Hi folks, Unfortunately, I was dumb enough to bend the second-last segment on my Becker antenna when I bent down to pick up my sailplane on the weekend. I didn't even notice that I'd done it until I got back to the car...oh well.
After noticing that the telescoping sections appeared to be brass, I stripped the paint off the bent (now snapped) sections, and straightened the tube with an awl and a piece of music wire that fit the inside diameter. After finding a piece of brass that nested inside the previously-bent sections, I snipped off a section less than 1/4" long, and soldered the antenna back together using the tube as an internal splint/stiffener. A little paint should have it back looking as good as new, with the only lasting damage being that the tip section only collapses about halfway now. Any chance my repair has (significantly) changed the behaviour of the antenna? I can range check using a friend's undamaged antenna just to be safe, but I'm sort of curious what the effect would be from an academic standpoint. Any thoughts? FWIW - I really missed having the antenna when I went out again the next day. I'd forgotten how much of a pain it is to fly with those stock antennas! Cheers, Adam Adam Till Mechanical Engineer 403-270-9200 (ext 154) 403-270-0399 (Fax) UMA Engineering Ltd. 2540 Kensington Road NW Calgary AB, Canada T2N 3S3 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.
