Sorry to you guys (marc and sicklick) I answered the first question to which the answer is NO ! (it does NOT matter if the ariel is a little longer than 1 m. )

I saw the question, THOUGHT I knew the answer so I could help you. Took the time to go and look it up in the manual and gave you the exact reference so the answer was correct as indicated in the manufacturers manual, NOT off the top of my head !. (my printed version is from the first of my three receivers, as far as I know they have changed very little on the RF side , mainly firm/software, apart from the fact there is no longer any data storage on internal memory)

In my printed manual it covers helicopter installation and carbon wings AND aerial length in the same chapter AND it is on page 35/56 para 5.6, "routing of antennas", perhaps later manuals have be rearranged but I gave you the reference, in good faith, according to my hard copy and it is crystal clear.

SO, Sicklick, if I got my nikkas in a twist its because I sought out a definitive answer from THE source AND the gave reference which IS on P35 and 36 of my printed manual and it all seemed a waste of time. I thought my reply to the original post was totally polite, brief (too brief) and to the point ! On all of my 3 DRs the uncut length of the antenna is 1 meter fom PC board to extremity on 35 MHZ, pretty sure 36 is the same.

FW190 pilot confirms the reasoning.

Cgroen: I asked this question of Alvin and he did explain it BUT he lost me a few moments into the theory. Anyway the figures you quote seem pretty typical. In that conversation I also asked Alvin why the receiver did not always select the ant with the highest RSSI and he explained that signal QUALITY is also used by the Rx in deciding which ant. to use. Clever stuff.

Regards,

David.