ruler near to it in various
orientations. Some locations are harmless; others cause bad behavior
which is frequency dependent...or not. Try different lengths of
stuff, as it can be a tuned element like the antenna. The analyzer
cannot detect radiation pattern problems which don't affect its
"reactance." That's a separate test, but implies also we can compound
our troubles where reactance is affected too. A virtually complete
null in a swath of direction can be demonstrated.
The condition/quality of the receiver is then important, if it's
expected to deal with common conditions affecting input signal
strength. If they say "2.0 microvolt sensitivity," that means nothing
(besides being a bit on the high side for Icom A-200 sales literature,
where they won't say "min" or "hard"). It seems like a tiny number
for just fringe reception purposes, but the actual tested number of a
given box dominoes upward to how well automatic squelch will work on
weaker signals, and requires auto squelch be well-designed, unless
maybe it actually can pull in .5uV at "6 dB S/N."
I've had breakfast every Tuesday since 1997 with a group which
includes a retired, aircraft antenna engineer. If I were to ask Bill
why something doesn't work -- sketch it out on a napkin, here's a long
control tube, here's a strobe wire -- he will say, "Because I guess it
doesn't!"
Reg,
Fred F.
Message 3
INDEX | Back to Main INDEX |
PREVIOUS | Skip to PREVIOUS Message |
NEXT | Skip to NEXT Message |
LIST | Reply to LIST Regarding this Message |
SENDER | Reply to SENDER Regarding this Message |
|
Subject: | Re: Radio reception problems |
--> Europa-List message posted by: <peter.rees05@ntlworld.com>
So whats the answer??? Is it the Aerial, poor squlch or local interference?
-----------------------------------------
Email sent from http://www.ntlworld.com/
Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software
Visit www.ntlworld.com/security for more information
Message 4
INDEX | Back to Main INDEX |
PREVIOUS | Skip to PREVIOUS Message |
NEXT | Skip to NEXT Message |
LIST | Reply to LIST Regarding this Message |
SENDER | Reply to SENDER Regarding this Message |
|
Subject: | europa club subs unpaid |
--> Europa-List message posted by: Rowland Carson <rowil@clara.net>
I have today printed the address labels for despatch of The Europa
Flyer #45. A number of members have not yet paid their subscriptions
for 2005/2006, so their memberships were lapsed before the labels
were printed. Here's a list in alphabetical order by surname of the
folk who won't be receiving EF45 (including the factory tech talk) or
any future issues unless and until their subs are paid:
name kit
Tony Burbidge 039
Carl Busuttil-Reynaud 159
Tim Butterworth 263
Terry Clark 583
Alan Day 298
Dave DeFord A135
Klaus Dietrich 132
Scott Dingman A226
Dennis Gerow A169
Dave Glowa 522
Nigel Graham 147
Phil Hall 010
John Hanna A128
Keith Hartley 548
Paul Hawkins 354
Nigel Henry 117
Malcolm Hexley 061
Norbert Hoffmann 271
Rupert Holdsworth 527
Gerry Holland 384
Paul Johnson 499
John Lambert 475
Richard Lamprey 168
Doug Lawton A244
Roger Lloyd 006
Stef Loup 123
Bruce Ludeman A142
Miles McCallum 251
Franz Muggli 294
Chris Napier 482
Simon Nash 495
John Phillingham 256
Ben Price 373
Jim Punter 052
James Riley 579
Brian Robshaw 492
Gert Rohrer 248
Michael Scherf 257
Ursula Schliessler 105
Tom Sinclair 050
Henry Smolarek 079
Doug Steven 165
Martin Stevens 186
Tony Wakefield 042
Thomas Walt 214
Rob Waters 437
Richard Winkler A195
Peter Wood 561
Craig Wright 592
A few people who don't at present have a Europa were also lapsed; but
I guess they have transferred allegiance to another design. Some of
the people above said they would be setting up a Standing Order with
their bank for payment of subs, but nothing has yet been received
from them by our bank. If your name is on the list above, and you
wish to continue your membership of The Europa Club, please contact
the membership secretary off-list at <memsec@europaclub.org.uk> to
arrange payment. If you have a Sterling bank account, please consider
setting up a Standing Order so that the new Membership Secretary
doesn't have to chase you like this next year!
