4 hours.
finally figured out the magic of crimping RG400 connectors on. With the standard cheapo coaxial stripper from Fry’s, the cuts aren’t exactly precisely what you need for RG400 cable, which is actually the same as RG142. For RG58, it works fine, but RG400 is a superior cable for this app. Less loss, better shielding, etc. RG58 is perfectly acceptable as antenna cable, but only the best for yours truly. It just means things are a little less straightforward. Eventually, I got the cutter tuned right (you can adjust the blades so they cut more or less deep), and figured out how to get the right length of conductor to go in the pin. I redid the transponder antenna connector because now that I think about it, I didn’t crimp the pin conductor, which is dumb. I got the TNC connector on for the 430W’s GPS antenna as well, which has been up in my grille for months. Now it’s done.
I cleaned up the wires in back and secured the sensor wire bundle, so that job’s totally done too. What I did get into was the antenna doublers for the marker beacon antenna and the comm antenna. The comm antenna is going in just forward of the main spar. Under the seat would have gotten it too close to the strobe cables, and since there’s a strobe connection nearby, I’d rather not risk it. Now we get to see if the comm radio makes the EFIS go all funny, and if that happens, I find a better solution than the RAMI bent whip antenna I currently have. It’s the only antenna in the collection that uses a soldered lug connection instead of a BNC or TNC, but it should work just fine as long as there’s not much stripped wire exposed at the connection.
What’s left is a ton of rivets to put in. I still have to rivet the AHRS bracket along the bottom skin, plus the two doublers I made for the antennas.
Then comes wiring the avionics stack itself. That’s going to be a hoot, let me tell you.