Alternate antenna ideas! - Page 5

genesis · #61 09-20-2002, 01:23 AM

Hey dudes,

I've change my controller's antenna to a telescopic one and removed the crippling capacitor from the car's PCB to improve my range to 23feet. big pic here I haven't bothered changing the car's antenna yet.

You can find information about removing crippling capacitors at http://tinyrc.com/qfm/racing/index.htm

genesis · #62 09-20-2002, 10:13 AM

Tonight, my friend martin and I changed the antenna on the car to a 160mm long, 1mm thick copper wire with a red enamel coating.

We tested the range and got to 80feet (24metres) before the car began to stutter!!!

This is a vast improvement over the 5metres out of the box. :P

tinyrc · #63 09-20-2002, 10:35 AM

Wow, I'm pretty sure that is a new record! Does the giant antenna affect handling at all though?

SPEED · #64 09-21-2002, 02:39 AM

i read somewhere that someone added a cell phone reciever thing to the inside of their body..they said the range was boosted up some.......

BaY oN AiM · #65 09-21-2002, 07:33 PM

dont use cell phone anteenas...they dont work....

arch2b · #66 09-21-2002, 08:08 PM

i thought i would try using a stiffer, slightly shorter, larger diameter wire one of my other bit's. i think i did rahter well having never picked up a soldering iron before making my led kits.
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caver01
what did you wrap the wire around to get the nice loop at the end? i pushed the wire through the whole in the pcb board to solder so that if the car flipped or something, it wouldn't break the soldering joint. i just have to watch out for drastic things, like th car getting squashed and the wire breaking the pcb board at the corner.

arch2b · #67 09-21-2002, 08:10 PM

it took a lot of patience bending the wire so many times.
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arch2b · #68 09-21-2002, 08:16 PM

the car i race with. the first drawback i new was coming, i can't run under anything under 5" in height.
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arch2b · #69 09-21-2002, 08:20 PM

my car i use while not racing. the second drawback is it produced no gain in range, but did not decrease it either. benifit is it's shorter, lighter which makes the car easier to control with high speed motors.
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caver01 · #70 09-24-2002, 09:43 AM

Good job on the wire bending. It is a lot of work. I slipped my insulation down further and glad I did. My wire would have touched the solder points for the motor. Actually, mine compresses a bit when I put the body on.

As for the loop, my soldering iron came with a strange aluminum poker tool with a slotted tip. I slipped the wire into the slot to hold it and wrapped it around to get a nice loop. Any screwdriver would work though. The important thing to know (and that you cannot see looking at it now) is that after wrapping to get the loop, I trimmed the excess. It would have looked pretty nasty if I had left the unwrapped portion. I went around twice to get a good circle, then clipped the excess.

I think it was an important step for eye safety. I would hate that end to poke a nice kitty in the face!

In the end, if I am going to have an external antenna, I much prefer a bare solid, springy THIN wire like this to an insulated flimsy one.

arch2b · #71 09-24-2002, 10:20 AM

thanks,
i angled the wire up to almost touch the pcb board before bending to go out over the motor cap to avoid touching the same solder points you mentioned. on second thought, i should have done the same thing as a "just in case" measure. i only insulated the portion that comes in contact with the motor cap. i don't know if there is actually any concern there, but i figured i'd rather be safe than sorry. if i am determined enough, i'll cut off what insulation i have and put on a longer length. it's ahrd to get around all the right angles. mine compresses some also. almost enough to pop off the pcb cover, at least when the car goes off a stair or something.
i didn't get any accessories with my soldering iron, so i'll try your suggestion. i have poked myself with the antenna.
i agree, if you have to have an antenna, better to have a nice one than one that flops and in my case causes my car to roll over. when it's zipping around, you can't even really see the antenna. next best thing to not really being there.
side note: my cats are too lazy to play with the car. i have to run into them before they take action. my dog on the other hand will just walk bye and scoop it up in his mouth and take off with it, the new antenna should put a stop to that though.

Def · #72 09-27-2002, 12:24 AM

caver,

where did you buy your Z body? i'm trying to look for some BMW bodys and can't seem to find em

genesis · #73 09-27-2002, 01:45 AM

tinyrc: nah, the handling was fine!! gotta luv it

baleisen · #74 09-27-2002, 10:08 AM

Antenna boosters do not work. They are a scam and I have had booster dealers removed from computer shows here in Da Burgh. I'll post my antenna mod next week. BAE

caver01 · #75 09-27-2002, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Def
caver,

where did you buy your Z body? i'm trying to look for some BMW bodys and can't seem to find em

Def, I think you have the wrong user. My car is a silver Honda S2000 Bit Char-G. I don't own a Z.