Fitting HF antenna to a Maule (or any light aircraft)

Sam Rutherford · Joined: 10 Nov 2007 Posts: 142 Location: Europe

Has anyone tried to fit an HF antenna to a Maule? Given that an ideal minimum length is approx 40ft, the obvious design would be a wire from cabin, back to top of tail, and then out to a wingtip.

Not even considering the legalities for the moment - just interested if anyone else has tried doing this?

Safe flights, Sam.
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klaas · Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Scotland

That should work fine, but a whip antenna for a single band, or a reel antenna could work too. There is nice summary at:
http://www.avionics.com/Practical%20Avionics/No%205.htm

a64pilot · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 1486 Location: ALbany Ga., KABY

Do it all of the time, but not on a Maule. We go from the cabin to the wing to the tail. Make sure you have a spring on the end. You can buy an expensive one from Bendix king for a permanent installation or fab your own if temp.
For ferrying small airplanes, most people mount a reel on the co-pilot floor running the antenna out the bottom of the aircraft and reel it out when in flight. Put a small plastic funnel on the end of the wire, small end forward to provide the drag necessary to pull the antenna out.
Don't even consider an aircraft high freq. We buy a ground one modified for aircraft use from one of the avionics shops in Lakeland Fl. I think

maules.com · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 1015

We have fitted the HF antenna. Cabin top to top of vertical to wing tip but if you use the thick coax cable there is a major drag factor which produces too much yaw. It is best to use the unshielded fine wire if it is suited to your radio.
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a64pilot · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 1486 Location: ALbany Ga., KABY

The radio can be had from eastern avionics for about $2,500 for a 14V aircraft, $2,800 if I remember correctly for 28V. Part # I think is EA-480.
It is a Kenwood HF modified for use in aircraft. Last time I checked I think a Bendix King HF went for around $40,000.
I can't find it on their website, but I called and they still offer the radio, the website is new I was told and some things are missing from it.

It works fine with a bare wire antenna, last time I bought wire to make the antenna from, the bare copper multi-strand wire sold at Home Depot for hanging lights works great and last a long time, just be sure to electrically insulate the antenna from the airframe, phenolic works great for this.
You can have a great, fully functional HF radio for $3,000 or less.

donknee · Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 148 Location: olympia, wa

I've been working on some HF radio email solutions for a large yacht. I ran across Don Melcher in San Leandro, CA who is very knowledgeable and done aircraft HF radio installs for around the world flights. You can contact him at hfradiodotcom. Hope this helps.
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aero101 · Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Posts: 511 Location: Fairbanks, Alaska

Barrett Communications can set you up with a complete system or they also have a loop antenna where you don't have to deal with the long dipole wire routing be it on a reel or fixed to aircraft. The loop antenna is tunable and can be mounted inside fuselage out of the way. Have customer who has been around the world a couple of times with their system installed...

http://www.barrettcommunications.com.au/index.html
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Jim