RE: Carbon fuselage and reception
Since carbon fiber conducts electricity it acts as a faraday cage and as such will impede the reciever reception. I had a problem running my antenna next to two carbon pushrods, I can't imagine how bad yours must be. The only option I see is adding an external antenna. I have seen some that are maybe 6 inches and go vertical to the fuse out a hole with a few bolts holding it in place (Kind of like what you see on cop cars, but much smaller).
ATCme [sm=tongue_smile.gif]