What It Looks Like

Do you see the three wires sprouting from the top of the vertical stabilizer shown in the photo? Only two antennas are shown.

The two rearward-swept wires comprise a cat's-whisker VOR/localizer navigation antenna. The single wire and spring attached to the leading edge of the fin is one end of an ADF long-wire sense antenna.

In the past, the antenna for an automatic direction finder (ADF) receiver consisted of a 15- to 20-foot-long wire sense antenna stretching from the top of the cabin near the windshield back to the tip of the vertical fin. The second ADF antenna component is the loop, attached to the belly, ideally at the midpoint of the sense antenna for best accuracy. Some classic-era aircraft and warbirds restored to original condition sport a huge circular loop antenna hanging from the belly like a giant bubble-blowing wand.

Modern ADF antennas incorporate both sense and loop antennas in one compact, low-profile antenna mounted on the belly. What the single-component ADF antenna lacks in reception range compared to a long-wire sense and loop system, it makes up in durability. That clothesline-like long-wire sense antenna stretching the length of the fuselage seems to be better suited for duty as a roost for passing birds.

Of course, ADF radios are disappearing from light-aircraft cockpits as GPS navigation takes over. ADF navigation, once a highly prized skill among pilots - especially for instrument approaches - now seems a confusing relic of the past. But even if you were incapable of figuring out what course to fly in a stiff crosswind to achieve a 30-degree intercept to the inbound bearing for an ADF approach, at least you could listen to the ballgame.