Hi there,

I am finishing my Boomerang XL and i am about to install a laod based whip antenna. I was wondering if i could install it inside fuselage toward nose. I find that this way jet will look nicer without antenna hanging out.

I fly giant scale and always place antenna wire inside fuse.
Do you have anything against this. Will surely run some range tests before flying, but the general idea here is to see if i should even try an enclosed installation.

Thanks and regards.

Hi

Have you thought about changing to 2.4Ghz?

No large aerial, one of the reasons that I changed to 2.4 was to get rid of the 'stick'!

fireblade5437,

I will definetly switch to 2.4 Ghz but not before giving it some more time in the market to have some good feedback on pros and cons.

Thanks.

You may have noticed that the helicopter guys install their short base-loaded antennas exactly like you describe. I've mounted mine both ways (i.e., pointed up and pointed parallel to the ground) and, based on unscientific range tests, the antenna doesn't seem to care in the airframes I'm using them in. One thing to remember: there are signal nulls (wrt both Tx and Rx RF paths) when there's a "look angle" oriented straight on to (or off of) the antenna.

Most of my jets have a base loaded antenna, but I install them vertically up in the middle of the fuse if possible. The range is awasome that way. Puting the antenna in the nose will reduce your range when the plane is going away from you.. I had one lockout that way, and then I changed to vertical install with no problems... Good luck!!!

I've been using revolution whips for a few years and never had a problem. There great and make the aircraft look much more scale like. If you take a good look at a lot of the photo's you'll see that its not uncommon to put them inside like you describe. Be aware though that there has been a lot of talk about where to put them in accordance to things such as carbon fiber and other electronics. I've never had a problem but I always preform a really, really, really good range check before flight. Better safe than sorry. (I do this even if I'm not using a whip).

Dale

Install it in the fuse standing if can ( you should have plenty of room ) when you do your range check with the engine running ramember to move the jet around so you get to test the singnal streng from 4 diferent positions to see if your range is ok.

Best way for your set up is to have the radio wires and reveiver on one side of the fuse and the turbine wires and electronics on the other.

Good luck on you maiden.

Go for it, I use them all the time, installed anywhere on the plane (nose section or main section) with no issues at all.

Regards
Peter

Thank you all for your feedback, however i do sens some hesitation or in some cases preference for vertical/outside installations.

The problem is that antenna will run close to battery cables or other electronic devices. What would be the closest or i should say what should be the minimum clearance around the areal.

One place i thought of is on top of the Kevlar tank (cylinder). Would it be possible or will Kevlar creat some noise??

CARS II,

In my setup i have RX and turbine components as per your description.

Dig it,

Although i do not have Carbon fiber inside the XL, i am still worried about the electronics around.

Ehab,

I am leaving the vertical solution for last.

Mr. Mike,

You got me worried about the signal nulls, but isn't this supposed to happen even with wire antenna installed inside fuselage (Giant planes).

Thanks for your input.
Best regards

Dany

I have installed base loaded antennas inside fuselages oriented in a horizontal plane with no problems. Basic wave propogation logic states that the current runs parallel with the transmitting antenna and the voltage waves are perpendicular to the transmitting antenna. Therefore, based on this logic, it will work. You can get nulls regardless of how your receiver antenna is oriented . There are many variables that can contribute to nulls.
Steve

A lot of this stuff is more art/magic than science. For any given situation or installation you just have to try it. Like Steve says, there are many variables. Hey, if nothing else you'll be trying it on the inside first and should only have to resort to drilling holes to mount it outside as a last resort!

I have it installed as such in my TJ F-16. Works great.

Disregard

For what it's worth:
I have my antenna on a removable vertical mount on the side of my R54 but I store it inside tucked into a servo wire bundle tray (9 servo wires) .
After landing one flight I noticed that my antenna was gone! You may have guessed that I forgot to mount it and the entire flight was with the antenna tucked in the tray with the rest of the wires.
I didn't noticed a single glitch and the flight was normal.

I use the Revolution in all my jets. (F-16 x 2, F-15, F-104, and SM Hawk) I mount it in the nose pointed forward and have had nothing but success. Longer range checks are the norm. I have used batteries close to the antenna too with no problem (although not the best solution). Lead weights near the antenna seem to have no effect either. you will be most pleased with the performance.

Ya, I say to watch electrical interference but I have a whip right beside three servoes, ,a battery and a receiver in my P-40 and have never had a problem. The wires for the elevator and rudder run right along the bottom of the fuse beside it. I guess my point was more to check it over really, really, really well before you fly it. If you don't have any interference there, then you more than likely won't in the air. This is my experience and I would feel comfortable installing one inside the fuse of any aircraft I have and will have in the future. Like I say, just be thourough and you will be fine.

Dale

Same general subject, different issue. My R54 will have a 20" whip coming out the rear area of the hatch (cockpit area). I had to position it such that the original JR 649 receiver antenna (72 mhz) at 38" will be cut to 20" and attached to the whip base (cant get it any shorter). That will leave me a total length of 40". Am I looking for trouble with range reduction? I have considered cutting the whip back to 18" if necessary.

Thank you all for your various thoughts, i have one more question:

Is it advisable to install the base loaded whip antenna horizontaly on top of the kevlar fuel tank enclosed in the middle of fuse? Would kevlar act like CF and create noise problems.

Thanks.

Mmmm.. stay away from Kevlar as much as posible. How about this, I had a Deans base loaded antenna in my 45. cap 21 well, one day I just forgot to install the antenna on the base...............after the flight ( and we did all kinds of things and flew far away too ) I saw that the antenna was gone, to my surprice it was still in the fuse were I keep it for transportation so I wouldn't forget to screw it on the top of the model, how about that, the Cap flew and flew for 10 minutes without the antennaand no gliches at all. [:@]

Extra300 nice work on the install.