2.4 Receivers antenna wires

[lithoushine]

i have a quick question about 2.4 receiver wire antennas. can you increase rage/get a more solid link by increasing the length of the antennas. does the insulation on the wires affest it as well? i was going to try this on a spektrum ar6100e but wanted to get some more information on it. thanks derek

[peril]

Antennas are a tuned length, you could increase the wavelength possibly to 1/2 wave? Eww more brains needed here, all my work has been with 27mhz.

I'd say no, not really

[7sp]

I stumbled across a antenna post awhile back to this site. A somewhat practical approach from trial and error with some interesting results. http://mysite.verizon.net/respri94/index.html

The write up is called The 2-Point-4 Chronicles!
http://mysite.verizon.net/respri94/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/The2point4chroniclesfinaldec2010.pdf

Note:
This is from a sailplane flier like myself, we tend to push the range farther when chasing thermals then most sport plane fliers.

7SP

[Kamu]

At such a high frequency making wires longer introduces a lot of interference. You want the wires as short as possible. And you want insulated coaxial wire for antenna wire.

If you want longer range you can perhaps try a higher gain antenna.

This is what I gather from my reading and asking electro-fellows (including my Dad).

[A10FLYR]

This is from a sailplane flier like myself, we tend to push the range farther when chasing thermals then most sport plane fliers.

7SP

Nice, but.... Mike states that the signal is not blocked by the human body, trees, objects, but.....while not blocked it is reduced.(I have experianced short range problems standing behind the van, and also flying into a snow squall, or trying to find my plane when buried in a snow bank using one of those 2.4 Loc8tor thingys). Still usable signal tho for our purposes. I love how he debunked some theories in relation to what we do...

However.......

The main reason for my purchasing the FRSky telemetry system is that because the human body blocks the signal and I use that to find my glider when it goes down far away or behind the rocks and bushes/trees. When I hold the TX next to my body and do what we call the "TX dance", that is, turn slowly around the TX beeps fastest when the reciever is directly behind my body telling me I must turn around and walk in that direction. As I get closer to the reciever I must put the TX into range check mode to reduce sensitivity in order for the dance to still work. (When you get close to the reciever the TX beeps continsly as you turn full circle) I learned this trick from Ian/Damon on RCG. I think he originally did it with Jeti stuff.

[RCModelReviews]

Some rules of thumb...

You *don't* want a directional antenna on your receiver. Directional antennas work by focusing the antenna in a specific (range of) direction(s) which means they create other aspects from which the effectiveness of the antenna is dramatically reduced.

All the good quality 2.4GHz systems have more than enough range. When I inadvertently flew my FrSky system using an antenna that made very poor contact with the transmitter module I still got over 400 yards of range. Now that I've replaced the antenna, I've got solid control far beyond the 1.2Kms I've flow so far with the FPV setup. It's worth noting that my spotter said the model (the large HK EPP FPV airframe) became impossible to see beyond about 1000 yards.

With others having tested 2.4GHz RC systems out to 3Kms or more, there's just no way (under normal circumstances) that you're going to run out of range before your model disappears from sight.

Once my higher-powered video equipment arrives then, using the FY21AP RTL system, I plan to do some really practical range-tests on common 2.4GHz systems. I'm picking that the ground to air range of these systems will be at least 3Kms, perhaps as much as 5Kms (3 miles) -- but we'll see.