Hi Steve, You can't beat a full length antenna. All others are a compromise. Handi talkies such as the Police and Fire Dept. use are to keep the longer antennas from being a problem. They also have a transmitter coverage area designed to give the hand helds an adequate signal for the area in which they operate. Rubber duckies are a compromise but are adequate for the distance we normally fly in. Our typical transmitters don't offer a good ground plane and I won't go into that now as this requires some theory. Keep your antenna clean and fully extended and you will be OK. Regard, Art ,
Steve Giron wrote: > Jim > I too fly on 50mhz and cautiously with a rubber duck antenna. > > I used 2 8U radios for an experiement one with the rubber duck, > the other with the stock Futaba antenna. I charged the batteries up evenly > and > took some measurements. With the same module, I used the signal strength > meter on a frequency counter and a home brew near field RF meter to > verify that there is definite attenuation using the rubber duck on 50mhz. > > I did this however after hundreds of successful flights to the near limits > of my > 20/20 vision with a 3 meter ship using the rubber duck antenna. > > So... there is a measureable amount of loss in the signal but not enough > that > I have out flown it. How much? 10 feet away showed an S9 vs S3. > > I did talk to the owner of the Smiley antenna company and he said that he > would be glad to refund my money if I was unhappy with the antenna. > > By the way, I did stick the Smiley rubber duck antenna on an MFJ-259 > antenna analyzer and it showed resonant close to 72mhz. > > Funny how people make fuss over using the Hitec module in the Futaba > radios but nobody fusses about using aftermarket antennas. The radios > weren't FCC certified with rubber duck antennas either. Will AMA cover a > crash > when the radio used was using an aftermarket antenna? > > Fly safe, > Steve Giron > AD6GO > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "James R MacLean" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 6:22 PM > Subject: [RCSE] HAM band > > > Edgar et.al., I have just about finished shifting over to CH 08. I use > > Futaba 8Us. I am still trying to sort out what appears to be more > > sensitivity to noise / interferrence / something on the Ham band > > frequency. Planes that had no trouble range check poorly when I swap > > receivers. For now I don't use my rubber ducky antenna. In the air range > > appears to be adequate as I have not had any flying trouble. So on my new > > Compulsion wing harness I used six conductor wiring twisted as triples > > and added appropriate capacitors near each wing servo. (470pF signal to > > ground mono ceramic and 4.7uF solid tantalum power to ground). No > > problems with this plane! New harnesses will get the same treatment. It > > is nice to have my own frequency and VERY nice to be away from the > > parkflyer frequencies! Jim MacLean > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! > > Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! > > Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: > > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" > and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and >"unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
