What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Archer nav. antenna type location

I am starting on the electrical on my RV-14A . I am using a Garmin auto pilot and heated pitot tube. Is there a particular antenna Archer model and wing tip, left or right that is recommended. How about any known gotchas?

thank you. Jim
 
Nav or Com? Coms are touchy because of vertical polarity. I actually haven't been able to have mine work properly. Still working on it.
 
I put an Archer VOR antenna in my right wingtip. After I sorted out a problem with a broken wire, it seems to work well, receiving VORs over 60 miles. I did mount mine a bit aft to avoid the lighting wiring, which may turn out to have been a mistake because, as I have since learned, the lighting wiring becomes part of the antenna and would be best mounted on top of the antenna in the provided wiring guides. Antenna design is mostly black magic. Follow the installation instructions explicitly and you should not have a problem. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Archer sells 4 similar looking models: nav for left and right tips, and left and right com. The only differences are: (1) the left is a mirror image of the right. If you put a ‘left’ in the right wing tip, the connections will be upside down, but this isn’t too hard to deal with. (2) The com is tuned to slightly higher frequencies. As an above post mentioned, the nav should be installed flat (no problem) but it’s important to get the leading edge of the com antenna as vertical as possible, e.g., a sloped diagonally top to bottom.
Edit: if you move the antenna aft to avoid light wiring it works fine. For the com antenna you want to move it back so the leading edge is where the tip is thickest-to get max vertical throw.
Edit 2: I have seen a few crazy installations wrt grounding the ground leg. It must be electrically connected to the end rib, without excessive wire. Either mount it to the end rib with an angle (all metal!) or per directions under the tip attach screws, with a metal path (remove paint as needed) to the end rib.
 
Last edited:
My right wingtip archer nav antenna works great. I have a hinged installation for the wingtip so the grounded edge of the antenna is incorporated in the hinge line. If you install with screws I’d incorporate the grounded part in the screws line giving a good bond to the wing. It should still work well without this but best ground gives best performance. There is no ground loop induced when bonding antenna ground to the aluminum structure but be careful to ground the lights at the fuse and not out on the wing.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top