toyotatruckin

Quick question on the reciever wire length....the instructions say to cut 12" off the RX wire which would give me aprox a 3" pig tail from the rx, aprox 3" of pigtail from deans antenna and a 9" whip for a total of 15" all together..........Where I need to mount the antenna I am going to need a pig tail from the RX to be about 5 or 6 inches long giving a total of 17 or 18 inches overall length.....Is there going to be any signal/range problems doing this? Using a JR XS3 synthesized radio and reciever (FM).......

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

The only advice that I can give you is from my CB radio days. Back then I learned about Standing Wave Ratios and wavelengths. I knew that a 1/4 wavelength was 108" if my rusty memory serves and that radios and/or anteenas has to be tuned using an SWR meter to get it as low as possible. Altering it would result in poor reception. How much by adding or subtracting for distance would interfere, I don't know. What little that I do know is that manufacturers don't advise cutting the antenna wire shorter so I'd assume that adding will affect reception. I can also see your problem as it's nice to have extra length if you mount the antenna on the radio box lid or the transon.

toyotatruckin

See I was wondering if they had a factory tune kinda like a CB... Ill might try to call deans before I start cutting as I really would like to have the extra length...

LtDoc

toyotatruckin,
In general, increasing the length of an R/C antenna isn't going to hurt anything. That's the receiving antenna, not the antenna on the transmitter! Don't mess with that one.
Relating to what Ron said, transmitters are very 'picky' about the antennas they have to use. Receivers aren't too 'picky' at all, almost anything will work. The only thing that will be 'harmed' by shortening a receiver's antenna is usable range. Lengthening a receiving antenna may not increase range noticeably, but it certainly won't hurt anything. So adding a few inches as in your situation just isn't a 'biggy'. Of course, doing a range check certainly doesn't hurt either.
- 'Doc

toyotatruckin

Ok just called deans and asked them......The slimline antenna is just like replacing wire with wire and the recievers ARE factory tuned to a spacific length so changing that would not be a good idea....Humm....might call JR too!

unclecrash

I love the little deans antenna. Hey do you know you have to match it to your setup. Im not sure but thet make different khz or is it mhz. I didnt know this until my friend the electrical engineer grabbed me one off the wall and checked the pack.

wave waker

i think the best is call the both manufacturer..

but just to share experience i'm using deans antenna in my nitro hammer stock am radio, i didn't follow their instructions where to cut, and i don't have problem.

toyotatruckin

no matching needed as the slimline is not a loaded antenna....Also I just want to make sure as I dont need a (reaching) 1300$ boat loosing rang due to a simple little mistake....

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

I found this article a while back. It's got lots of interesting test results on using shorter antennas. http://www.rc-cam.com/ant_exp.htm

toyotatruckin

Hay thanks for the site chuck! Good reading...............Ok now that I look at things a bit more I kinda wasted time posting, except for answering future questions....I have plenty of antenna wire left I cut the instructed 12" from reciever wire soldered it up and mounted the antenna with no problems even have a little extra wire to play with...not much though....