Repairing antennas.
 

Had an unscheduled meeting between the ground and my plane.

High crosswind and dumb thumbs.[&:]

Most is repairable but have yet to see this. My antenna tore about three inches from the Rx body. Right where it went out of the fuse. Anyone ever soldered one? THink I should send it in for a new one.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Eric

RE: Repairing antennas.
 

My planes always land before I want them too...:)

Probably ought to send the receiver in and have it checked out for other damage but,

It is very easy to replace the antenna. It is better to replace than to splice!!!

Assuming you can solder...

All you need is 39" of small stranded copper wire. (From Radio shack, etc.) Or you could buy JR part number JRPA170 from your hobby shop...

Just open up the receiver and solder it on in the same spot as the old one. Be sure to pre-tin the wire with shiny solder and get a good joint on the receiver itself.

Do good ground range tests with the repaired receiver. With the engine running and not running. Should be about the same range. If range is much better with the engine off, you may have done other invisble damage to the receiver which would require service from professionals.

RE: Repairing antennas.
 

Dumb double post!

RE: Repairing antennas.
 

I was thinking about that last night too. I am sure the new antenna is cheaper than another plane!:D

Waiting to hear back from Hitec. May just play it safe and send it in for them to check and fix. I can solder but my work is usually rather unsightly and messy.

Thansk for your advice.

Eric

RE: Repairing antennas.
 

There is no problem in just soldering the parts back together if you make a good solder joint. Slip some heatshrink tubing over the splice and you should be back in business. As long as the total length is between 39 and 41 inches when you are done, there should be no change in range. However, a crash can damage one of the crystals in the receiver (there are two in a dual conversion receiver, one of them not easily changed out), so do a good range check after antenna repair to make sure that there was no other damage in the crash.