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Jerry Grimmonpre'
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 144
Location: Huntley, Illinois 60142
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 Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:52 am Post subject: Converting Old Cat Whisker Antenna To VOR/LOC/GS |
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Bob ...
I have an old never installed cat whisker vor antenna. The whiskers are 24"
stainless molded into what looks to be bakelite. Two stainless #4 studs
protruding and go through a 1" diameter phenolic disk with nuts, check nuts
and fiber lock nuts. The old, I mean old paper work, describes the antenna
as vor 108-117.8 Mhz dated 1/76. It describes how not to drill holes where
it says "DO NOT DRILL HOLES IN THIS AREA" (a rectangle molded into the
bakelite). Mfd by The Antenna Specialists Co.
My fondest hope is to modify the reception so as to receive vor/loc/gs ...
can this be done and how? I have an antenna splitter from Ant to G/S and
Nav. I can solder, follow directions, links and pointing if the lights are
turned up bright.
Can you help with this?
Many thanks ...
Jerry Grimmonpre
Huntley, IL
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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:25 pm Post subject: Converting Old Cat Whisker Antenna To VOR/LOC/GS |
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At 11:39 AM 2/24/2007 -0600, you wrote:
| Quote: | For 'lectric Bob
and
Reply to Old Bob ... Good Morning Mentors!
Yes ... information does get tangled at times.
This older, never installed V cat whisker antenna, is going on the belly
of my RV4. The airplane was never equipped with a VOR/LOC/GS receiver so
I am retrofitting. ACS wants within a breath of $400 for their V shaped
cat whisker NAV/LOC/GS antenna. I believe the difference in the ACS V
shaped antenna and my V shaped cat whisker lies within the balun design
and maybe a bit of electronics soldered together. The difference easily
qualifies this conversion as $time$ well spent ... saving over $300.
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| Quote: |
What I need is info from Bob N on what to do with a plain VOR/NAV V
shaped cat whisker antenna to convert it a NAV/LOC/GS receiver fed through
a AV-570 Diplexer.
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Not a thing. The 'Connection's antenna chapter describes
the v-shaped dipole antenna that has appeared hundreds
of thousands of airplanes since VOR stations started popping
up in the 1940's\
http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Antenna/VOR_Whiskers.pdf
There are many variations on the theme for these horizontally
polarized antennas. They can have a wildly variable range of
market prices as well. This version offered from Edmo
http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Antenna/VOR_Whiskers_AV-532.jpg
lists for $120 while this version . . .
http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Antenna/VOR-GS_CI-157P.jpg
lists for over $400.
The later version is touted to have a "ferrite" balun that
eliminates the need for the coaxial BALUN commonly often on
its plebeian cousins.
Bottom line is that without some pretty sophisticated
test equipment, the average user will not be able to tell
if their VOR antenna does or does not have a BALUN. At
Cessna in the 60s we were building our own antennas for
both Comm and VOR. For a time, we fabricated a coaxial
cable BALUN for the VOR antenna but abandoned the practice
when (1) pilots couldn't tell if one was installed or not
and (2) the additional labor and risks for field failures
due to the funky manufacturing process involved. All we had
back then was PVC/PolyE insulated RG58 which was exceedingly
difficult to work with as a BALUN material. RG-400/142
are much more solder-friendly.
If one wishes to fabricate their own "cat whisker" VOR/LOC
antenna using guidelines taken from the pictures, it will
work just fine with the center conductor of the coax
attached to one whisker and the shield attached to the
other whisker. Overall length of each whisker (including
pigtails) to the coax needs to be on the order of 26"
If you want to add a BALUN to your Smiley Jack's $6.95
DIY VOR/LOC antenna, it's not hard to do. Here's a page
that describes one of several processes . . . but one
that works better than the "ferrite BALUN" in the
gold plated antenna from Aircraft Spruce. This will raise
the cost of your antenna to $8.95
http://www.aeroelectric.com/PPS/Antenna/VOR-LOC_ANT_w_BALUN.pdf
This antenna (like all VOR/LOC antennas - including yours)
can be used in conjunction with the VOR/LOC/GS splitter to
provide a signal to all of your ILS receivers. You can
add a BALUN to your installation too if you wish.
Bob . . .
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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:03 pm Post subject: Converting Old Cat Whisker Antenna To VOR/LOC/GS |
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Decided that the posting and supplementary drawing was
lacking for clarity. I've crafted a comic book on
1:1 BALUN fabrication for VOR/LOC/GS antennas at . . .
http://aeroelectric.com/articles/BALUN/Balun_Fabrication.html
Bob . . .
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Jerry Grimmonpre'
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 144
Location: Huntley, Illinois 60142
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 10:11 pm Post subject: Converting Old Cat Whisker Antenna To VOR/LOC/GS |
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'lectric Bob ...
Your info is useful by inspiring the production of change. I now set out to
convert this simple $50 ebay cast-off VOR NAV antenna into something more
useful.
Many thanks for your gift of time and experience ...
Jerry
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trigo(at)mail.telepac.pt
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:59 am Post subject: Converting Old Cat Whisker Antenna To VOR/LOC/GS |
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I always like to learn something each day, but this time I'm missing this
one.
I could not find the word BALUN in my English-Portuguese dictionary.
Can anyone please explain its meaning.
Thanks
Carlos
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neal.george(at)mchsi.com
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| Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:05 am Post subject: Converting Old Cat Whisker Antenna To VOR/LOC/GS |
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Carlos -
BALUN is a combination of two words - balanced and unbalanced.
Here's a little primer on the subject...
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/8004019.pdf
Neal
RV-7 N8ZG
wiring
--
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