Hey everyone, I'm working on building an old-school L-Per from parts. So far, I have been able to make the wood poles and I have the control box, does anyone know where I can find an antenna for it? I have looked on Ebay, but I haven't had any luck. At this point I feel like I am going to end up needing to build the antenna and switchbox myself from scratch. I have the specs from the L-Per manual, and I have pictures of the internals of my squadron's L-Per for reference, but I'm hoping to have another option before I have to build this from scratch. If anyone has an antenna for an old-school L-Per they would be willing to part with or an alternative solution, please let me know.
Since you asked for options, if you have the financial resources you could throw money at it. Here is a 121.5 tuned antenna that can be paired with the Sniffer, but would also work with the L-Per (per their website):
https://www.rdfantennas.com/products/bc-121-5-df-antenna/
^^ This.
And frankly you're better off just buying an MK4 as well.
I've looked into that; the problem is that I'm looking to get an antenna that is as close to identical as the original as I can get. I recently reached out to a company to see if they can make me one if I give them the specs. I've heard good things about the Sniffer, and I've considered buying one, but I haven't been able find any.
Quote from: Bayareaflyer 44 on December 16, 2021, 04:11:39 PMSince you asked for options, if you have the financial resources you could throw money at it. Here is a 121.5 tuned antenna that can be paired with the Sniffer, but would also work with the L-Per (per their website):
https://www.rdfantennas.com/products/bc-121-5-df-antenna/
It's a great antenna, but it is only functional in the Receive mode of the L-per, since it doesn't have the diode array of the regular L-per antenna.
Quote from: SarDragon link=topic=25737.msg439517#msg439517 date=163969OIt's a great antenna, but it is only functional in the Receive mode of the L-per, since it doesn't have the diode array of the regular L-per antenna.
So you don't get the same left-right needle steering as an Lper array.
But because it's highly directional, in receive mode you can do pretty much the same thing based on azimuth and signal strength. It's just a slightly different technique
So, status update everyone.
I ended up fabricating the mast from scrap wood I had lying around and bought the aluminum rods for the antenna as well as the diodes and little circuit parts and built it from scratch. It works well and the only issue I have found is that it is a little under sensitive. I used a wire locking clevis pin on the pivot point above the screw on the mast, so it won't fold on me. This is a little funny, but my L-Per is in better condition than any other ones I have seen in my wing. At the SAREX we had last weekend both of my squadron's direction finders were not in functioning condition as well as the practice beacon, so we ended up using my L-Per and beacon for the DF training.