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Antenna Tubes

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I'm really rubbish at driving, so my DF03 end up on it's back quite a lot. A result of this is that I snap loads of antenna tubes. The stock Tamiya ones don't snap, but they permanently kink. I tried some coloured Ansmann ones but they break in two.

The obvious answer would be to get better at driving, I'm trying. In the mean time what are the most flexible, snap resitant antenna tubes?

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Tower Hobbies 2.4ghz radio for $79. The Rx has no antenna. Problem solved permanently :lol: . I have one and love it.

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I don't run antenna tubes on any cars anymore. Had after the antenna tube ripped the wire out of a Futaba R603FF receiver in a crash. I noticed that the receiver still works fine at any reasonable range (i.e. you can still see the car to race it) with out the wire which leads me to believe it really isn't that important. Now I just tape the wires down to the chassis where it stays out of the way of anything moving and have not had a problem.

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I tried ptting the antenna inside the chassis but I got a lot of interferance. It's probably because the receiver is butted up to the speed controller. I'll see if I can run the antenna wire neatly down the opposite side from all the other electronics.

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i have a really bendy one on my grasshopper basher.

i took it from an old PB mini mustang.

it is orange, and is kinda ribbed (for her pleasure lol) on the outside

anyway that sucker is really bendy and seems resiliant, and has settled into a banana shape, which seems to help avoid breakages upon rollover.

the tamiya ones seem a bit stiff and easy to break, if you spend a lot of time bouncing upside down!!

make sure you have a little slack on the receiver wire between the RX and where it enters the pipe, in case it gets yanked

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my DF03 end up on it's back quite a lot. A result of this is that I snap loads of antenna tubes.
Shall I guess that it's a Keen Hawk body you have?

The problem with that particular body is that when you roll over the aerial is held rigidly in place by the top of the body, which is the part that hits the ground, so the aerial gets folded over where it comes through the body instead of flexing like it normally would. Moving the aerial to one side with a separate aerial mount fixes the problem.

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try using a small piece of nitro fuel pipe over the tube where it kinks - you may have to make the hole in the body slightly bigger. Ive done this on quite a few cars now and it saves tubes really well :-)

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Shall I guess that it's a Keen Hawk body you have?

The problem with that particular body is that when you roll over the aerial is held rigidly in place by the top of the body, which is the part that hits the ground, so the aerial gets folded over where it comes through the body instead of flexing like it normally would. Moving the aerial to one side with a separate aerial mount fixes the problem.

Spot on! Now I think about it I can see what you mean, it lands directly on the point where the antenna leaves the body. So if I can remount either to the side or even a bit further back I should be ok.

Thanks a lot.

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Thanks to terry.sc identifying the probem, I have spent the day trying to relocate the antenna so it doesn't pass through the high point on the body. Here is the problem...

SSL23411.jpg

The solution I've come up with doesn't require any drilling in either the body or the chassis and requires just a short ball joint connector and a washer. The new mount screws onto one of the heatsink bars, if you have that option.

What you need is an old ball joint connector and a small washer. Both bits I had left over from previous builds. You need to carefully drill out the thread in the connector so that it's an interference fit with the antenna pipe, and the drill a small hole in from the side to feed the antenna wire through like this...

SSL23421.jpg

Then you need to shave off the back of the connector so that it wll sit flat against the motor plate....

SSL23422.jpg

You then need to srew it to one of the heatsink bars, I chose the lower one as this means I don't have to trim the body. If you want to mount antenna more up upright, and don't mind cutting the body it would be easier to screw it one of the top heatsink bars...

SSL23423.jpg

Then you can thread the antenna wire, and fit the tube...

SSL23424.jpg

Job done...

SSL23425.jpg

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