I expect that the first copies of EF45 will be sent out next week; if
you don't receive yours in a reasonable time thereafter, please
contact the membership secretary off-list at
<memsec@europaclub.org.uk>.
And to all you folk who pay on time every year - thanks for your
punctuality and apologies for taking up your time with this message.
regards
Rowland
--
| Rowland Carson (retiring) Europa Club Membership Secretary - email for info!
| Europa 435 G-ROWI (750 hours building) PFA #16532
| e-mail <memsec@europaclub.org.uk> website <www.europaclub.org.uk>
Message 5
INDEX | Back to Main INDEX |
PREVIOUS | Skip to PREVIOUS Message |
NEXT | Skip to NEXT Message |
LIST | Reply to LIST Regarding this Message |
SENDER | Reply to SENDER Regarding this Message |
|
--> Europa-List message posted by: "mau11" <mau11@free.fr>
Hello,
For the same price you have Mountain micro efis.
Very small volume (80mm diameter). He made all functions of Denon GR and others
suppliers, but in addition there is full GPS, HSI, auto pilot and much others
functions for the same price.
Have a good day
-----Message d'origine-----
De : owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] De la part de Bill and Sue
Envoy=C3=A9 : mercredi 27 juillet 2005 16:54
=C3=80 : europa-list@matronics.com
Objet : Europa-List: DV Panels
--> Europa-List message posted by: "Bill and Sue" <billandsue@billbell.co.uk>
Sue and I are approaching time to bond the windows in (which probably
means we're no where near it, but just haven't realised how much more
there is to do first!) It would seem like a good time to get some DV
panels fitted. I'm a bit nervous about attacking the perspex - anyone
got any advice on how to go about it and/or useful contacts for parts
please?
Incidentally, if you haven't already spotted it, Grand Rapids have
announced a "sport" version of their EFIS at $2795, it sounds wonderful
from their website and I reckon the prospective cost of the panel falls
at around the same rate as the firewall forward rises... I suppose there
is some compensation for building slowly.
Bill
465 -beginning to look like a plane, even to the non aviator. Just
ascending the foothills of sanding (but deep in the mountains of dust).
Message 6
INDEX | Back to Main INDEX |
PREVIOUS | Skip to PREVIOUS Message |
NEXT | Skip to NEXT Message |
LIST | Reply to LIST Regarding this Message |
SENDER | Reply to SENDER Regarding this Message |
|
Subject: | Re: Radio reception problems |
--> Europa-List message posted by: "Fred Fillinger" <n3eu@comcast.net>
> --> Europa-List message posted by: <peter.rees05@ntlworld.com>
>
> So whats the answer??? Is it the Aerial, poor squelch or local
interference?
There's something radically wrong with either the antenna, the
receiver, or both. The crudest squelch circuitry shouldn't matter if
all else is OK. If you can't hear ATC in conditions others can or you
know you should by experience, that could be a loss somewhere in your
system of -24dB. What it truly is doesn't matter, and it's one reason
why they speak in nondimensional decibels. To simulate that
same -24dB loss in another way, with a good system, requires you go
out 1500 miles from ATC at sufficient altitude. Even at 1,000 miles
for real-world path loss, something is then very radically wrong.
There's only two things to check. The 360-deg pattern by listening to
a continuous broadcast at a distance where it's weak. Check receiver
performance and coax loss by going up to 4,000, 85nm from a busy
airport. You have to be able to hear the airliners talking to
Approach. That's still 24dB to the good at 85nm assuming 25W
transmitters. Or a small airport at 85nm; you may not hear someone
putting out 2W and not know it, but the math says you have to hear
people with working 8-10W boxes and a few dB of loss in their system
pointed in your direction. In theory, they should be picking up a few
dB with a top mounted antenna.
Reg,
Fred F.
