bipe2

My Feedback: (2)

I have a kadet senior that i want to put a 2.4 ghz reciever (airtronics) in. can this reciever be installed completly inside the fuse or is it better to have the antena outside the fuse? the plane is covered in see through monocoat. would it be better to run one lead outside on the right and one lead outside on the left with one lead pointing back to the tail and the other pointing ninty degrees up or down.? what is your thoughts on this. any ideas will be appreciated.

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

You should have no problems placing the Rx anywhere inside the fuse. There is no need to have the antennas poke through the covering. I fly JR/Spektrum, but I follow many of the threads dealing with all radio systems and I have not seen any indication that Airtronics 2.4 Rx's need to be placed in some special way with the antenna through the side. If you had a carbon fiber fuse than you might need to take special measures.

pilotpete2

As BB said, no need to have the receiver antennae outside the fuselage.
If you fly with your transmitter antenna oriented vertically, then one antenna in the plane should also be vertical
With 2.4Ghz, the only thing you should not do, is fly with the transmitter antenna pointing at the plane, it does reduce range, you can prove it when doing a range test on the ground
Do you have the new SD-10G? One of my flying buddies has one, awesome radio. the RDS8000's have also been very solid performers at our field.
Good luck,
Pete

Rodney

Mount it anywhere inside the fuse and just have the two antennas 90 degrees to each other. They can be in any orientation as long as the two remain about 90 degrees to each other. I would not have either parallel to and close to a metal object or wire or pushrod, just keep a few inches away from such objects if you can.

bipe2

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks bb,pete, and rodny thats what I needed to know. BTW the tx is a rds8000 2.4 thanks again.

Star7

I use a RDS8000 in a LT-40. I heated a swizzle stick up and gave it a gentle 90 degree bend. The bent swizzle stick and a straight one are silicone sealed in place inside the fuse to give the 90deg orientation. When I mount the rcvr, I just thread the antennas into the two swizzle sticks.....the 90 bent section is just a bit longer than the unshielded part of the RDS antenna. That positions the antennas without putting stress on them or having to rigidly mount them. I have had no range problems whatsoever. Theoretically, the plastic swizzle stick can act like a 'radom' and capacitively load the antenna. Again, there has been no indication of any frame loss.

ssc161

I just switched to the Hitec Aurora 9 from the Airtronics RDS 8000. I came up with a wooden mount that I glued the yellow push rods from Golden rods, and used that to hold the two short antenna wires at their proper orientation. I also looped them around, to make a very compact single "unit" that once the Rx was wrapped in foam and secured to the mount, and 6 inch servo extensions (labeled) were added, I could easily swap out a receiver from one plane to another in a matter of minutes!! I, like most of us on here try to enjoy this hobby on a budget, so having a dozen receivers around (at $80 apiece) just isn't realistic. I ended up ordering two of the radio systems thru Tower, with the free second Rx, takind advantage of the $60 off coupons I seem to get every two weeks from them, with the free shipping for a total of $169. So, I had an extra Tx if I damaged the first one (buddy box also!) and four Rx's for less than $350. Not bad. Luckily I was able to sell the stuff to help fund the Hitec purchase. Anyways, here are a couple pics showing how I mounted the RX to the mount, then in a ready to install condition into a plane. I usually secured it with either velcro, or a single zip tie, which is easily cut when swapping out to another plane. The labeled extensions make life very easy...just be sure to label the servo leads also!! In this configuration, I never had a single issue, EVER, with any type of glitch whotsoever, and I at times have put some of my planes up past 2000 feet. Hope this helps, or sparks an idea for you to mount in your plane. Good luck with it[sm=thumbs_up.gif] Tom.

PLANE JIM

My Feedback: (109)

I would do what the manufacture recommends.

