> > > One more tidbit for anybody planning to install an iFLY 720 into their > panel...get the external antenna. Mine is mounted to the surface of the > aluminum panel and appeared to work OK at first, but that's only because > the plane had plenty of time to acquire a signal. Within minutes of > takeoff, it was simply not able to keep up with the movement and would > lose GPS lock, which rendered it essentially useless. I recently bought > the remote antenna and now it acquires quickly and maintains lock. I > flew N891JF back from Omaha with a suction cup mount on the canopy, and > that worked fine, but apparently the internal antenna is located such > that putting it in contact with a flat aluminum plate obscures it from a > view of the sky that's sufficient to work correctly.
If you buy an ADS-B unit to go with your iFly 720, you'll find that the iFly switches it's GPS position over to using the WAAS GPS position provided by the ADS-B unit rather than it's own internal GPS. It does it with both my SkyRadar weather unit in the SuperCub and SkyGuard unit in the KR. So you can put away the external antenna. > > As for Jeff Scott's ten antennas, I have antenna envy...I only have > eight that I can think of, unless you count the remote ELT display wire > and the trim servo wires...then we're even! And yes, they are all > internal. I can tell you one thing for sure...the next plane will have > 11 antennas...for something. Having flown with a loaner Stratus ADS-B > unit, some kind of ADS-B is in my future for sure, but it only requires > Bluetooth...no "external" antenna. Hmm. 1. Comm Antenna 2. Transponder Antenna 3. ELT antenna 4. PCAS receiver antenna 5. Dynon D1 GPS Receiver 6. iFly GPS receiver 7. ADS-B GPS receiver 8. ADS-B UAT out transmitter Antenna 9. 1090 mhz ADS-B (1090ES) In receiver antenna 10. 978 mhz ADS-B (UAT) In receiver antenna 11. ADS-B Wifi (ADS-B Data out) 12. iFly Wifi (ADS-B data in) And I usually carry a spare Lowrance GPS and external antenna in a bag as a backup. I was actually quite surprised the first time I started county all the antennae I had mounted in the plane. Antennae 6 through 12 all serve the GPS and data displayed on it. The PCAS unit and antenna will probably be removed once ADS-B is more widely used. -Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM
