rally dude

I have a receiver that it's antenna wire is broke. A few inches off the end some how snapped off. I'm not sure how it happened but it did.
Anyway now the reciver looses the controllers single and the fail safe cuts in. Any ideas on replacing the wire? Can I use any wire? I can solder fyi.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Are you talking a 72 MHz. radio or a 2.4 GHz. radio. The antenna's are vastly different between the two.

rally dude

I'm out sure, I know it's a hpi. I want to say it's a rf-45 witch is 2.4ghz.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

If it's 2.4 then the antenna that matters is the short piece at the very end of the coax that is sticking out of the shielded cable. That piece is 31.25mm long and if it has been ripped off or ground off from a roll-over then your radio range will be about 10'.
The cable is RG-178u and you can find it in old computers that have built-in wireless.
The overall length of the receiver antenna cable is not important but the very end must have exactly 31.25mm of the inner sheathed cable exposed from the outside shielding/sheath.

rally dude

I thought a wifi antna might work.
Could I just remove some of the shielding?

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

A wifi antenna will work. Carefully strip away about 2-3 inches of the outer jacket and the braid shield but do not cut into the inner jacket or wire. Measure and trim the inner jacketed wire so 31.25mm is exposed. Strip the opposite end and prepare the ends in the same fashion as the existing antenna(where it is soldered to the rx) . Note where the inner conductor and shield wires are connected on the rx and then de-solder the old antenna and solder on the new one.

Rodney

2.4GHz uses a fairly large bandwidth. The perfect antenna could be anywhere from 28mm to 32 mm in length, perhaps someone could be more specific if they knew the gage of wire being used, if on the end of a coax, what type of coax insulation (the substance used to isolate the inner wire from the sheath) along with a few other pertinent details.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Most antennas I have seen connect to the circuit board with a pop off connector. All of these connectors are the same between the various radio brands. The antennas are readily available from dealers for a few $. You can even find them on internet sources such as ebay, etc. By one and a spare and go have fun in short order.

Montee

Example : http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._antenna_.html

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

There ya go!

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

He stated he has an RF-45 receiver and that does not use a IPX/U-FL connector. The cable needs to be soldered on. He also stated he has some wifi antenna so he could make several antennas for less than it would cost to buy one plus it should have an IPX on one end if he needed it..

Rodney

I pulled up the info on that receiver and find conflicting info. One shows a short antenna while the PDF for the manual shows an extended (length of coax with the antenna on the end). If yours is the short antenna, you can just solder on a wire (28 to 32mm long) to the terminal the old one was on. If it uses the extended one, two connections are required and the physical placement and orientation is important and more difficult; the shield of the coax is connected to the ground plane and the center wire connected to the input.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

That would be a delicate process for the average person unless they had some experience working with such things. Might not have the right tools, solder, etc.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Rally Dude, Post a pic or two of the receiver with the cover removed showing what is left of the antenna and how it's connected to the board .

rally dude

Will do. If I recall the wire is soldered on.
Oddly I have a back up 2.4ghz receiver with most of its wire clipped and it works fine.