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

Does the manufacturer recommend looping the antennas back on thenselves? Usually, you would extend them out into a V configuration, curving them slightly outward.

ssc161

In the instruction manual, they show a few "examples", and one of them showed the wires coming out and doing a 180 degree turn. I think you would only run into troubles if the wires were twisted, as I believe this affects how the RF signal is received. The above setup I have pictured has worked flawlessly in a G.P. P 51D Mustang with O.S. 70 FS, Scat Cat qwikie 500 plane with YS .45 and tuned pipe, Carl Goldberg Ultimate Bipe 10-300 with Magnum w/ .91 Four stroke, large gasser with an old U.S. Engines 41cc gas engine with the old style magneto electronice-no seperate engine battery, .40 sized Sukhoi SU-26, and lastly a Seagull Edge with O.S. .55 AX.
The one thing you have to be sure to maintain is that the antenna tips are indeed at a 90 angle to each other. You wouldn't think so, but as compact and short as the Rx wires are you would think it would be very easy to just stick it in there anywhere, this was not the case for me. I didn't like the idea of attaching the RX body to one spot, and the two wires to something else. I always try to anticipate worst case scenario, and if that fuselage gets ripped into half from a violent crash, then that RX would get ripped apart also, possibly. That's why I came up with a sort of module approach, hopefully the RX would stay all together in one piece. My Seagull Edge got destroyed and the RX just popped out in a nifly little single piece, so in my case it all worked good for me as the RX wasn't damaged at all. That plane is still sitting in my garage with the fuse in three pieces, had the Rx been tied down to different places, it too would have been lost. Tom.

Star7

Thanks Tom, that's very useful! The antenna itself is only the last 2" or so. The part Tom loops is the coax lead to the antenna and it can be arranged any way you need as it is shielded and not active. I like his solution...

stevenmax50

My Feedback: (1)

SSC161.....why the switch from Airtronics to Hitek?

ssc161

Steven...Why did I switch? Out of necessity?? No. Out of desire? Yup. I like the Airtronics radios, my first radio ever was an Airtronics. I got out of the hobby and when I got back in, I went with the Hitec Prism 7X. I wanted to go to 2.4 and honestly, I thought the JR stuff was great, but very expensive, Spektrum seemed like stripped down JR, and Futaba just seemed like it was what everyone had, so that always kinda turned me off from them. But a month and a half ago, when I finally saw the features the Hitec had, I knew I wanted it. When I say features, that translates to telemetry, I mean, come on, seeing your Rx voltage on the Tx screen???? That alone is reason to switch. I also liked the single wire instead of the dual wires like the Airtronics. Lastly, the one thing that irked me about the Airtronics was the three character model naming. NO excuse for that. Here were my abbreviations....P51, RRK, SUK, ULT, TRN, GAS, 540. Did I need to change over? No. Do I need all those features? No. Will I ever use all those features? No. Luckily I knew I'd be able to sell all the Airtronics stuff (two radios and 4 Rx's) to a guy in our club here so cost for the new Hitec was pretty much taken care of. In my opinion, I'd rank the 2.4 market for radios under $500...Hitec, Airtronics, Futaba, Spektrum and lastly JR only because of the cost-especially all those satellite Rx's!! Tom.

stevenmax50

My Feedback: (1)

Wow.  Features I would really like to have also.  Espcially the telemtrey.  The 3 character model name is a turnoff also.  I need to look at the Hitek radios a little more I guess.  I am trying to keep the cost down.  That was the big deciding fatcor for the Airtronics.  Of course, I have to look at servo cost as well since the RDS8000 does not come with servos.  I was reading Tower's specs tonight on the RDS8000 and it appears as if it also does not come with a recoiever battery.  Is this true? 
Thanks for your honest opinion.  It always helps to read a posting from someone with experiance.  Time now to open another window and look at the Hiteks at Tower and see what they come with for the money.

stevenmax50

My Feedback: (1)

OK...I have Tower open and they show the Hitec Optic 6 2.4 with 2 recievers.  But when I go to Hitecs site it does not show that radio?  WHat gives? 

ssc161

Here is the link to the Hitec website with info for the Aurora 9. The Optic 6 with 2.4 you referenced will not have the telemetry I mentioned, only the Aurora 9 will. http://www.hitecrcd.com/transmitters/show?name=Aurora+9. Typically most of these radios won't come with any servos, as they have gotten so specialized. Neither the RDS 8000 2.4, or the Aurora 9 came with a Rx battery. Just the Tx, wall charger, harness switch, receiver(2 Rx's for the RDS-one for the A9) and Tx battery (already installed). The A9 also comes with a coupon you send in for a free 7 channel Rx, and the option to buy another half price for $40. The Hitec 2.4 Rx's are priced well below the others, another very nice feature! Hope this helps! Tom.