nav8tor

Finishing up my Sig SE. I ran the antenna through the tube and out the aft end of the fuselage, but if I pull out all of the slack I'll have a foot or more of antenna wire hanging out the back. I can coil the antenna wire up a bit so that I only have a few inches extending out the back but I'm worried that reception will suffer. For those of you who have built a sig SE, how have you handled the antenna?

gfinan

nav8tor,

Do not coil the antenna. I have built several of these planes and just let the extra 12 inches of the antenna hang out the back. This will give you the best reception. Coiling the antenna will decrease the range of your radio. Good luck. Greg

smitymax

Did the same thing with mine, at first just let the extra ant wire flutter in the breeze. Worked OK no problems. Then decided to fasten the wire to the outer corner of the horizontal stabilizer. Made a couple of small staples from a pin and used them to fasten the wire. Still have a few inches 3-4 hangs loose but looks better and not so much of the wire drags on the runway when taxiing. The bend in the antenna does not affect the reception of the receiver.
Don't coil the wire in any case. Stretch it out full length and a bend in the wire near the end does not reduce the range.

gfinan

smitymax

Your trick sounds like a good one. I may try that on mine.....Thanks.


nav8tor, dragging the antenna doesn't hurt it a bit, but if you're worried about looks try smittymax's idea. Remember, as we both said, don't do anything to reduce the length of the antenna Greg

TerrellFlyer

drilled couple of small holes in vert.stab,then threated extra wire thru holes

MikelJay

My Feedback: (2)

route the extra wire through a unused hole in the elevator control horn, but be sure to leave some slack in the wire to prevent anything from binding up. That's how I did mine....... works like a charm!!!

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Mike

gfinan

Just don't route the wire through or around anything metal (such as metal control rods) as this can cause radio interference. Greg

SHARK

I know you're not supposed to put the antenna near anything metal, but I ran mine out the bottom and then taped it to the metal supports on the tail. It has flown a LOT this summer and haven't had any problems.

gfinan

Shark,

I don't think the little bit of contact that you describe should give you problems as long as you've done an adequate range check with and without the engine running. You mainly don't want the antenna running along your push-rods going to the tail section of your plane or coiled around anything metal. Happy flying.
Greg

nav8tor

Thanks for all of your advise. I took my SE to the field today and another club member was there with his, so I asked hime how he handled the antenna. He said the same as you guys did, so I pulled out the slack and let the end of the antenna flap in the breeze. Maybe I'll pull banners with it (just kidding)

By the way, the SE flys great.