John,

 

I still don't know which Lancair you are building.  Here is my experience with antennae in my 800 flight-hour pre-preg glass LNC2:

 

1. A single comm antenna is located inside the vertical stabilizer and is antenna-switched between a Garmin 430 and a Terra comm.  The Terra picks up ATIS 60-70 miles out if high enough, AWOS/ASOS 25 to 30 miles out.  The Garmin picks up air-to-tower and tower-to-air even further out, depending on altitude.

 

2. A Nav antenna is located inside the leading edge of horizontal stab.  VOR reception is adequate (I don't navigate that way much so I can't really rate it) and ILS/LOC reception is excellent.

 

3. A Glide slope antenna is located inside the outboard leading edge of stub wing (BL40 to BL50).  It provide excellent reception on an ILS approach.

 

4. The ELT antenna is a foil Z on the sidewall behind the baggage bulkhead and has tested well with a comm hookup.  An accidental activation while parked at the Sedona airport was quickly noted as the satellite was passing over head at the time.  I don't know if it will work with the 406 MHz ELT required in 2009.

 

5. A Marker Beacon foil strip is located on the centerline floor behind the baggage bulkhead.  It receives everybody's marker within 10-15 miles but also works very well on an ILS approach.  My only comment is that it is too sensitive but who's using marker beacons much anyway?

 

6. The Garmin 430 GPS antenna is mounted inside on the ceiling just behind the rollover.  It works flawlessly.  I don't know how the new GPS/WAAS antenna will work (or fit) in the same location until the GPS WAAS upgrade is installed.

 

7. The transponder antenna is a Comant high-speed mini blade attached to a 14 inch round ground plane positioned in the right wing inside bottom skin about mid-point between the outboard aileron bell crank rib and the wingtip rib.  90% of the blade sticks outside the bottom skin.  It was originally buried in the same wing bay with a ground plane on the inside of the top skin, but didn't test well because the carbon spar caps sucked up the signal.  The Terra Mode C transponder works well although there have been ATC signal losses occasionally during flight in remote areas.  I blame ATC for having old cheap radars.

 

8. The Monroy ATD 300 passive transponder reply antenna is also a Comant high speed mini blade located similarly as the transponder antenna, only in the left wing without a ground plane.  The accuracy of distance guesses by the ATD varies unless the bogey is within about a 1.5 NM range.  I don't think it has missed any traffic and it has often forced me to look out the window instead of at the comic book.  It did save me from what clearly would have been a mid-air from a craft at my 2-thirty o'clock.  It has to peek around the intervening wing mounted pitot to listen to transponder replies emanating out the other wing (see #7 above).

 

9. I have abandoned a ceiling mounted ADF antenna and a sidewall mounted LORAN antenna as we moved into this century since the related devices have been relegated to the dust bin.  I needed the panel space for more useful equipment although I haven't yet installed a cup holder.

 

10. I try to minimize flight into p-static conditions as much as possible (Hmmmm sounds like VFR?).  I do not have little metal pieces (like hinges) bonded to each other around the huge flying insulator, nor do I employ static wicks.  During the occasional p-static flights, only once did I have real static problems - in a very unusual cloud just loaded with noxious electrons, protons, neutrons, gamma-rays, p-particles, etc.

 

11. The transponder and ATD cables are RG 400 while, unfortunately, other antenna cables are with the lighter leaky RG 58U.  If the comm antenna wasn't buried in the vertical stab, I would replace that cable with RG 400.  Unless I artfully route the comm cable, a transmission results in every temperature readout going bananas, thus resulting in shock cooling warnings and other toxic indications.  Just try and relate EGTs and CHTs to your wingman...........