I have an odd one here, and I know next to nothing when it comes to radio's. I have a top mounted antenna (grounded to the fuselage) at the standard Kitfox III antenna location.

Radio performs strong in the air and on the ground (often over a 50 mile range).

However, on the way home from a fly in yesterday a Champ was flying loose formation to my side and rear. When he was anywhere behind me, I could barely make out him and he could barely make out me. He was at my altitude or slightly lower. If he was well above me or in front things were strong as usual.

Question is, could my tail feathers or fuselage be hindering transmissions to the rear? Anyone run across this before?

Larry