kshoopman

I was wondering if anybody shortens their antennas on their Heng Long tanks? I've often read that you should never cut an antenna wire but it looks awful on my recently reworked Tiger 1. If you have cut your antenna to a more scale length, how bad does it affect the range?

takevin

Bad, you can mod and wrap the antenna inside, and make a fake one outside.

DirtyBird69

I cut mine in half, maybe a tad more and although it did shorten my range a bit I can still get a good 40-50ft away with no problems what so ever...Only thing you'll need to do is put some heat shrink at the bottom inch or so to help keep it from going "boooooiiiing" when the tank is moving around. Ijust did it and it works the treat!

DirtyBird69

Also forgot to mention that you need to put a drop of thick CA on the end so you don't poke your eye out!....

kshoopman

Thanks for the replies. I did the ant mod inside of my Pershing and I only have about a 10 ft range. I know their are others that have done it with much better results. Not sure what went wrong with that. I think I will just go ahead a cut my antenna to about 5 or 6 inches.

philipat

So long as you cut the antenna length in halves or quarters, you'll be okay.  The only real reason for a long antenna is so that terrain relief has less tendency to mask your transmitter's signal.  I've cut mine on my Bulldog and put in a scale antenna on my PzIII and both work fine.  Your range might decrease a little, but I can still control them out to 20-30 feet.  After that I can't see it well enough to be trying to control it further out anyways.

briz

http://www.ehow.com/how_8644948_calc...le-length.html

dyeager535

My Feedback: (1)

I'm no pro with electronics, so not sure if it matters (I like to tinker, so it doesn't hurt my feelings if it won't make a difference) but I made an external aerial of the correct scale length (StuG III) and plan to use that, connected with an internal antenna, to keep the overall antenna length "stock". If nothing else, the visible antenna is not only historically correct, but functional, giving it a reason to be there.

Made up lengths, but for example: if the stock HL antenna is 18", and the scale StuG aerial is 6", the 12" difference will be made up with the internal antenna mod.

mustclime

I cut mine but I am using dbu2rc so with the hobby radio, i do not seem to have a problem.......as for taking an eye out.....its a tank, its supose to be dangerous.

BIGMIG

I posted an idea i had several years back and don't know if anyone tried it or not.? My thoughts were to use braded wire (like used to hang picture frames ) and make up a tow cable to replace the plastic one and solder a wire to it and drill a small hole under where the cable lays and run the wire through the hole and attach to the board and use it for your antena.Kill two birds with one stone...

BIGMIG

P.S. Some of that type wire looks just like a small cable in appearence.........Hide your antena in plain sight...no obstructions...
I think you could paint it and it would still work great...?

For what it's worth...

kshoopman

Bigmig , thats a good idea. I may have to try it next time I have 1 of my tanks apart.

Green Amphibian

Yes, that does seem like a great tip!

bhop73

There's an internal antenna mod thread somewhere that should be pinned.. but nobody with forum power seems to want to..

edit: found it.. or one of 'em
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_71...tm.htm#7195692

kshoopman

Thats the mod I followed for my Pershing. After thinking about it I need to test my range standing in front of the tank, since I put the coiled antenna in the front. Standing behind the tank my range is only about 10 ft.

1sgt

I used a single strand from a dual strand stereo speaker wire (the thick kind ). Its already rubber coated. I just cut a piece the length of the original RC antenne, coiled it and placed it in the back of the tank. I get at least 50 feet ( length of my back yard ) in any orientation to the tank.

hope this helps.

Jim