jnmeade
Cleared for Takeoff
What is the tension on a wire sense antenna? Another way of asking the question is what are the rigging protocols?
TIA
TIA
Sense Antenna Tension
- Thread starter jnmeade
- Start date
bnt83
Final Approach
On a 172 or a 747?
jnmeade
Cleared for Takeoff
A light plane. 172 is a good example.
The ones I have dealt with had a spring tensioner on one end and I just set them to the middle.
wilkersk
Pattern Altitude
Yeah, pretty much this^
IIRC, the old ADF sense antennas on our Navy birds was just snug enough to engage the spring tensioner. This made sure that the darn thing wouldn't snap from all the flexing and vibration.
The only thing we ever used the sense antenna for was to catch the ball game.
bnt83
Final Approach
Whatever the maintenance manual says....
jnmeade
Cleared for Takeoff
It's an experimental. There is no manual yet.
Here is an Aircraft Spruce item.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/ssantenna2.php?clickkey=5462
Seriously, it's not very critical, you want room on both sides of the spring. Since it's new, I would set it up with about 1/4-1/2 pull with 3 threads (or enough to get the cotter pin in the hole) sticking through the turn buckle so when it stretches some, you still have plenty of room left to tighten the turn buckle if needed.
wilkersk
Pattern Altitude
I used to rag our sister ship's helo guys about their HF long-wire antenna being too loose. It really didn't engage the tensioner at all. But, they didn't have an avionics/electrical guy on their aircrew (there was only 4 of us per bird/ship). They said it worked just fine, and they'd replace it when it either broke, or came up on the next inspection cycle. As far as I know, it never broke.