james(at)etravel.org Guest
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:07 pm Post subject: PolyFiber silver coats and their effect on radio signals |
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Gents,
I had been wondering, for some time, what to do about the PolyFiber
PolySpray coats. PolySpray is a metal-loaded paint that is used to
protect PolyFiber fabric from UV damage.
I'd wanted to put all the aerials inside my fuselage, but was
concerned that the PolySpray would attenuate radio signals to/from
COM, NAV, GPS (especially) and XPNDR. PolyFiber's own advice was to
put the aerials outside the fuselage, and to definitely use the
PolySpray coating, to ensure longevity of fabric (apparently the
PolySpray increases the fabric's life 4-fold!).
To cut a long story short, I decided to chance it -- with PolySpray
and internal aerials -- and see what happened, figuring that I could
move the aerials outside the fuselage if necessary.
Today, I did tests to see if the aerials function as I would wish, and
they did. The PolySpray coats appear to have made no difference to
the signals -- even the presumably very small GPS signal. I don't
have anything in the way of scientific instruments, just the signal
strength shown on the GPS and hand-held radio, but using the
fuselage-mounted aerials makes no discernible difference to the signal
strength compared to the equipment's own aerials. I've yet to test
the NAV / XPNDR aerials, but I assume the same will hold true for
those too.
FWIW!
James
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