Whether solid or stranded shouldn't matter as long as it is insulated. What does matter is the length and what it's wound around, almost anything can be used as long as it isn't ferrous material. It can be made of plastic, paper, wood, some even used a section of a glue stick. Just remember the length of the coil wire must be the length of the section of the antenna you are replaceing.

Harold, just wanted to say thanks again for posting this. I finally got my Tiger back together and it is working perfectly out to about 50 yards with a battery that was not fully charged. At that range I start having a bit of trouble when making a right turn [antenna is mounted in the left rear corner]. The tank can receive signals through walls in my house, and I've run it outside where I work standing in a courtyard with a brick wall seperating me from the tank. I didn't run it that much with the stock antennae - just ran it around the house a bit making sure everything worked before I took it apart to break in the gears/motors, etc., but I was having problems in the house with table & chair legs interfearing with the signal! Again, very impressive performance from this mod.

Also, don't forget to remind people doing this to be sure to use both sections of black wire that are attached to the stock antennae. I believe that I read at least one post where that was a cause of poor reception

I got my Tiger fitted up with S&S today and tested the antenna. You pretty much had the same experience I did! Once the tank was over 50 yards away and you turned it to face you, reception was lost. But other than that, I was very impressed by this mod.

I'm not sure what range the stock antennae gives you, but I'm more than happy with 50+ yards, plus the option of 360 rotation with the antennae out of the way [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Antenna mod works greateven did it to a 1/10th Hummer and maintained 150' rangethanx Gustof

Great mod,i'm a licensed ham operator and frequent 40 and 20 meters and sometimes top band.This certainly adds to the scale look and is of no deterrement to the range,it will however be slightly directional but only at longer distances and may have no effect on performance at all.I will try this on the Bulldog when it arrives.The Hobby Engine M1A2 Abrams has already got its antenna turret mounted as per the real deal.Nice one pzrwest....

Thank you Mr Terminator and others that are pleased with this mod. I'm still wondering why some have problems and some don't

I have since gone back to my tanks stock aerial, when I changed to S&S it all went balls up. []

The home made aerial is still there though, so I could reconnect it if need be.

Sweet mod! Thanks for posting!

Ern thanks for the antenna it works a treat

I imagine this will also work with other RC crafts such as boats or airplanes?

technically it should just remember to make the coil wire length the same length as the amount of antenna wire you are removing. As for boats and aircraft I can't say as the ground plane effect will be different. also the ranges of boats and aircraft are alot more than an HL unit. So be sure to range test the antenna mod before to actually commit to the air etc

Would it work if you just use the wire from the round coil where it already is? Does it matters if the wire is longer than the part you removed?

the length of the wire that you make the coil from MUST BE the same length as the section of antenna you are removing or replacing

I have to post a reply to this great thread to bring it to the top. It's too valuable to lose.

Last night I created a couple of hidden antennas- one for me and one for my Dad's Tiger. It works great in my Pershing- I can start the tank at the opposite corner of my house from the tank. And I would like to clarify something that seems to be causing some stress in this post. Pzrwest is correct about the length of the wire needed. But so is Brel....

These tanks are running AM radios, or amplitude modulation. In other words, they send the signal by changing slightly the height of the sine wave. We have 330mm antennas because the sine wave is 330mm (or less, I'll explain in a moment). So, 330mm antenna is good. Brel posted that he had great luck with a 660mm antenna wire, which makes sense. If the frequency is 330mm high, then a 330mm wire will catch one sine wave. The 660mm wire (being double the length) will catch two signals- the 330mm signal and the first harmonic of 660mm. It's the same signal but is double the height. So we get more signal being caught. It does not pay to go much more than one harmonic up, but generally the 660mm will work even better than the 330mm mod. Of course, it also comes into play that anything transmitted at or around the 660mm frequency will be picked up as well and possibly cause interference. This of course will cause loss of control or erratic behavior, etc. And it could be caused from anything from a dirty running microwave to arcing in your turret motor. There is one thing though- the antenna coil should be single strand insulated, but not multistrand. Another place you can find acceptable wire is home phone cable (the stuff that the phone company uses to put in another jack).

If I have misspoken on the details or vernacular, my apologies. It was over 20 years ago I got my RGMC (Radio General Marine Certificate), and it was almost 30 that I was in 735 Comm Reg't (CAF Reserves), so I am a "little" rusty when it comes to radio. And I have not touched any HAM equipment in 20 years as well (call sign VE4AOM). If anyone needs a clarification, I still have a few buddies who are still into radio and I can find out for you. But in a nutshell, this is a very accurate post.

My hat's off to both Pzrwest and Brel- this is a great mod!



Dmon1996

Dmon1996, I like the idea of your using the body mounting to fix the Ariel into place, I will have to do that with my pershing

I realize that in the tub of the body is not the best place to have the antenna (inside the turret would give even better coverage), but I wanted something simple with no wire stress. And I wanted it away from the electronic interference from the motors. So, I figured this was the best place....I'll let you know how it is after full testing. I am a little concerned that hte metal tracks might absorb some signal strength and give me "dead spots"- if so, I'll be placing the coil up in the turret.


Dmon1996

I'm wondering why the antena coil must be the same length as the old antenna. Would it not be the case that more antenna = better reception? I've got no radio knowledge, so I'm just going on feeling here.

Heng Long are actually FM

Are they FM? I had assumed that they were AM as every 27MHz entry level radio I ever saw was AM. My mistake. Still, the rest of the antenna info is true- whether it is AM or FM won't matter to the antenna length.


Dmon1996