External Aerials for Semi Scale Boats

[Paul Jackson 1Participant @pauljackson1]

I am refitting a semi-scale boat I built some 35+ years ago. Would someone please advise me on fitting an external aerial? I’m thinking along the lines of a whip type of thing(sorry I don’t know their correct name).

[Paul Jackson 1Participant @pauljackson1]

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

If you are using 27 or 40 meg radio then jut a bit of thin stiff wire will do the job. However the total aerial should be around 25 to 30 inches (60-70cm) so if you have a vertical whip of, say 10 inches or so, you should then have some flexible wire soldered to it to make up the difference which can be run around within the top of the hull.

 

If you are using 2.4 Ghz radio then you don’t need an aerial other than the two short lengths of wire already fitted to the receiver although it’s best to mount the receiver so that these wires are above the waterline in the boat and at 90 degrees to each other.

 

Colin

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

I have not found it necessary to use an external aerial on any of my boats. If using a “normal” radio, (in my case 36 Mhz) I run the aerial around the inside if the hull in a plastic tube – mostly outers from “snakes” used by aeromodellers. 2.4 Ghz radios have short aerials, so they are not a problem. However, as Colin pointed out, any aerial should be above the waterline.

 

My method of internal aerials does not affect the range of my radios, as most boats are sailed relatively close to the operator, unlike model aircraft.

 

Peter.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I have boats with all combinations…some work ok with just the wire around the hull, others appear to need a bit of wire sticking up due to low hulls. Some have had wires fitted (generally approx 9 inches), and subsequently I have bent them at the 2/3 mark so that just 1/3 protrudes and the rest lays horizontal in a hatch or somewhere (Sunderland for instance) to give a smaller sticky up bit.

 

I always try to budget for a wire aerial just in case, even if it is just a few inches, and then try it out on the pond to see if its needed or not. Not always easy to retrofit.

 

Ashley

[Richard J HuggettParticipant @richardjhuggett]

Funny this, I’ve never bothered with external aerials…in my subs all I’ve ever done is to scrunch the aerial wire up into a ball and stuff it in the wtc wherever it will fit and will not get hooked up in servo arms or linkages.

 

My Neptune sub has the aerial wire wound round a styrene comb and laid on top of the ballast bag, I can sit the sub on the bottom of a full size swimming pool in the deep end with no problem.

 

I did go as far as poking the end of the aerial wire up a plastic tube on my Robbe Sea Jet….that was on a Planet 2.4gHz radio. I also tried it with the rx sat on the hull bottom and the little piece of aerial laying horizontally under the motor mounting plate….with either set up the boat would go out of sight without any glitches at all.

 

Maybe I’ve just been lucky…

 

 

 

Rich

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