quarterhrses

Lets see what kind of a response this gets. I have been building and flying for years and always come to a standstill for a few minutes on where to put the reciever antenna. On scale planes i try and hide them as much as possible for the realism effect. I just got done putting together the 40 size ultra stick and pondered for an hour or more as to where to put the dang thing. Finally i drilled a hole in the bottom of the plane right behind the landing gear an ran it out there and attached it to the rudder gear. So with all that said i am just curious as to where everone else puts there antenna. Pics would be cool to if you have them.

Be good.
Dan

magnum

On my sticks I have drilled a hole in the top of the fuse, just behind the wing TE. Then ran the antenna through up to the rudder, slipped a rubberband around the antenna and wedged it into the rudder. Works good.

I have never run an antenna on the bottom of the plane. Should you have a rough landing and knock your landing gear off, you can scrape your antenna on the ground and nick or cut it. I fly off of asphalt, if you fly off of grass may not be a problem.

Just my .02.....

quarterhrses

howdy magnum. And yes i do fly off of grass. Believe this if you may as to i would never lie to you. I have been flying for 6 plus years and have only sheared the gear off once that i can remember. Mostly i attribute that to lots of LUCK I have run the antenna to the top of the rudder to but just didn't feel comfortable with the way it looked. But i agree with you on the whole asphalt thing. I bet that would ruin your whole day to not only shear the gear off but then have no antenna left either

Good to hear from you
Dan

magnum

No, I belive you. I have only sheared my landing gear off once also.

However, I have sheared a few planes away from thier landing gears

See ya,
Randy

RC_Junky

My Feedback: (1)

If I want to hide the antenna I run it inside the fuse or wing inside of an antenna tube. Here is my Edge 540 Profile with the tube installed in the wing. Works excellent.

RCRC

My Feedback: (56)

It'is worth understanding a little about how an antenna receives signals. The receiver and it's antenna are precisely designed to give us adequate range with our very low powered transmitters.

1) The rcvr antenna should be fully extended in a straight line, well away from other conductive parts. This is because the factory adjusted the input circuit to match this exact length of wire. No other length of wire will give as long a range. Doubling the antenna back on itself will also decrease the range. A 90degree bend is not as bad.

2) Ideally, the antenna should be vertically oriented (up and down). This is because most of the reception is picked up from the side of the wire. The least signal is picked up off the end of the wire. An excellent compromise is like Magnum did, run antenna wire directly out of fuse and attach to tip of vert fin w/rubber band.

3) Antennas work better as the height above ground increases. Next to the ground one can expect poor performance and short range. This can be a problem on take off runs and cause loss of control anytime, but particulrly on long roll outs. If you've ever seen an AC go wild in the pits you know the excitement this could create!

The antenna can be hidden in a tube inside fuselage or wing if it is not near any wire or other conductive parts such as push rods or carbon fiber etc. I really like RC_Junky's wing tube and if wire is too long a fellow could just let the excess stream out bottom of wing to avoid bending back on itself.

Very few of us follow all the best practices on antenna routing, it is always a compromise. But as our aircraft get faster and/or we do more precision flying, we like to improve the responsiveness of our systems with faster servos, better linkages, and so on. Good antenna placement is one more link to more precise control.

One last thing to think about is how you hold your transmitter. If you point the antenna at the plane, you are sending the weakest signal toward the plane! This usually doesn't matter when you're close in, but when plane gets far out always point transmitter antenna at right angles to your plane. Best advice is to get in the habit of pointing antenna a little away from the plane and more vertical. That is why high end radios allow the transmitter antenna to tilt upwards.

magnum

RCRC,

You gave some good points. I always try to keep my antenna where it will be vertical with my TX. Even on a scale plane, you can always run the antenna outside just for flight. Most people use a non-scale prop when they fly, so a small ant wire would be no big deal.


One thing to remember is the airplane covering. The deeper you bury the ant inside structures the more you decrease it's effectiveness. Like putting the antenna down a ant tube, inside a fiberglass fuse. Kind of like taking a cell phone inside a building, you can loose reception if your not careful.

Also, be sure you covering material does not have a metallic base, I think some covering has (or had) some metal base in it which will decrease range, if you have any at all.

nforti

I have a metal tail wheel on my plane to give it added weight in the back. Do you think this causes interferences with my antenna, which I run out the bottom of the plane all the way to the back of the fuse?

Ed Smith

This probably falls into the 'Don't do as I do' category

I Pylon Race. The last thing I want is an antenna hanging out the back so someones prop can chop the end off. My antennas are totaly enclosed in the fuselage. I have a short stiff tube that allows me to poke the ant. up to the firewall and then it doubles back and runs right back to the tail. I have about an inch sticking out the back and taped down. There is not much room inside a racer, the ant. is close to the battery, servos and everything else in there. It is a compliment to our radios that it all works. I rarely lose an airplane due to radio problems.

