Paul , you are entering a whole new mission envelope with the Kitfox, and totally a different speed profile than your previos RV line . As a matter of fact the slogan for the Kitfox is "its not how fast , but how fun". While it is a great STOL perforner , FOR THIS CATEGORY of airplane its no slouch with the standard (not the STOL) wing airfoil and although I don't have a rotax on my Series 5 (Continental IO-240) , my plane is happy at a 120 MPH TAS cruise speed. I think you will see responses from more owners with differing powerplants that will verify that 120 MPH is pretty standard on the later model Kitfoxes. In my dream world , my Kitfox and an IFR capable RV-7 in my hangar would be the perfect fleet, but I haven't won the lottery yet. Bruce N199CL
Decent antenna's, and a solid installation is really the key. Ground plane probably has influence
but I'm not sure it's that critical IF your installation is well grounded.
I have in N85AE a Garmin, and a Bendix King KX-155 with the identical Antenna on each (RAMI) I
simply made sure they are well grounded to the airframe and I get really good range with both.
I have been able to talk to KUGN tower from 50 miles away with the KX-155, the Garmin is not
quite as good for range but has never been a problem. KX-155 is pretty old school, but is a really
fine radio
Either Radio has more range than I will ever need in N85AE at normal speeds, and in areas where
I fly (Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota)
Jeff