I took my broken 8U antenna, cut it off just above the case exit point and than soldered a length of flexible ext. cord wire to the inside of the antenna tube. I cut it off at the original length of the fully extended antenna, sweated the end than dipped the end in plastidip. I used heat shrink to make a 3 layer strain relief where the flex wire exits the old antenna shaft and added about 6" of .010 music wire under the last 2 layers to stiffen the base a bit. The antenna just hangs vertically (best orientation) and I wrap it around the tx for storage. There is no range reduction, maybe an improvement. I have flown over a mile away with this rig and have never had range issues. (I have stepped on it a few times though...)
MM Aerofoam ----- Original Message ----- From: Robert Samuels To: soaring@airage.com Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 2:40 PM Subject: [RCSE] Antenna Follies I had a transmitter antenna problem last year. My Futaba 8 U has a Smiley Rubber Ducky antenna. This attaches by means of a spring loaded bayonet mount. Due to the design the spring loading allows the mating pin to flex back and fourth a bit. After years of use I found the pin had broken off and that I had been flying with the antenna connection just barely touching. I think that is what caused the crash of my Organic at last years Nats. So I bought a new Rubber Ducky antenna assuming I would get a few more years of use before it failed. I was wrong. I just checked it and found it had failed the same way. After only a few months of use. Probably due to all the HL flying I've been doing which causes a lot of flexing of the spring loaded mount back and fourth during the launching process with it's attendant mating pin flexing. Glad I caught it during a shop check. Robert Samuels .......... St. Louis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give. Learn more.
