Antenna install

My Terra radio installation instruction says "Porper attachment of any
antenna to the aircraft surface is of primary importance. Carefull
clean all paint and corrosion off the mounting surface and apply an
anti-corrosion treatment."

Question 1, does "clean all paint" mean strip all paint to bare
aluminum?

Question 2, what type of "anti-corrosion treatment" should I use?

Thanks in advance,

Robin Hou

In article
<dc6833ca-ea15-4ae5-a23c-e0ce7f11dc42@u12g2000prd.************.com>,
"robinfly@aol.com" <rmhou@yahoo.com> wrote:

> My Terra radio installation instruction says "Porper attachment of any
> antenna to the aircraft surface is of primary importance. Carefull
> clean all paint and corrosion off the mounting surface and apply an
> anti-corrosion treatment."
>
> Question 1, does "clean all paint" mean strip all paint to bare
> aluminum?
>
> Question 2, what type of "anti-corrosion treatment" should I use?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Robin Hou

The antenna MUST have a good electrical contact with the aluminum, in
order to have a ground plane. You might get by if you strip the aluminum
at the bolt holes on the inside of the aircraft, as the ground gets
contact through those bolts.

Alodine is a good anticorrosion treatment. Be sure to make provision to
keep any water away from the antenna/airframe contact.

--
Remove _'s from email address to talk to me.

RST Engineering wrote:
> Except for the fact that the antenna ships with a thin rubber gasket to keep
> water out of the airframe (and insulates the antenna from the airframe
> mechaincally).
>
> The antenna "grounds" to the airframe mechanically through the three bolts
> holding it to the airframe. Make sure that they are cutting through to the
> metal of the antenna base/airframe. Electrically, the antenna is connecting
> to the airframe through the capacitor formed by the base of the antenna to
> the airframe with the rubber gasket as the dielectric.
>
> Jim
>
Effectively, the capacitor Jim mentions is shorted by the three/four
mounting bolts, so the mounting bolts must make a good electrical
contact with the aluminum skin on the inside of the aircraft. I like the
NoAlOx, too.

Dont forget a doubler plate. Mounting the antenna directly only to the
aircraft skin is a no-no.

On the off chance you are using just a stainless whip mounted on the
porcelin feed-thru bushing, then the coax cable shield needs to be
grounded to the aircraft skin within an inch or two from the antenna
base, and the coax center conductor connects to the whip.