The two comm antennas go under the cockpit, as far outboard as I could put them. This seems a bit close (way less than one wavelength) but that seems to work on everybody else's RV, so I adopted it. It's hard to place all the antennas in their optimum position when you're working with such a little airplane. So out came the manly Unibit, and with the antenna manufcaturer's bolt pattern in hand, I closed my eyes, grit my teeth, took a shot of bourbon, and drilled away! This is the left antenna.

If I change my mind about having two comm radios, this hole pattern can be used as a urine vent!

This is where it would be better if I were an English major. Or a music major. Or a history major. Anything other than an engineer. I was all paranoid about the loads that these antennas can put into the skin. Not the aero loads so much as the "head bumping loads" due to a careless owner knocking the antennas during a preflight. So I decided that they need an angle bracket to transfer some of that load to the seat rib. It would also be better if I worked at a piano factory, or a potato chip factory, or any place other than an airplane factory...if I didn't have ready access to a shear and a bending break, I'd spend less time polishing the turd and more time flying this airplane!

Six pop rivets later (there's just no room in there for a rivet gun) the bracket is installed. Now the dent will be in my head, not the belly skin. My head will heal, and any repair will be covered by my health plan!

Thanks to the miracle of match drilling, all the holes line up and the antenna slipped right into place.

The aileron pushrod hole is the only reason I was able to do this without a helper. It still required some contortion...400 mg of Ibuprofen worth of contortion...a typical RV job. The nasty jobs require a pre- and post-job bourbon.

There it is...the Comm 1 VHF quarter-wave eye-poking head-bumper!

The right-hand antenna was even easier and I won't bore you with the details. Instead, I'll bore you with the transponder antenna. I installed it near the centerline, right behind the firewall. This is to ensure that it's deiced by the exhaust (just kidding.) It went in easy, thanks to the hole in the firewall for the oil filter recess.

With a little luck, the exhaust plumes will be on either side of this little blade antenna, so it won't melt.

Now for the marker beacon "canoe." I know some people just make their own MB antenna out of a length of stripped coax, but it seemed easy enough (and cheap enough) to just buy the antenna. it does require a bunch more holes in my airframe, though. Bartender, another Jim Beam!

It is getting harder and harder to find room for all the cable and tubing runs. The tunnel is getting full, and I'm still not happy with how all that crap is secured in there. I may end up putting in a few more Adel clamps. Those plastic wire-tie anchors have a serious pneumatic problem (i.e. they suck.)

Another half-knot sacrificed to the antenna drag gods. You can tell I'm an EE at heart...my aeronautical engineer buddies would rather have lousy radio performance and get that half-knot back! Just don't get me started on the builders who install their ELT antenna inside the airframe "to save drag!"

And now for the part I'd been dreading...my first coaxial experience. While I was not a virgin, strictly speaking, my last coaxial experience was a long time ago, under the sage guidance of someone better coaxially endowed. This was my first solo. The first part, stripping the plastic jacket, was easy.

This part was tough...sawing through the shield without damaging the insulation. All the dimensions are from the connector manufacturer's data sheet. Needless to say, I measured them with a micrometer, marked them with a crayon, and cut them with a chainsaw.

This part was tougher still! I cut the instulation to expose the center conductor. I was really careful about not nicking the center conductor, since that's a failure just waiting to happen. I inspected it under a loupe and it seems OK.

Then the ferrule slips on. Interesting word, ferrule...isn't that a Romulan insult?

Then the center pin is crimped on...

...and the ferrule slides up over the exposed shield.

Now for the climactic conclusion to my first coaxial experience...the manly crimper comes out. This is one of the advantages to working at an airplane company...not only did we have the tool in the lab, but there was a technician there who could show me which dies went with which connector. This is one powerful tool...it could crimp a steel pipe!

And thus endeth my first coaxial experience.

Subsequent connectors went on easily, with no bloodshed. That's not a given...I was using an X-Acto knife to slice through the coax layers.

This is the Nav 1 cable coming out of the fuselage going to the wing.

And this is its mate coming out of the wing. Yes, I had to pay a lot of attention to get the male/female thing right!