204sailor

Friends, In the past some of our members have outlined how to manufacture an antenna that could be placed within the tank body.I have searched the
stickysbut have had no luck in locating a 'How to make an internal antenna". I know from previous posts I`ve read thatmagnet wire is used,and is wrapped around a styrenedowel, but at 27MHZ how many turns are required to simulate the load presented by the whip antenna.Is location away from the motors important?Any helpor info would be appreciated.

Charlie

lposter

Hi

Ihad success by measuring off the exact length of the antenn and getting insulated copper wire of the same length. I wrapped it around a randomly selected plastic tube,bared the end and just connected the antennae wire to it. NO problems. Motors didnt affect it.Range was shorter though.

Improved that by threading the original antennae through aquarium tubing and just running around the inside of my hull with cable ties and sticky pads. That worked better for me with range.

P

Panther G

The best thing too use is "enamel coated "hard wire. You must remove the coating at the connection points though. I have done this with both of my Hobby Engine tanks and it works great. I believe I still have some of the wire left sailor if you want it.

shenlonco

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Charlie what we do for RC's is use a flat sheet like 2 inches wide by 6 or so or longer if you can fit it... we wrap the antenna wire around it like shown in the photo ...you should have like 17" of antenna wire thin stuff coated with some kind coating ( like the thin wires used in the HL tank harnesses is fine)

Perry S.

Here's the thread on how I built mine. Everything is in there. I'll warn you, they can be finicky with mounting position and orientation but if are willing tofiddle with it they can work fine.

Perry

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_94...tm.htm#9405898

BIGMIG

I had an idea i posted on here at one time that i thought would work realy great.(never tried it myself or don't know if anyone else did.?) I thought making the tow cable out of braded picture frame wire and towards the back soldering a small wire to the cable and drilling a small hole under the cable to pass through the hull to connect to the antena wire.If done right one would not see the attached wire and you could even paint the cable as i don't think the paint would interfear with the reception.Seems like this would provide the right length for reception plus being external and still looking natural at the same time.

For what it's worth..........But i think it is a workable idea.

BIGMIG
P.S. If you use the right wire it would look just like real cable........

Pah co chu puk

I wrapped my stock antenna around a bic pen and it works fine.  Just don't let the wire touch it's self or it will short out and act like a shorter antenna with less reception.  Place it horazontal not vertical, it seems to work better that way.

Imnotanace

Here is a chart that can help with the length of wire you should use . just put in the freq. you are on and use 1/4 wave length to get the best lenth for your radio. When wrapping around a tube or flat piece of plastic DO NOT CROSS OVER wires and DO NOT tie a knot in it.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/freq...wavelength.htm

Ron

P.S. use the same gage wire or something close to your original size

harleridr

I am using 2.4 on my planes and boats.antenna on the rx is about 6 inches and about 5 on the tx no problems. Talk tp Phil over at Rc tank wars. He can probably shed some light on this.
Harle

Imnotanace

2.4 is a very short wavelength and does not need a long antenna 26 MHz would need a lot longer antenna ,if you shorten the wire you will also lose range.

Ron
The 1/4 for 26 is 9.4feet so break it down in even amounts like 4.7 and 2.35 feet x12 gives you 28.2inch

YHR

I played around with the coil idea, but had mixed results. I ended up just taking a length of plain wire insulation and all and just laying it the bottom of the tank. Worked as good, and better then most of the coils I built.

Dan

204sailor

Gentlemen, Thank you very much for all your inputs and ideas.I do like PerryS`smethod of making a coil,as this would lend itself more easily into the
victim (Stug 3) where space is limited.However,the flat layout as Steve pointed out works for him, and maybe I can use that arrangement in my KV1.
And Gregg thanks for the offer of magnet wire you have on hand. I`ll pick some up at one of the two Radio Shack stores I have nearby,thank you anyway.
Thanks also toall who chimed in,for taking the time to share thier experiences with fabricating internal antennas.

Charlie

Ern

Harold [Pzrwest on this forum] built these and sold a bunch to Hobby Havoc... here a thread and his instructions...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_87...tm.htm#8707869