Antenna Help? Confused...
 

Um...well figure this one out. I did an antenna upgrade to 24g wire and I have it sticking out of the car 1 inch higher than the stock antenna. Well, now I get alot less range. WTF?

The only place I can test it is my kitchen, so there are appliances all around, but the stock one worked well. Any solutions?

ok I just added a telescopic antenna and I got my regular range back plus about 2 feet. I noticed there wasn't a crippler on my controller but there is an after factory one on the car itself. I will break that off and see if I get better range.

Also, does anyone know if it's ok for the antenna wire in the car to touch the heatsink?

Possibly. The heat sink is in contact with the casing of the motor, which in turn, is in contact with the negative terminal of the circuit through the PCB. I would move or insulate that part if it isn't already. If it has insulation on it. It shouldn't be a problem.
And try a spring instead of a straight wire. Find a very soft spring and separate the coils slightly by stretching it. Straighten one end of the spring until you get a straight section long enough to be soldered in place of the original antenna and come up to where you want the spring to stand up. Slip a piece of the original antenna insulation over this straight part before you solder it in place. You can also super glue a small piece of a thicker wire insulation onto the PCB cover right where the spring stands up. A small piece about a quarter inch tall will do. This gives you something to slip the coils of the spring onto to help hold the spring upright. Cut the spring so it stands about 2 inches tall. This gives you a new antenna that's about 18-24 inches long if stretched straight. I did this mod on all my cars and it helped the range quite a bit. I'm gonna have to get some PICs to show how it's done.

aight. I will do that on my next mod. I have 5 more cars to mod, so...I'm always open to ideas.

thx!