heli-spy

I just recently received my new RC car, and the antenna tube fell off, got stuck in the gears, and cut the antenna. Theres about 2 1/2 inches of it left and I need to repair it soon,but, how far is the range with that much left????

tashspop

My Feedback: (1)

probably not very much. what you need to do is contact the manufacturer and find out what length you need and replace it from the board.

smaxx3.3

the shorter you antenna the shorter you range, if you go out of your range without a fail-safe you better start running lol

s7jstep1

my cousin has a t maxx that he brought over to my house one day, and the antenna got ripped out. he decided to drive it anyway....big mistake. i was driving my revo when all of a sudden his t maxx flies past me a full throttle with him chasing it. it was in perfect control, not hitting any obstacles(which is amazing considering i cant do that when i am in control). it finally filpped about 1/4 mile away and we could hear the engine at full throttle for a good 30 seconds before it cut out. when we finally found it it seemed to work fine[sm=confused.gif]

Desertlakesflying

My Feedback: (28)

The wrong antenna length is really hard on your receiver also.

DaveG55

helispy
The antenna wire needs to be approxamatly 20" in length. If it's not your range will suffer, sometimes badly. These radios are designed to operate over a range of frequencies so the rx antenna length does not have to be exact but it should be as close as you can make it. Running it shorter is NOT "hard on the reciever". It would be hard on the transmitter if that antenna were broken but it makes little difference to the rx other that it cannot get a good signal to process.
You've got two choices. Either solder the broken piece back togeather and shrink wrap the repair - this will work fine but you won't be able to get the repaired spot thru the antenna tube.
OR
Replace the entire antenna by opening the reciever box and soldering a new wire into place.
You can get replacement wires at your lhs and they are about $2 or less.
Personally, I'd just replace the whole thing (and have several times).

Desertlakesflying

My Feedback: (28)

Gee Dave I guess I'm wrong again......Glad we got the expert on it....Guess the few dozen Ham Radio Operators I talked to are wrong too......I'll pass that along to them.

DaveG55

Gee sarcasam, gotta love it.
Ask who ever you want. It won't matter to me or the reciever any more than it will using an antenna that's too short for the frequency you want to recieve. I know whay's correct. When you get some personal experence with repairing transmitting and reciving equipment, maybe then I'll let your nasty attitude bother me. Until then I'll give it the creedence it deserves - none.

Desertlakesflying

My Feedback: (28)

No attitude just sarcasm.......

Dudelive

First of all the lenght of a receiver antenna has no effect on a darn thing except how far away you can control it, which is what DaveG55 said. Now as to ham radio frequencys and antenna lenght they are transmitting as well as receiving which will make a BIG difference and WILL cause problems when the SWR (standing wave ratio) goes too high as a result of wrong lenght antenna. On a rc receiver it makes no matter as it is only receiving. You want the correct lenght to get the best distance control.

MadDogRC

is it alright to add extra length to an antenna for a longer range?

Dudelive

LOL.....don't think it works that way.....Although you might try adding an linear amplifier to the transmitter and make a stronger signal going out MIGHT work.

Don't try the above as damage may occur
I am editing this so NO ONE will try this.

MadDogRC

well i had the antenna wire on my plane's receiver get shopped almost in half and the other half was unusable. so can i just go to radioshack, etc and just buy a piece of wire which is roughly the same length or longer?

Dudelive

I would recommend the manufactures suggested wiring. Write the maker of the receiver and they will tell you the correct lenght and type of wire. As Dave stated it is best to replace to complete piece of wire anyway.

MadDogRC

with what kind of wire?

DaveG55

Actually, you can. There are a couple of things though. For best results you need to add wire in multiples of the length of the current wire. This is because the wire length is based on the wave length of the frequency being transmitted. You want your antenna wire to be either 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, etc times the wave length. So, if your antenna wire is 20" then your next step would be 40". That would increase your range but the kicker is that, for several reasons, it won't increase it all that much.
Bottom line is if your radio/reciever is working properly your range should be far enough that it becomes difficult to tell what your model is doing before it is out of range.

Dudelive, It's nice to see someone else with a bit of knowledge and not just hearsay.

DaveG55

Here's an example of a replacement wire for a 72 MHZ FM system. The ones for the other frequencies are the same kind and diameter just slightly different lengths.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXH356&P=7

Check your lhs. They probably have what you need.