Not necessarily. I have a Terra and for the first year used the standard
half wave dipole in the fin with the same sort of problems that Alan
suffers.
I then replaced it with a Bob Archer antenna in the centre fuselage. The
performance is only marginally better.
What is so frustrating is that there are occasions when I can actually
get better reception than other aircraft that I am in formation with
(this happened twice on the return trip from Croatia). However I often
have trouble making communication when the aircraft I am in formation
with has no trouble at all.
Dave Watts G-BXDY
----- Original Message ---From: Graham Singleton
IMHO this is not true. The antenna in the Europa is a half wave
dipole, (or
that's what it's supposed to be) These do not require a ground plane
and
are in fact better than the usual quarter wave whips fitted to stock
airplanes. The radiated pattern is flatter, so more signal goes in
the
intended direction instead of out into space.
There may be a problem with your antenna, not trimmed to resonate
properly
perhaps, or it could be that the rudder pushrod and other metalwork
near
the bottom end of the dipole is spoiling the SWR.
Bob Archer makes a very good antenna which fits inside the fuselage
and I
have heard good reports of its performance.
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