2.1.3 Installing the Navigation Antennas

Velocity supplies the NAV antenna. They use peel-and-stick copper for the antenna. That’s a tad unusual but I guess it works!  Here’s a photo of the antenna getting placed on the underside of the left wing.

Laying out NAV Antenna (1)

The blue tape is just being used to hold the antenna in place. The factory pre-cores a channel for wiring. Here you can see the coax cable exiting that channel. Eventually the channel will also hold a 2nd coax for a communications antenna as well as wiring for obstruction lighting.

Left Wing NAV Antenna (1)

The factory supplies RG59 coax (which is only single shielded) and not of the highest quality. While it works, most Velocity builders recommend swapping out the RG59 with RG400.  It’s the same diameter cable but built to aircraft standards.  And that’s what I did here. RG59 is black - RG400 is copper colored. Other than the expense for buying the cable, swapping out the coax was relatively easy to do.


And now some photos for the NAV antenna installation on the right wing!

Right Wing NAV Antenna (1)

Even though Velocity only supplies one antenna for the left wing, I decided to make my own for the right wing. It never hurts to have two NAV antennas and it's much easier to install it now than when the wing is finished!

NAV Antenna Coax Connection (1)

I know, it doesn't look pretty but it's the only way to wire up something like this. The hole gets filled with foam and epoxy to hold everything firmly in place. I didn’t show a closeup of this for the left wing but it’s identical to what I did here on the right wing.

Coming up next is prepping the wing for fiberglass. Click here to jump to the next page.


ui© John Trautschold 2018