You've touched on several points. 1. ANTENNA DOWN Leaving the antenna down *is* stressful to the transmitter. But typically the manufacturer over designs it to withstand the abuse.
2. ANTENNA VOLUME Antenna theory is an UGLY course that I successfully avoided. I only skimmed the surface thankfully. The antennas that we deal with are essentially 2 dimensional. Coils or helical wound antennas being a bit of an exception. Volume doesn't play a part for us nor should it. You don't need the ulcers. Ugly math. If you want to use a fat wire, fine. Just don't get crazy with it. 3. DIRECTIONAL Another difficult subject. We don't need it or want it. You don't want to go there. COMMENT We have systems that function quite well. They use 1/4 wave monopole antennas because they are versatile cheap and need no user fiddling. To change them will require compromises. Some changes to the Rx antenna are quite doable. The center fed dipole being about the best. It is a big improvement but can open a whole can of worms, too... A big difficulty for any antenna configuration is the lack of a good ground plane. The receiver has virtually none and we can't change that. The transmitter has a poor one also. And, while changes are feasible doing so would create limitations that some will find objectionable. Bill Swingle Janesville, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED] RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
