RF Ingress and some report back from the field..

[ZULU1]

A while ago I started a thread as a response to certain GPS and electronic instruments and their related feedback into radios. I have spent many hours with certain suppression "beads" loops, caps, coils and anything that I (we, Brian Eaton) and myself thought would work. The biggest culprit of ingress is the Garmin 196/296 series and some Rotax Skydats. I may add also that certain MP3 players also give a rf ingress, namely the Telefunken and certain Game products. The only real solution with these is to increase the squelch (or buy an iPod). The Apple ipods do not give ingress.

The rf comes in to the radio and is independent of the intercom, some intercoms in the field do not have rf inhibiting circuitry and will give some problems, this may be easily overcome with suitable suppression devices.

Radios have a base frequency, Icoms (except the ICA200) are the biggest problem and we focused primarily on the ICA4 as this covers the rest of the range. A Garmin 296 being the rf weapon in question.

As most readers will probably already know; the polarisation of radio waves is either horizontal or vertical..quite standard practice and schoolboy physics. Interference takes the same attitude...

So after failing miserably with suppression the only route to travel is the antenna, physically move it away from the source as far as possible. This only leaves the King Post as the furthest point. Antennas are available for this purpose, no problem they work fine..BUT they are either horizontal or vertical. The desire was to break the interference so we made the antenna out of phase completely. So we tested and made a Vee dipole, this creates other problems with capacitance and other things. The device worked after wearing out my hang point removing it so many times. So in short and nearly 30 sold..the answer may lie in our new antenna. It has also fixed Henks rf induced noise from his skydat in the GT450.

But Rf is a black art and no firm guarantee is given but to date each one has solved the problem with smiling faces. However I may add Brian has a topless wing so we are still trying other means.

Comments on the design is that its rather "Agricultural" but you need a tractor to plough fields..not a Porsche. And they do not look very pretty on the King post..

The performance exceeds the standard 1/4 wave whip antennas.

See attached pics and will keep the forum posted on further trials.

We are making new brackets for three axis aeries, these will be ready in the next two weeks, they also are not very pretty..

Jabula Zulu1

[Aerosan]

But Rf is a black art and no firm guarantee is given but to date each one has solved the problem with smiling faces.
Jabula Zulu1

you can say that again

[Dobbs]

I have just fitted the intercom system made by Paul and after the first flight today, Empangeni to Hluhluwe and back, am very happy with it.

It's a real joy having music in the back ground, which cuts out automatically when both receiving and transmitting.

Well done Paul

[Robin Hood]

Must agree here. Fitted the bunny ears and noise supressing doodad I bought from Paul. With lots of telephonic help from him I managed to get all fitted duing looong weekend. Noise suppression is impressive to say the least. I used to have a banshee-like feedback through through the headphones. Now the silence is golden. The aerial seems real good as well. Just have not had enough people in the air at Klerksdorp to do radio checks with of late but the few I managed to speak to were impressed with the clarity from my litttle Aquilla. Thanks Paul!!

[Aerosan]

Must agree here. Fitted the bunny ears and noise supressing doodad I bought from Paul. With lots of telephonic help from him I managed to get all fitted duing looong weekend. Noise suppression is impressive to say the least. I used to have a banshee-like feedback through through the headphones. Now the silence is golden. The aerial seems real good as well. Just have not had enough people in the air at Klerksdorp to do radio checks with of late but the few I managed to speak to were impressed with the clarity from my litttle Aquilla. Thanks Paul!!

see..told you so Glad you came right there Robin should you ever pick up a serious problem dont hesitate to call

cheers San

[grubsner]

I have to add my 2c here...

I installed the V antenna on my trike last weekend. Didn't get a chance to test it properly until this weekend...

The main reason for the installation was to try and get rid of the RF ingress that the GPSMAP 196 was causing. Running the GPS on external power created horrible noise on the radio! After talking to Paul and tracing the problem to the Icom A4 and antenna, Paul suggested I try the V antenna.

Not only is the noise a thing of the past, the antenna performs great during flight for comms!

We flew Petit, Kitty Hawk, RHino, Bronkies and back to FARA. About 3 nm north of Bronkiesdam, crossing the N4 I heard a trike airborne at Klipriver coming in 5/5. Thats is about 95km.

The antenna is a great product. Thanks Paul.

I fly an Aquilla II 582 with the antenna mounted on the kingpost as shown in the picture. Installation took me about 30 minutes.


Grubs

[Harlequin]

OK ----OK, where do I get hold of this thing that will take all the buzzz away. I am a carbon copy, A4--196--Aquilla 582.
My contact 082 375 9949.

Thanks

Graham

[cobra]

OK ----OK, where do I get hold of this thing that will take all the buzzz away. I am a carbon copy, A4--196--Aquilla 582.
My contact 082 375 9949.

Thanks

Graham

Yes please, any outlets in Guateng

[ZULU1]

I am building a batch of 15 this week, will contact by PM tomorrow.

Thanks for the support.

Eish Zulu1

[Sad-Ham]

What is the price of the antenna and how do I go about ordering one??