My solution isn't nearly as elegant as others but it seemed to work okay for my little Panzer 3.

The only material I needed was some 22-guage wire, a standard number 2 pencil, a tape measure (though a wood rule would also work), and wire cutters/strippers.


Heng Long tanks operate just above 27MHz, which has a wavelength of approx432 inches (approx 11m), and their stock antenna length is about 9 inches (22.86cm), which makes them about 1/48 wavelength (equal to7.5 degrees of a sinusoid). This isminimalto support very short range AM reception, which is all these tanks need. My Pz3 operated very well to distances of 90+ feet with the stock antenna. To test the sufficiency of replacing the antenna with an electrically equal length load coil I simply wrapped the proper lenght of wire around the pencil (you must use a non-ferrous core for antennas) and attached it to the stock antenna mount.


No surprise, the new load coil performed the same as the stock antenna. I then trimmed the excess pencil core, soldered the coil to the Rx board antenna wire,and vertically mounted the coil to the hull next to the smoke unit using some standard rtv silicon adhesive. Performance remained unchanged.


I'm the only one who will ever see it so I'm not overly concerned how it looks, just how well it works. If I later decide the improve it's looks, I'll likely just cover it in a nice layer of stylish shrink wrap.