A while ago, I believe it was Indy RC, There was available a dogbone shaped piece of flat plastic about 1" x 2". The antenna was wrapped round and round this plastic. As long as the windings did not cross there was no loss of reception, we were told. The bundle just rested anywhere in the Fuselage. I have seen this used by many people.

Hayes also has available a short wire antenna. The original is cut down to a couple of inches and a connecter is soldered on. Then plug it into the wire antenna and fix it anywhere inside the fuselage.

All this indicates to me that, yes there is an ideal condition. However there is a lot of tolerance. There is also a lot of Mumbo Jumbo about antennas, kind of like engine break in.

Ed S

CaptKAOS

My Feedback: (7)

I've got a question.....why do we not use a small vertical wire antenna similar to what R/C cars have......

Sure would be nice if someone came up with something of the sort.... I'm not too sure...but I seem to remember seeing ads for something of this sort a few years ago...

Ed Smith

I thought I just described that, the Hayes antenna. I would not want it sticking out from the airplane though. It would be too easy to catch on things, resulting in a broken antenna. That is why it is usually kept inside the fuselage.

Ed S

Mike James

I have no way of scientifically measuring all the details mentioned above, but will tell you my experience. By the way, I like to sometimes fly quite high, especially with sport planes that I'm familiar with, and let them run out of fuel and glide down. (Just so you know I've pushed reception to the limits of my vision)

I always put the antenna inside the fuselage. I've used pushrod tubes (red outer and yellow inner types) and even silicone fuel line, depending on what was around.

I've installed them in many fiberglass or fiberglass/kevlar fuselages, and never had even a hint of reception loss. I do agree that you should keep the antenna away from contact with metal, and that if you're using a fuselage with a lot of carbon fiber or metal in it, you should be more careful. The guys who fly turbines have their own issues, discussed in the "Jets" forum.

Today, I'm more careful, but I can tell you that when I was first starting out, I replaced more than one broken antenna with Radio Shack bell wire, and that also worked fine, even with an incorrect antenna length.

These comments are not in any way to suggest that you get sloppy. The best apprioach is to follow both factory and expert advice. I'm simply stating that it may not be as critical as we imagine.

Jim Finn

My Feedback: (2)

almost everyone I know in the San Francisco bay area uses a "Loaded" antenna as I do. I have used them on planes up to 700 feet up and 1/4 mile away with no problems. You can make one for 35 cents. I place the receiver aft of the trailing edge and the 6 inch long antenna inside the fuslage. Get a 1.5 Microhenery Inducter and solder it to your receiver antenna cut to 2 inches long and solder 6 inches of any wire(I like stiff wire) to the other side and I heat shrink tubing over it . That's it! You can buy one for $12 at the LHS too. Jim Finn

747drvr

My Feedback: (5)

I'm using the home made antenna described above on everything from S400 electric to my turbine Super Reaper ( check gallery). Works great !

Jim_McIntyre

I run a tube (usually outer shell from flex pushrod) inside my fuse exiting discretely by the tailwheel.

I retract the antenna inside before static judging and cover the hole with some painted tape.

I leave enough for my long nose pliers to grab and pull out before flying... the trick is to ensure the retraceted antenna wire doesn't snag on anything inside the radio compartment. A simple paint mark on the fully extended antenna just past the exit point will ensure you have the full length extended.

I have forgotten to extend the antenna after judging, like at the team trials this summer...
Luckily I stayed in close and didn't get glitched. I didn't realize until the next day when I was unpacking... the antenna was still retracted! :stupid:

Another one to add to the pre-flight check. Antenna extended... on aircraft too!

On_Final

I run my antenna in the fuselage using a plastic tube. The plastic tube I use comes from the ballons usually given away at Malls or fast food joints to kids. (the type with no helium but a plastic tube to hold it up) I am usually happier and more excited than my kids when they give these ballons out.

Works great and they'er free! Where the antenna exit the tube, I thread the antenna through a short length of fuel tubing with slits. Fuel tubing can also be used to join two tubes together if needed.

crashnfix

My Feedback: (1)

I like the W S Deans two piece antenna. Reall looks a lot better than that loose wire flopping around behind the plane. The base unit requires a 1/4" hole in the fuselage and the mast is removable for transporting and ground handling. These are 10 bucks at tower. Horizon also carries them plus replacement masts.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...1&I=LXKX48&P=7

John M. Bigelow

If you have a Ham Radio friend you can make like some have said
loaded ant also like it was said the poloration of the ant but a ham has a dip meter. Some electronic stores sellls copper foil with
adhesive on it for pc board repair witch makes a very good ant. CU