DKhairho

I don't know if anyone is like me out there, but I hate having to unravel and then re-ravel the antenna wire around the landing gear after a landing gear fix.

I didn't want to wait on a Micro-Z 72 antenna order from my LHS so I dicided to use a bit of skill and creativity to rig something from stuff I alread had lying around the house.

Heat Shrink Tubing
Nitro Fuel Line
Antenna Tube

I cut the antenna tube 4 1/2 inches long and ran the antenna wire through it leaving enough slack to reach the land gear slots from the receiver. I then wrapped the wire around the outside of the antenna tube, not to tight though. Next I cut 3, half inch pieces of heat shrink tube and secured the wire in place. Some may choose to cover the whole tube. I just wanted to make room for as much reception as I could. Just me being extra cautious. Lastly I cut 2 small pieces of fuel line to cap off each end of the tube. I checked my reception during flight and it seemed to work fine. I do reccomend that you leave a piece of the antenna wire end protruding from the outside of the heat shrink and fuel line.

***Note: I'm no professional just sort of a home grown "Mr. Fix-It."

I posted some pics because I thought it was a cool idea to share. Hope others find this mod useful!

s_mcflurry

I've always been hesitant to adjust the length of the tubing at all because I read somewhere (or so I believe) that the length of the tubing needed to be certain length for frequency reasons. Can you enlighten me please?

jmann71

that would be the length of the antenna lead for the freq. though, the longer the antenna tube, the greater the range.

jason

DKhairho

JMann is correct. The length of the actual wire is what's important. I know not to tamper with that. Learned that from one of my cars when I first got into to RC. I think that my mod comes with the same "caution" as the Micro-Z,

"Note: In some cases the receiver range is slightly reduced so a range check should be done before flying." This came from the site that carries them and I figured the same when doing my mod. That's why I made most of the wire visible.

Heliko

Nice Mod DK.

This is being discussed on RC Groups too. Something about the frequency determining the length. I think for our frequency (72MHz) it's 39" of wire. That what the a Micro-Z has and another poster mentioned the same length with his custom antenna. The Micro-Z wire is just smaller. I have one and I love it. One of the best mods for the Axe IMO in both looks and function.

DKhairho

It worked well for me today. I just thought it was something cool to share. I try to make my hobbies as convenient as possible. Less hassle means more fun in my opinion.