manks

I am building a 4* 60, and am just about ready to put in the radio gear and cover the beast. Just wondering what it the perferred method of routing the antenna? I was thinking about routing it internally through the fuse and out the tail of the plane, but am unsure. For those of you who have a 4*, how did you do it?

Thanks

Manks

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I slide the antenna through a piece of inner pushrod tubing and tie a knot in the end.

Then just slide the tubing down the fuse and let any excess lay in the radio compartment (on a 60-size plane there won't be much excess).

manks

So there is no problem keeping the antenna inside the airframe at all?

I think that is the cleanest way to do it, and easy right now, but no problems with reception ect?

Thanks

Campgems

I about lost my 4*60 due to a short antenna. I was flying way to far out and I happeded to look down and see I had forgoten to extend my TX antenna. How I about lost the plane was not loss of signal from the TX, but loss of signal from the brain to the TX. In the panic of trying to yank out the antenna, I put the plane into a dive, but luckly, I was high enough that I managed to pull it out OK.

I doubt that the slight fold at the end of the tube as MinFlyer suggest is going to cause any radio issues until the plane is to far away to be seen anyway. I had run the tube out the side of the fuselage just below the elevator pushrod exit and trimmed the tubing smooth to the side. I just pulled the wire out as far as it would go. I only had about 3 to 4 inches waving in the breeze. Since that plane, I'm doing just what MinFlyer suggest. Works well.

Don

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Manks, You will experience no noticeable signal loss.

I say "Noticable" because you may lose 5 or 10 feet of signal, but you'll be so far away that you won't be able to see the plane anyway!

I do product reviews for RCU Magazine, so I am constantly pulling a radio out of one plane and putting it into another and this is the best way I have found.

As far as any loss of signal, I often tell two stories:

The first one was when I was flying an old plane that I had pulled out of storage. During the flight I got a few "Glitches" so I decided to cut the flight short. I landed, and when I removed the wing I realized that the antenna was still wrapped around the receiver!

The second story was when I was reviewing a Seagull Edge 540. The maiden flight was great, so I decided to shoot the video right then and there. My buddy put it through its 3-D paces, and after landing I realized that the antenna was just laying inside the radio compartment like a big rat's nest. Never even got so much as a glitch.

So I'm not worried about leaving a few inches of antenna laying around.

And if anyone is wondering, here's the review: Scroll down to the video section to view it.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=706