The initial test flight was a disappointment, by moving the antenna forward I now had some ignition noise causing the radio to break squelch. The Icom A6 has a very sensitive receiver , it picks up everything wanted or not. However after some tweaking I think this installation will be OK. First the ANL (automatic noise limiter) got turned off, with it on the ignition noise is barely noticeable. Then by increasing the squelch setting to 15 from 10 (the range is 0-24) the radio worked much better. With the lower sensitivity of the internal antenna I needed the lower squelch setting.
While not perfect this is an acceptable solution. I can now receive the ATIS at Richmond 33nm away at 1500 feet, most importantly when the airplane is pointed that way! Of course there are trade offs. There are a couple narrow blank spots where the landing gear blocks the antenna and directly aft off the tip of the rod. I would say about 4:30, 6:00 and 7:30 positions are a little weak with fantastic airborne performance from 7:30 around to 4:30 in front of the airplane. Here is a shot of the final install.
I fixed one last little item that had been bothering me last week with the oil change. These inter- cylinder baffles kept blowing out of position.
I bought these from WagAero and just assumed they were correct. It seems that the mounting hole is too far outboard and the moment created by the air load allowed these to move out of position. I removed these and relocated the mounting hole 3/4 inch inboard. So far they seem to be staying in position.
With 85 hrs on the engine the oil change was due, compressions were all mid 70's, screen and magnetic drain plug were clean and everything looks clean and tight. Ready for a summer of evening patrols.
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