RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Just want to know if anyone else has tried this......

In a moment of weakness, I bought another tank - H/L King Tiger with loads of metal upgrades. After getting it out the box, setting it up and then poking myself in the eye with the aerial I started thinking; all the towing cables are copper, they run the length of the tank both sides and onto the top - mmmm. As a quick experiment I disconnected the wire to the eye poker, removed one of the cable mount brackets and through the hole pushed the aerial wire, untwisted the cable slightly and trapped the aerial cable into the towing cable - you couldn't see the wire . Gave it a go and it almost made it to the end of the garden, another mod to link all the towing cables together and the only thing stopping it was the garden fence! Even tried it using the metal barrel, that worked too, not as well as the cables.

Can anyone see a downside to using all these metal accessories we spend our money as an aerial?

Hallo Mac, In the days when 27MHz was the norm, various alternatives to the "Whip" aerial were offered, indeed if you go back a couple of years on the various "Build pages of the "Forum" you will see some of the different types.
Now we have 2.4 GHz which of course does not need an external aerial the demand has disappeared, the price of a new 2.4 system being so low there would seem to be little point in going to the effort to find an alternative aerial when you can with very little expense do without, this has the added advantage of allowing the builder to place an aerial in the correct position on the Tank, something HENG LONG never managed, even though the correctly sited aerial is not actually in service! shaun

I don't see why it wouldn't work I used the metal lower hull of the Tiger I built for the antenna and it works just fine.

If you chose to upgrade to the H/L 2.4 set up its on ebay now for under $70.00 for the transmitter and receiver.

I don't know much about aerials either, yes its 27MHz.

One towing cable is almost the same length as the aerial.I always thought it worked best pointing up in the air but seem to works just as well when wrapped around the outside.

I know 2.4GHz is out now, I may live in Wales but I'm Scottish - always looking for a cheaper way!!!

Hi macman,
...(This is meant to be a funny comment ) ---------->> "Great" minds think alike....
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3774
Seriously though, it is a good idea.....I believe that the length of the new aerial is important..Its meant to be in multiples of the aerial length because it matches the "wavelength" of the radio signal .... but the main thing is the new size of the aerial being bigger than the old one..and less dangerous to the eyeballs.