Comm #2 bad reception

jd21476

jd21476

Line Up and Wait
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Jan 17, 2018
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San Diego, CA
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jd21476
I have a Garmin GNC355 for Comm #1 and a Narco 850+ for Comm #2. My Narco used to work extremely well and I could pick up radio frequencies beyond 30 miles but at the same time my Comm #1 was having issues. If I keyed the mic between 120.6 and 121.7 my GPS would drop out on my GNC355. I took it to the shop to get it fixed and they said they swapped the connectors to antenna #1 and #2 and it no longer drops out. The side effect of this is that Comm #2 is basically unusable now. I cant even pick up the ATIS while sitting at the base of the tower. Sometimes I can get a faint radio signal but thats all.

I contacted the shop and they said to bring it back in but they did say they would have to charge me to check it out. I dont want my plane to be down for this time and I dont want another $500+ bill to fix the issue especially if it is something easy.

Is there a way to test the antenna or do antennas go bad?
 
SWR meter can test the antenna and coax (a ham friend may have one). Yes antennas & coax cables deteriorate like everything else. Might just be corroded connections ...
 
jd21476 said:
Is there a way to test the antenna or do antennas go bad?
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Yes. While using a wattmeter would be the ticket as mentioned there are a couple things you can look at in the meantime. Do you know at what end they swapped the antenna leads? And just to verify your 355 comm is now good and your 850 is not?
 
jd21476 said:
Correct! My 355 is excellent but my 850 barely works
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Might want to see where the shop swapped the coaxes and maybe swap them back to original. Be sure to mark the cables before disconnecting. If the original problem returns then you can rule out a connection problem. If a different problem is evident then I'd look at those coaxes.
Where are your comm antennas mounted? One on the roof and one on the belly?
 
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