Message 7
INDEX | Back to Main INDEX |
PREVIOUS | Skip to PREVIOUS Message |
NEXT | Skip to NEXT Message |
LIST | Reply to LIST Regarding this Message |
SENDER | Reply to SENDER Regarding this Message |
|
Subject: | Monopole Antenna for Troubleshooting |
--> Europa-List message posted by: "Fred Fillinger" <n3eu@comcast.net>
I've done this many times, for freqs other than VHF comm. Real
slap-dash affairs with cardboard, wire, and duck tape. A few dB of
antenna abuse is no problem if the avionics sitting on the right seat
hot-wired to the cig lighter can still be adequately tested. Below is
a more careful effort, and it should isolate antenna vs. receiver
problems. It will be useful also to see if a 1/4-wave bent whip,
pointed up or down, will work somewhere back in the fuselage. If it
does, don't buy an actual aircraft antenna. Take foam blocks and gobs
of RTV back there and permanently install!
Go to a home improvement place or a good hdwe and buy solid copper
wire; if insulated we can remove for soldering in a few places. #6
wire works real well; #8 OK; even #10, but #6 is more wideband,
roughly doubly better. The stiffness will help keep it seated in the
right-seat pax area.
Cut 5 lengths of the stuff to 21.5 inches each. A soldering pencil on
the vertical element will show what a heat sink does, so hit the end
of that good with a blue-flame torch and then melt a blob of solder
onto it. The center conductor of RG-58 coax will go there. A blob
you can solder to, not just a coating. Check it by glomping with
pliers to see if it pops off easily. That means a cold joint.
Take 1/2" or 3/4" wood stock, and cut a 1.5"-2" block. Drill a
perpendicular hole in the center. At each corner, drill (by eye is
OK) 45-deg holes for the ground plane legs. Angled inward toward the
center hole. What we want is a ground plane of 4 equally spaced legs,
angled 45-deg downward. 5-minute epoxy the legs in the block.
Take a few feet of RG-58 terminated in a male BNC. "Pre-tin" the
center conductor and solder it to the blob of solder of the prepared
element. Feed this element into the center hole of the block and
epoxy in place. To electrically connect the ground plane legs, strip
insulation off about 12" of solid wire. Or strip common zip cord. On
the bottom of the block, scrape the base of the 4 fence posts of
copper for good electrical bond. Wind this wire tightly several times
on each leg, and continue similarly around the fence posts. This wire
is where the shield of the coax is soldered. Note, if to be
permanently installed as mentioned, these junctions must be soldered.
Blob silicone RTV to secure the center conductor, but not the solder
joint, so usage of the contraption doesn't break the connection.
Straighten all elements and adjust for about 45-deg on the ground
plane legs. At a halfway point in the vertical element, bent it back
only as needed so it fits in the airplane. It affects radiation
pattern only, probably in a beneficial way.
Incidentally, the 45-deg droop of the legs takes an antenna with a
natural impedance of 37 ohms and makes it 50, which we want. However,
it doesn't do that across the full band of interest, 118-137 MHz. So
where a ground
plane on a monopole antenna is constructed as a flat ground plane,
90-deg to the vertical element, it doesn't matter much. This is true
also of a dipole, but there's no easy fix either.
However, if #6 wire, this antenna could show "zero reactance" from
about 120-130MHz, rather preferable in testing. When the receiver
looks down the coax, it wants to see 50 ohms of any kind of resistor.
A 50-ohm resistor which won't transmit squat, but merely get hot, will
do. It has no clue as to an actual resonant antenna, or a combination
of resistances. When reactance = 0, and SWR is minimal, virtually
all electrons are sent heading for the hills.
The remaining issue is interference with the antenna. An analyzer will
report almost nothing by introducing any metal in the vicinity of the
legs in the horizontal plane. There will be metal in the central
tunnel, an you'll be sitting next to it, to unknown effect on
radiation pattern, but hopefully not as bad as an installed antenna
allegedly not working so good. You can also freely transmit on it, as
there will be more radiation received by talking on a 3W handheld, due
to distance, or on a cell phone for an hour for that matter.
So all we need is to bring the comm receiver antenna coax out to a BNC
in the cockpit. Re-route the existing antenna to cockpit. BNC/RG58
patch cables are available cheap from allelectronics.com. Buy a
female-female BNC coupler (Radio Shack in the States) to mate either
your anorexic passenger or your recalcitrant dipole to the comm, and
go test fly. Doesn't take long to build, and I'd be curious what
results come back if someone so ventures. Can even be fun!
Reg,
Fred F.
Other Matronics Email List Services
These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.
-- Please support this service by making your Contribution today! --
|