I ahve a 79 GCBC with an Edo Aire rt 563 NAVCOMM. The radio has worked ok but recently its getting weaker and harder to communicate with Center. Is there anyway to get better performance out of the radio I have? I have heard of people with the same problem replacing their radio and still having problems due to the poor ground lane.
1979 Citabria radio weak
- Thread starter JoeSF
- Start date
Joe,
When I bought my '75 7GCBC last summer I had a similar problem. I'm running an Icom radio and both reception and transmission were horrible. Sometimes I could be right over the airport and not hear half the transmissions. Other times I could be at 9000ft and not able to talk to FlightWatch.
Took the aircraft into the local avionics shop and found out that 1) my antenna was bad, 2) the ground plane was virtually non-existant. After replacing the antenna and having the shop wire a new ground plane I've had no further problems and the radio works great!
When I bought my '75 7GCBC last summer I had a similar problem. I'm running an Icom radio and both reception and transmission were horrible. Sometimes I could be right over the airport and not hear half the transmissions. Other times I could be at 9000ft and not able to talk to FlightWatch.
Took the aircraft into the local avionics shop and found out that 1) my antenna was bad, 2) the ground plane was virtually non-existant. After replacing the antenna and having the shop wire a new ground plane I've had no further problems and the radio works great!
Joe,
I haven't been back there to see what he did, but I think I remember him saying he did something with some aluminum tape to the fuselage????
I had the work done at Stark Avionics in Olney Texas. If you wanted, you could probably call and talk to Bob Stark. Ask him what he did to N75BF and tell him you're having a similar problem.
I haven't been back there to see what he did, but I think I remember him saying he did something with some aluminum tape to the fuselage????
I had the work done at Stark Avionics in Olney Texas. If you wanted, you could probably call and talk to Bob Stark. Ask him what he did to N75BF and tell him you're having a similar problem.
The way the ground plane was made on those 70's models was a plate of alum between stringers which was the mounting base for the antenna.
Then some had aluminum foil extending down the sides, which tended to disintegrate with time, which made the ground plane. Others used copper wire that was attached to the aluminum plate and ran down through several stringers. There were 6 wires as I recall.
The mechanic that was mentioned may have replaced the aluminum foil with some copper wires, which would have fixed the ground plane fault.
Then some had aluminum foil extending down the sides, which tended to disintegrate with time, which made the ground plane. Others used copper wire that was attached to the aluminum plate and ran down through several stringers. There were 6 wires as I recall.
The mechanic that was mentioned may have replaced the aluminum foil with some copper wires, which would have fixed the ground plane fault.
Craig,
I called the people at Stark and received some helpful information. I mentioned your name. The ground from the piece of metal the antenna is attached to depends on how good the bond is between the airframe and the plate. As it gets older and dirter, corroded etc its going to get worse. Replacing the antenna with a new one and being sure the heads of the screws contact the the metal on the base of the antenna (burnishing the holes) is recommnended. I'll see how that works.
You have an excellent radio shop there in Texas because they spent some time trying to help me and know what they are talking about.
Joe
I called the people at Stark and received some helpful information. I mentioned your name. The ground from the piece of metal the antenna is attached to depends on how good the bond is between the airframe and the plate. As it gets older and dirter, corroded etc its going to get worse. Replacing the antenna with a new one and being sure the heads of the screws contact the the metal on the base of the antenna (burnishing the holes) is recommnended. I'll see how that works.
You have an excellent radio shop there in Texas because they spent some time trying to help me and know what they are talking about.
Joe
Joe,
Glad to be of help. Bob is an excellent avionics guy and has a phenomenal amount of knowledge. Since the work he did on my plane I can now transmit and recieve to ground staations from 50+ miles at 2000 AGL. Couldn't be happier with the results.
Bob has a website too: http://www.starksaviation.com
Glad to be of help. Bob is an excellent avionics guy and has a phenomenal amount of knowledge. Since the work he did on my plane I can now transmit and recieve to ground staations from 50+ miles at 2000 AGL. Couldn't be happier with the results.
Bob has a website too: http://www.starksaviation.com
Ron86654
New member
Our radio becomes garbled and weak on a fairly regular schedule. We disconnect each connection, from the radio in the panel to the antennae, and clean them good before reconnecting. After this is done, the radio works well for a period of time before doing this again. We seem to have to do this on an annual basis.
Ron
Ron