Since day 1 the FreeFlight 1101 GPS that came with my Chelton system has been sketchy, subject to frequent drop-outs.  In most cases they last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, but on a recent trip back to TX from Wisconsin, it quit about 40 min from home and didn't come back (in marginal VFR/IFR).
   I've pulled the unit and sent it to FreeFlight, who say it checks out fine, passes all their tests.  They suggested it was my antenna, which led to a peculiar conversation.  While I was on the phone with their tech support guy, he asked to to hold while he looked up the Comant antenna model number I had given him on line.  After a minute or so, he said that the Comant site showed it was a 26dB gain antenna, not adequate for the FreeFlight 1101.  He volunteered to sell me one of their antennas for $1200 bucks!!  I said no thanks.
   Later, I got on the internet myself, and discovered that Comant describe this antenna as one made for FreeFlight GPS receivers, and give the gain as 40dB!  What's going on here?
   I thought perhaps the lack of a good ground plane might be reducing the sensitivity of the antenna, so, a la Jim Weir, I added some strips of copper foil under the skin, attaching each to one of the four corner mounting screws.  I also made up a short ground lead and attached that to one screw and to my ground bus, only about 18" away.  No help.
   So, is this FreeFlight 1101 just a piece of crap, or is there maybe something I can do to get better performance out of it?  Anybody have any ideas or experience they could share?

Jim Cameron
Legacy N132X
Boerne Stage Airfield (5C1)
830.688.9562