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Old 2002.06.12, 09:43 AM   #1
Teek
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Internal Antenna Ideas

.. This is prolly a REAL Newbie question/idea.. but I still wanna try it out ...

I know a little about electronics, but not that much about Remote control transmitters and recievers.

I remember in an old RC car I had, sorry I cant remember the name, I think it was made by Tyco, was a 4 wd huge wheeled RC car, the trick with it was that if u drove forward then hit reverse, it would flip over, and u could keep driving like normal.. Doing an unlimited number of flips with this car and still keep driving was easy.

Anyways, when I shorted this car out and opened it up, I noticed it had a long antenna wire, (like maybe 2 metres worth) looped around the chassis, it was looped around maybe 3 or 4 times. Tha range on this RC car was pretty good, and there was no external antenna. (something Im really looking for).

So basically, my question is, if I get antenna wire for my Mini-z, do you think I can loop it inside the body to replace the external antenna, and also a bigger question, is the longer the antenna/longer antenna wire, make much better reception? Does it increase the controller distance?

If that's so, wouldn't it be a plus to just get heaps of antenna wire and keep looping it inside the body till u can loop no more?

Also, does having a better/bigger antenna cut out interference slighty more? Like, if u had a 5 inch antenna, and u get a little interference, would a 10 inch antenna be better? Over the interference?

I was thinking I could loop about half a metre of antenna wire inside the body casing, then shorten the Mini-z original antenna down to about an inch, and stick it on the end of the wire. That way I only have about an inch of solid antenna sticking out of the hole.

if it was good enough, maybe u don't even need external antenna?

If anybody else has tried internal antennas, pls lemme know!! ^_^

And if this is a VERY NEWBIE question that has been addressed 100's of times, pls forgive me, but I have to start somewhere ^^;

Also, can standard copper wire, the kind u wire up ur LED's with, be used as replacement antenna? For that matter, can anything metallic be used as an antenna? (I really have no knowledge when it comes to transmitters *i missed those parts in class*)

Thank you !! ^_^

If I get my internal antenna to work ill post up some pics on how to do it!
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Old 2002.06.12, 09:50 AM   #2
butler
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I don't know a great deal about this subject either, but be very careful with your antenna. If the antenna was coiled in your body it could easily come into contact with the motor or battery terminals. This will fry you ESC.

I think Drac had the range on his car massively reduced when his antenna bounce off his battery terminal.

Also newbie advice would be to always remove your batteries when working on your Z.

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Old 2002.06.12, 10:01 AM   #3
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Heheh, yeah thanks, everytime I work on my Z I will take out the batteries for sure!!

But On the internal antenna note, I was planning on coiling wire inside that was rubber insulated.

The antenna inside the Tyco RC, was coated in green rubber casing.. so I assume its fine to have an antenna that is wire coated in plastic/rubber.

Also, I can understand why the antenna shouldnt touch the motor or other parts, because, one end of it is directly soldered to the main PCB LOL.
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Old 2002.06.12, 01:45 PM   #4
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Internal Antenna

After snapping the factory antenna in a roll (okay, several rolls) , I started experimenting with a new antenna. I wanted something that would be very flexible but still be able to hold it's shape. I ended up using tin coated copper strapping wire. I cut about a .5 meter piece and encased it in black shrink tubing. It dramatically improved handling over distance...and it definitely seemed to reduce interference glitching. I could go the entire length of a tennis court lengthwise. At first I had most of the antenna outside the car but found that it would lean towards the back during acceleration and cause all sorts of weird backend behaviour. I then wound most of it under the hood and left about 5cm outside. This seemed to work much better. I tried winding all of it under but I seemed to lose quite a bit of distance when I did that. The only potential drawback that I can see is the added weight. I'm not sure what gauge the wire is that I used but it's quite a bit thicker than the stock wire.
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Old 2002.06.12, 04:21 PM   #5
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Well I been meaning to post pics of my SPRING antenna... it fits under the hood, but since my Z is almost dead, its kinda hard to tell if its working or not.. I need a new Z

Any way I have a solid wire soldered to the PCB, and to a spring.. all of its covered in shrink wrap... it works ok, but its too short.. need a 2nd spring ... its a 1.5" spring.. about .25 dia.
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Old 2002.06.12, 08:50 PM   #6
ApacheXMD
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I've been running with an internal antenna since the 2nd week I got my MiniZ (been almost a year).

What I did was wrap about 10 inches of thin wire (about 24 gauge) around a piece of lexan, like how they do it in larger RC cars.

here's a pic. The red wire is the antenna wire. I just made a little loop on one end, and screwed it down just like the stock antenna.

-patchy

edit: Oh btw, the range is just as good if not better as the stock antenna.
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Old 2002.07.11, 10:57 AM   #7
4x4
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i got a tyco canned heat once before it was about the size of a z but it had no antannae at all that thing had impressive range for a 15$ toy i took the body off and got clobbered by a huge spring under there if it hadnt been a 3 to 5 cm wire attached to the board it would never have gone back on the antennae was the body u cant run a canned heat w/o a body and have much range it also had a plastic body but the paint had shiny specs in it maybe those specs were metal shavings but the body might work as a antenae
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