rabbit1

hey when a receivers antenna wire is cut, will simply soldering it back together work or do you have to take apart the receiver and start fresh?

alvinl

If it's AM or FM, soldering it will work but your reception may not be as good as replacing the antennae. I had to solder one before and it lasted until I replaced the electronics. If it's a 2.4 ghz system, I don't know if you can solder it or not.

SyCo_VeNoM

If its AM or FM I'll agree with alvinl just solder it, the most that will happen is you lose a few feet(probably more like half a foot) of range. If you have any use some liquid electrical tape, or a small piece of heat shrink tube to cover the solder joint so you don't hit any metal with it by accident.

2.4ghz replace seeing the antenna is actually the little bit of silver at the tip, the wire prior to it is shielded, and will not function properly is the shielding is broken.

tommygun32

I say send the receiver back to the manufacturer or a service center.

Depending on the model, it'll cost less to do that than replace it. They're the experts, let them do it.

I tried to resolder an antennae to the mother board....ended up frying the board..[&o]

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

Very easy to do... I just replace the entire thing. Most hobby shops sell wire meant for AM or FM receivers. I have soldered them back on if they broke outside the receiver and never had a problem.

DaveG55

Soldering the wire togeather at the break will work fine and give no noticable difference in performance. As was stated, cover the joint with shrink wrap or liquid tape to protect it. If the break needs to go through an antenna tube then replacing the entire wire is the better way to go. The replacement wire is about $2-$3 and soldering to the circuit board is not hard if care is taken and the proper tools are used. I, for one, would never, ever send an rx off just to have the antenna wire replaced.

SyCo_VeNoM

agree
or go to radio shack and buy wire for $7 for 25-50 feet and never have to worry again. Just take the broken piece there and measure it up to the gauges they carry (I think it was speaker wire that was closest last I bought it)

rabbit1

yeah I have no probs soldering directly to the board if that's the best solution.. unfortunately the cut was just a few inches from the receiver and the cat that did it took the rest of the wire with him.. so I have no idea exactly how long it was.. I'll just buy some wire and take a guess at length.

thx for the answers guys..

it was the stock receiver for a vendetta st.

DaveG55

20" give or take a bit is a good length to use. You could find out exactly what freq you are transmitting on and start dividing the wavelength for that frequency by some even multiple until you get to a workable length if you want it exactly right. For example the AM band your vendetta uses, 27.xxx mhz, is in the 11 meter band (433 or so inches) and 1/20 of that is a bit over 21.5". But since the rx's we use are designed to recieve a range, or band, of frequencies getting close is usually good enough and for that reason I usually cut 20" and be done with it.

rabbit1

20" sounds good to me

friggin cats got the power leads going to the esc too.. must be something in the rubber casing they like. anymore wires get chewed around here and threy might find the next one I leave out has 220v in it lol..

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

My cat has chewed on a plugged in lamp cord for years and never been shocked for some reason... I don't understand it.

TIGER76

Depending on how much wire youve lost i personally would replace it as the length will set the distance,i would cry if it went out of range on a road and got ran over or had some other control problem and wrecked into a tree,i would rather have the peace of mind of a new unit

lol @ the cat mine doesnt do that but our old dog used to love trying to eat my rc tank in the backgarden,he snapped the barrel twice by trying to pick it up and run around with it lol

Argess

Soldering.....the joint should be much less than one ohm, and even if the antenna is matched for 50 ohms, the joint is neglible. As said above, repaired breaks don't fit through antenna tubes very easily, although for your break, that's not a problem. I'd use 22 gauge stranded wire (for strength) and replace the whole thing anyway. Do a ground check with the transmitter antenna down and make sure you still have control at around 100 feet after that.

It doesn't appear that antenna length is based on wavelength all that much, as regardless of frequency, antenna length always seems the same. I thinkk they just pick a generic length and then tune the receiver input matching circuit for best reception.

To add further confusion, .....from the Futaba website:

approximately 19 1/2" for surface (1/2 meter)
approximately 39 1/2" for Air (1 meter)

Although the length makes the antenna efficient, it's the amount of antenna standing straight up that counts the most, and the more standing up, the more strength the signal will be at the receiver. But it's not that critical. Our little cars/trucks arn't driven very far away from us. For people wanting the best, get as long an antenna tube as you can...the more receiver wire standing up, the better.

Keep your transmitter antenna upright as well to maintain vertical polarization and therefore, best range.