davidhand

Both Spektrum and Futaba, and probably others have a knee joint in the antenna. Should the antenna be straight out or "bent" to one side or the other? I asked at our field and everyone seemed to have a different opinion.

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

You do not want the Tx antenna pointing directly at the aircraft. This has been well documented. I and many others fly with the Tx antenna off at a 45 deg angle.

sebo

Lots of guys at our field fly at a 90 degree angle as well as 45.......not seen anyone with it straight up.

pippy

My XG11 JR radio has very clear instructions with signal strength lines etc. where the antenna should point down at a 45° angle.

1320Fastback

45 degrees down will put the knulls (dead areas) infront of you low down on the ground and high up and behind you where you also do not fly. This is the best position.

davidhand

Thank you guys. I have a DX7 and a DX6i and couldn't find it addressed in either manual.

Len Todd

From an RF perspective this is correct. If the antenna is at a 45 and the tip is pointing at the plane, the plane is essentially flying in a null. That being said, most folks I have seen fly well inside the Txer's fringe and any position works. Jet and Giant Scale pilots typically are the ones that need to be concerned. They tend to fly out further.

Also, when you add the telemetry link back to the Txer/Rxer (e.g. DX8) in your hand, having the same antenna polarization seems to help the telemetry work more consistently. Technically, if you cross polarize two RF antennas you have lost 30 dB of signal. 3 (three) dB is 50%. However, there are other effects that also help mitigate that loss (e.g. signal reflection, etc.). Cross polarization is one of the reasons we use multiple Rxers in planes we value.