The DC-3 looks great as to the antenna placement thing:with a aluminum covered R/C aircraft running the antenna on the out side fuselage is a safe bet and or doing a range check first with the antenna routed in the fuselage and then checking to see if there is a change in range with the antenna exiting the fuselage. *

Receiver batteries replaced every 2 seasons works for me as stated further along in this thread. I just replaced my 2700 Ma NM 6v pack even though both fully charged packs register the same under load but again its a safety thing. I have been flying R/C over 3 decades now and have experienced a glitch or radio failure only a couple times.If ever I get the new P.C. up I have a video of a flight where I got several glitches and proceeded to land safely I replaced the radio with a PCM system the problem went away or was it masked..[sm=confused.gif]

woops

I avoid rubber bands because they end up on the shop floor. ā€œNow where did that come from?ā€ Instead I use elastic from the sewing section at Wal-Mart. It comes in black or white and does not self-destruct like rubber bands.

Bill

I've had radio interference problems with the ant. being inside the plane. It was on a Twist. There is a tube in the fuse to run the wire through and I couldn't seem to keep the tail servos from glitching untill I removed the ant. from the tube and monokoted it to the bottom of the fuse. It worked fine there. You can get interference inside the fuse, you just have to range check it and make sure it's going to work in there.

Something that one should consider is frequency alignment accuracy after X number of years. The radios we use are
acceptable and do a good job, however, they are subjected to a lot of vibration, extreme temperatures, and what a
typical professional industrial radio would consider "neglect". Ever have your system checked out at a manufacturer's
or their authorized service agent's facility? In the vein of power management I chuck my entire set of batteries every
other year...without question regardless of the battery conditioner's latest readout. Crashed receivers need to be
professionally looked at before a life threatening takeoff occurs...;^) Think about that last high G abrupt stop your
onboard flight system encountered. Just a thought, before you find yourself wishing you had your's checked.

In recent years, I have run all my antennas inside the fuselage, allowing the excess to trail. But, recently we had a problem with the new Twist 60 with short range check and servo twitching. We traced the problem to the antenna being routed through the fuselage in close proximity to the very long servo extensions needed to reach the rear-mounted rudder and elevator servos. Pulling the antenna out and routing it outside solved the problem.

One thing I want to remind everyone of with respect to long servo leads is to twist the bundle along its length as many times as you can. This creates a magnetic helix "shield" around the wiring which not only keeps emi, it keeps emi within the bundle "field". The standard wire antenna should be fine if it is kept away from the spiral bundle and any down stream battery packs you might have placed into the system in parallel. Always range check on the ground before you start your flying day...assume nothing from the day before.

some people say this is a no no.....but i use antenna bobbins.....keep my antenna inside the fuse......it uses up 18 inches of the length....i havent had any problems.....

I keep the antenna neatly rolled up and secured with a twist tieā€¦just like it comes in the box. I have always done it this way and have built MANY planes.
Murphy

Move over to 2.4GHz radios and this is a non issue.. Now to keep the approx. 90 degree antenna orientation recommended with a 2.4 receiver, I use either small pieces of nyrod or fuel tubing CA'd to the inside of the fuse in the proper orientation...

for profiles and some kits i run the antenna wire out the wing. on other planes i glue a small, 2-3in long, piece of nyrod/small tube/ect to the bottom of the fuse. then run the antenna along the bottom of the fuse then through the tube. you could also glue it to the top of the tail and run it through that way.