MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Before I tell you what happened last night, I want to preface it by saying that there have been a lot of threads asking, "Where do you put your antenna?" or, "How do you connect the antenna to the top of the fin?".

I often tell people that for connecting to the top of the fin, just tie on a rubber band and pin the rubber to the top of the fin. Or what I do is run the antenna through a plastic pushrod tube and tie a knot in the end so it can't pull out and then insert the tube down through the fuse.

And in either case I often get flamed for telling people to tie a knot in the antenna wire

I also tell them to just wind the excess around the radio compartment - which also draws criticism. But you know what? I may not be a genius when it comes to radios and how they work, but I HAVE been in this hobby for almost 50 years and I know what works, what doesn't and what you can get away with.

A while back I told a story of how I was doing a review of an Edge 540 and after shooting the review video I opened it up to discover that the antenna wire was just laying in the radio compartment like a rat's nest. But my newest story even tops that one:

When my dad came up from Florida this summer he brought my 15 yr old Ultra Sport which I had given to my brother a while back. The Ultra Sport was complete minus Rx and retract servo. My dad is 85 and spends his days tinkering in the shop (When he's not out at the field) and the other day he had nothing to do so he stuck a retract servo in it and then put in a receiver to check it.

Yesterday the weather was so nice I took the afternoon off and stopped by his place. He told me what he had done, and there it was sitting on charge. I said, "Great! Let's take it out tonight. He said, "Ok, but you better check all of the wiring before we go".

I turned it on, and checked all of the controls. I had to reverse a servo or two, but then it was good to go. My dad said, "But it's got MY radio in it". I said, "That's ok, we'll fly it like this, and when we're done I'll take your Rx out and put one of mine in"

So later that evening we went out to the field and I cranked up my old favorite that I haven't flown in about 5 years.

I was having a ball! She still flies great! Loops track great, spins and rolls were all good. I really put it through its paces.

But I noticed that there was one area of the field where I kept getting a glitch. This was very strange because we never get any interference at our field.

Suddenly I got a really BAD glitch. I almost lost the plane. So - Ok, quick landing! Just as well. I had pretty much gotten a full flight in anyway.

Back in the pits, I wipped the 2-stroke slime off her and removed the wing so I could give my dad his Rx back.

As I reached for the Rx, my heart skipped a beat - There was the receiver tucked into its little foam box with the antenna neatly wrapped around it.

Yup! The antenna was never even unwrapped!

Now, as a disclaimer I will say that I am not one of those fliers who lets his plane fly so far away that you can barely see it, but I DID go high enough to do about 6 or 7 spins down and recover at a respectable altitude.

So there is my story. A full flight with the Rx antenna wrapped around the Rx.

I'm not suggesting that antenna placement is something that should be taken lightly, but don't flame me when I tell people to tie a knot in the end!

bruce88123

Yeah but it would have crashed for sure if a knot was there.

BTW - nice pre-flight!

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Bill Lowen

wow!!! I guess someone was watching over you. Somebody showed me a neat trick that I use. I take a servo arm and cut the ends of it leaving just two holes. I run the wire up through the bottom in the first hole and back through the second hole. The servo arm is against the fuselage and the wire won't pull through and it is not kinked so it won't break.. It has worked for me and everyone at our club does it.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Yup, and it's a good system. All I'm saying is, tying a knot, or laying out some excess isn't the end of the world.

Bill Lowen

I don't doubt you for a second. It sounds like you have been doing this forever and know what you are doing. One thing I never do is question a veteran of this hobby. I am in awe of some of the guys who have been around and the things they know and can do with an airplane..

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Well, maybe not forever, but I turn 53 next month [:@] and my dad has been an airplane nut all his life. Some of my earliest childhood recollections are going to the flying field with my dad and brother, and when I learned to fly, the transmitter sat on the ground - you held a button - 1 click for right rudder, 2 clicks for left

Eventually we got a high-tech system where 3 clicks gave you full low throttle

So yea, you could say I've been doing this for a while

Bill Lowen

That is cool you have those childhood memories. I have an eight year old and she goes to the field with me. We mess around with the little balsa rubberband planes. I broke the trailing edges of the stab and glued them in the up elevator positions. give that little prop about a hundred turns and it will do a couple of really cool loops and land on its wheels. thrills her every time. I am going to teach her how to fly once I become compenant to do so. I think we are going to by one of those E flite Heli's next week and get her going on that. The guy at the hobby store said it is pretty easy to fly, on a calm day.

red head

Boy !!! it's a good thing you didn't have a knot in the wire !! The signal might not have been able to get to the reciever !!!!

ENJOY !!! RED

bruce88123

I'm not sure if the signal actually gets stopped by the knot of if it gets lost(dis-orientated) in it somehow. May depend on the type of knot.

rlipsett

actually the knot may cause a weakness in the wire and it might break thereby reducing your antenna length

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I just flew a plane with the antenna completely wrapped around the receiver. I'm not worried it

Besides, tying a knot will not weaken the wire. If you tied, and untied over and over again, THEN you would eventually weaken it.

Again, I'm not trying to convert anybody. If you want to do things "By the Book" you should. I'm just saying that while there are the proper way to do things, there are also a lot of shortcuts that you can very easily get away with without causing the sky to fall (Or your plane)

bruce88123

The sky can fall? Oh my, something else to watch out for.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Happens all the time.

The next time you're doing a low, inverted pass and you pull UP instead of down, don't say, "I got stupid", just tell your friends, "The sky fell on it"

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Wouldn't that be more like the earth sucked it in???

Ken

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I guess that excuse works well in Oklahoma and Texas where the earth really sucks!

bruce88123

HEY!!! I liked it in Texas when I lived there. When I lived in Lawton, well that's another story.[:@]

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Hey, don't talk, I lived in Memphis once too! [:'(]

bruce88123

Trust me, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for this job.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

[X(]

Ken

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Same here!

rlipsett

I should not have said the knot itself weakens the wire but it does create a point that can more easily be damaged or weakened

stuk_at_work

My Feedback: (111)

Mike,

I'm sure your dad deliberately left the wire wrapped around the receiver just to see you stain your shorts!

The flip side of this of course is that you cannot fly very far (under control) without your transmitter antenna extended. I've never seen anyone get away with that one!

bruce88123

And NEVER tie a knot in your TX antenna either.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Ken