Hepdog

I have a GWS R6N and I am totally not impressed with the range it gets. I have read on various forums that soldering an extra length of antennae onto the stock one will help. Anyone know or have any experience with this? Any help would be much appreciated.

vanman

My Feedback: (2)

You may notice that the range on many inexpensive (under $30) single conversion receivers is between 500-1000ft. The GWS receiver that you have should have a range of 1000ft (according to their website).

To get the full 1 mile range from a small single conversion receiver, you will usually be in the over $40 range.

I have one of the older 4 channel GWS receivers in my sailplane (and am told I am nuts) and have never flown it out of range or even had a glitch while using it. This is one of the older 4 channel receivers that had the 39" antennae on it. They have shortened them to 20" and I have heard that this was done to reduce the likelihood of interference while flying indoors.

There is a short antennae available that is only 3" long but has 36" of wire coiled in it that is supposed to increase the range on the 4ch receivers to 800ft. Not sure if it will do anything for the 6 channel though.

For what it's worth, the antennae wire is 36 guage. You might try lengthening the wire back out to 39" or replacing it with one that is 39" would actually be preferred and let us know if it helps.

Hope this helps.

Bill

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

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I would be interested to know what you mean by not impressed by range. Is it glitching? Are you trying to fly near the limit of its range?

The rated range is 1000 feet.

Hepdog

By not impressed I mean to say this. Collapsed TX antennae range is about 50 feet before major glitching. Worst of all the ESC "looses" the signal and goes into failsafe and won't come out. My ESC is a CC 25p which means I can throttle up, but can't kill it. Even if I regain control I will have to fly until the batt is dead. I don't like deadsticking my Mustang if I can avoid it. Full antennae range is only about 500 feet before same glitching! This would be fine for any slowflying parkflyer, but not the intended airplane and its not as advertised anyway.
I am going to try it with a different ESC and setup and see what happens. Shouldn't have been a problem to begin with though.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Some thoughts tha that might be helpful- you are probably doing some of these already

1) Try running the antenna outside the plane - Just to see if range improves or glitching is reduced

2) Twist all of your servo and ESC leads to reduce EM emissions

3) Put the receiver as far as possible from the ESC

4) Wrap the receiver in aluminum foil. I have heard that this can help shield from ESC noise, but can't say for sure if it works.

If all else fails, go to a better receiver like a Hitec micro 555, Hitec electron 6 or Hitec superslim. All are dual conversion and 1 mile range.

Electron 6 is my favoraite for light weight, small size and consistant performance.

Hepdog

Interesting Ideas thank you. Oddly enough I got a little frustrated today and tried other things. Believe it or not, by simply reversing the cyrstal around, the range improved dramatically. Still not the advertised distance - yet - but flyable. Really like the weight savings and will make a fine indoor RX. Thanks all.