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GPS antenna equivalency

Greg Arehart

Well Known Member
So I'm finally getting around to installing ADS-B since we've moved to a higher traffic area. Simplest solution seems to be the echoUAT from uAvionix. My question is whether it is necessary to purchase the WAAS GPS antenna from them, or are all WAAS antennas functionally the same? I do not already have any WAAS equipment in my airplane, so definitely will require an antenna, but the pricing of antennas seems to vary quite a bit.

Thanks,
Greg
 
So I'm finally getting around to installing ADS-B since we've moved to a higher traffic area. Simplest solution seems to be the echoUAT from uAvionix. My question is whether it is necessary to purchase the WAAS GPS antenna from them, or are all WAAS antennas functionally the same? I do not already have any WAAS equipment in my airplane, so definitely will require an antenna, but the pricing of antennas seems to vary quite a bit.

Thanks,
Greg

I have the uAvionix system in my -4. Installed their WAAS GPS and was able to use the existing GPS antenna after I installed a splitter to feed both the WAAS GPS and the Garmin GPS/Com in the panel. It works great and saved mounting another antenna.

Good luck,

Dean
 
The answer is maybe. Many modern gps antennas have a built in pre-amp, requiring (1) the receiver furnish dc power up the coax, and (2) the pre-amps’ gain must be a reasonable match to the receiver.
 
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