Running antenna wire inside fuse. Does it matter if it is in a piece of plastic sleeve or just laying loose. Is it just as good as being outside. Moving towards more scale and cleaning up my models.

It doesn't have to be in a sleeve or a tube, it can run loose inside of the fuselage. But (isn't there always a "but" )........ The antenna wire needs to be kept straight. If it doubles back on itself it will reduce the range of the receiver and can possibly cause loss of signal and a crash.

Ken

I run my antennas in a tube just to keep them from falling back on themselves or to tangle in a pushrod

Ken I may be wrong on this but it appears to me that both diagrams you show do the same thing except one is separated by 3 inches which may make a difference? One possibility I can think of is to run in a tube which could be continued up through the vertical fin or stab. To do so would require that you install tube, thread a line through tube before covering.Then using this line to bring antenna wire there when ready for it. assuming of course this is not an arf. Or better yet go Spectrum, no visible antenna.

I try to keep as little antenna as possible at the receiver end. Either a tube or over some cross members and then exit the fuselage under the horzontal stab and let the extra flap in the wind. On my tail dragers, I drill a small hole through the plastic mount and thread the wire through one time and let the rest flutter behind the tail wheel. As said before, just make sure it doesn't tangle in a push rod nor lay aloing side a servo lead going to a rear mounted servo. A couple inches seperation is all that is needed. I've flown my 4*60 out to the point of way to far and still had enough signal strength.

One of our guys burries the antenna in the wings of his planes and has a gold plated connection to unplug it when he pulls a wing. A lot of his planes are smaller sized, so he doesn't get far enough out to maybe be in trouble. The closer you fly, the less displine you need on your antenna, but you still have to take the baggie wrap off a new receiver before flying.

Don

On the Venture, I took the antenna and routed it out the bottom of the fuselage, covering it with the same black ultracoat I covered the bottom in. About 1 in. sticks out the back at the rudder.

On the Astro Hog, the antenna exits at the rear of the canopy, and there is a pin that captures the antenna wire inside a short piece of tubing at the top of the vertical stab.

Thanks for the info...

in the second diagram the antenna is folded back on itself,,,in the first diagram the antenna is routed around the inside of the fuselage...I have an aircraft that I ran the antenna down on side of the fuse, up the last rib over the top and back down and along the other side of the fuse for an inch or 2 ....no problems

Yes, it makes a difference.

Believe it or not, you can get away with a LOT these days antenna-wise.

Two stories I often tell are two times when (Due to unusual circumstances) I had two flights where on one, the antenna was still wrapped around the Rx. I got a few glitches which caused me to land early, but the plane flew at least 5 laps of the field like that.

The second time, after a completely uneventful flight, I removed the canopy and saw that the antenna was just laying inside the radio compartment in a big rat's nest.

That second flight happened to be during a video I was shooting for a review.[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=706] Here's a link to the review[/link]. If you watch the video, you'll see that there wasn't even a glitch.

Now I do NOT recommend trying this, but it just goes to show that you can easily leave a little extra antenna lying around as long as you have the majority of it set up properly.

As for me, Since I do a lot of reviews and therefore need to remove and install radios often, I put the antenna through a piece of plastic tubing and tie a knot in the end. Now I can slip it out of one fuse and slide it down another easily.

I have always been told that any metal part can cause interference if in close proximity to your antenna. I have had a lot of suceess by running a 1/2" piece of fuel tube from under the fuse. I drill a small hole and run it through, then add pieces or 1/4" tube along the bottom of the fuse. A dab or epoxy and a small staple to hold them in place. No ugly antenna wire from fuse to rudder and it looks reallllly clean. The only downside is the wire tends to be alittle long. However you take up the slack is one you, but I have never heard that it can double up on itself and mess up.