Antena reports
 

i was bored so i open my project d car and unwrapped the antena from around the pcb my range grew from a wimpy 5 or 6 feet to ok get this 22 feet!!! and it might even be more because i was up aginst a wall! hehehebut now i got a big long antena sticking out im going to make a tube for it.........

feet or inches cause damn

Re: Antena reports
 

um ya......

i always stuff my antennas under the body. the cars handle better and dont look as limpwristed. at least with cyclonas, i still get about 15foot range.

try cat5 (network wires) i get about 50ft!!!

cat-5 does nothing. all it does is let you pick the color.

Ahh a fellow Net Admin :D
The PCB is pretty easy to get out, you just have to be extra careful. Along one side you will see a row of circular pads, this is where the wires are soldered in. Pry from the opposite end. I use a small screwdriver. The steering wires are super thin, so don't yank on it. Just kinda gently lay it to the side... Hope this helps!

why dont you try to melt the solder that is holding it? then you dont gota yank anything. i thought you admin guys were supposed to know everything.

I think he was just asking how to get underneath the PCB

oh well you dont need a screwdriver. at least i never did

I would... I was getting about the same with my LXX (about 5 ft. or so) until I switched out the antennae. Now I get great range (not sure exactly, but I guess around 15 - 20 ft).
On another note, I ran mine fine in the server room, we have around 30 or so servers :D :D

note 1: computers are shielded fairly well and dont really mess with reception.

note 2: i installed cat5 and the range was exactly the same as the stock antenna.

note 3: the best way to pump up reception is to increase power to the transmitter.

Antenna woes
 

I have antenna woes with a cheapo clone. I swapped mine for a solid copper core, and it made no difference to range, but it does look nicer!

I also tuned the pot in the receiver slightly and this made a small improvement.

Going with the idea that transmitter power would be a better idea I decided to do this.

I only had a 3.6V phone battery lying around, so I thought id use that, to see if the slight increase in voltage to the transmitter would help improve things.

I couldnt find phone to charge it with, so I just used what I had to hand, a 6V battery. Hell, I was only giving it a little charge to test it, so what the hay.

What I forgot though was that charging with 6V meant it will for the first few seconds of discharge it will give out 6V before quickly dropping to 3.6V.

Even that short burst of 6V seems to have fried my transmitter. The LEDs still work but no transmission from what I can tell. Im guessing i fried the TX2C chip. :(

the antenna point is ontop of the pcb board (bit char g) so you dont need to flip your pcb board. replace the stock antenna with the cat5 wire. what i like to do is wrap 2 circles around the top of the clear case then from the wire holder, add maybe 5 inches more of cat5 wires, then having it stick up and try your distance. since mines a 35 mhz, i use shen qi wei contoller to control my bit char g. anyone try charging there bit char g dual mod with this controller? you get maybe a 10 sec charge then the led light will starrt blinking. :o

the point where the antenna is soldered onto is on the top of the pcb on the bit char-g, but it is wired from the bottom of the board and sometimes, it is also soldered underneath as well. so even though its soldered on top, you still need to flip the board over.

Scary. I am one as well.

I am also using a cat 5 antenna on my shen.

did the cat-5 really increase your range? it didnt do squat for me.

My old antenna was 11cm, and floppy.
My cat 5 antenna extends 13 cm out of the car, so it's probably like 15 cm total. It wraps through the wire clip on the PCB before exiting.
Range came up a bit when I installed it.

The longer and straighter the wire stays, the better it will work.
That and some subtle electrical properties not worth mentioning make the cat 5 antennas cool.

What would be neat would be a body that has a thin layer of metal on the underside. Hey...maybe a custom printed circuit antenna like those ones the suckers bought for their cell phones!

I'm sure some clever engineer-type will work something out.

Put a metal clip on the front or rear chassis tab, and it can be the contact point with the body!

I tried the cat5 antenna wire, the range was the same. I did not like it because it was too stiff. I run my car under things and the cat5 can cause it to hang up. I found some 24 gauge 8 conductor computer cable ( I work with electrical control systems) that is a little stiffer than stock wire, but not as stiff as cat5. It also seems to increase the range a bit too.

okay, I am a n00b, and I get about 6.5 foot range from my microsizer, stock antenna. What is a cat 5 antenna and where can I get one? Also, how do I install it. I would like to increase my range, too.

cat-5 is network cable for computers and is bs that it magically increases your range. ill admit that it is good wire to use because it is maleable but it doesnt magically increase your range. dont you think tomy would use it if it did?

if you want further range you need to ad a third battery to your controller. or get a bigger antenna or both.

How do you add a 3rd battery to your controller?

i havnt done this since i had a working zipzap but pretty much the same way you ad a second battery to the car. you can buy single batter holders at radioshack and glue or screw it to the controller shell and solder it into the circuit with the other two. my zipzap is long taken apart and im not sure where the controller is so i cant put up any pics.

that mod along with a longer antenna increased range from about 6foot to about 30foot

wow that sounds really complicated, is there any way a young 15 yr old can do this with out screwing his stuff up lol

umm if you have never soldered then i wouldnt mess with it. do you know anyone who can solder and knows basic circuit knowledge? its quick and easy to do if you know what you are doing.

lol my dad might, I'll have to ask him

Extreme Low-Tech Solution!!!
 

Warning!!! Only try this if you are a complete WIMP like I am. . .





. . .Put Aluminum Foil over the end of your controller antenna. Is it ugly? Absolutely! Does it increase your range dramatically? You better believe it!!!!

lol
 

lol thanks, I'll try that; but what I actually did was openrun the antenna directly out of the back, like I believe people were talking about before. Instead of running it from the front of the car, over the chip, through the back window, just run it directly out the back. my antenna now sticks about 4.5 inches out of the back of the car, And it increased the range about 3 more feet!

Cat 5 cable in itself isn't what makes the antenna better.

What does it is the LENGTH and STRAIGHTNESS of the antenna.

And on a strictly technical level solid core wire is scientifically proven to be better for antennas due to the lower amount of surface area the signal has to deal with on it's way to the receiver.

What does it is the LENGTH and STRAIGHTNESS of the antenna.

Hey, I added about 7 inches of aluminum foil to my controller antenna, and then about 4 more on my microsizer, and now, it goes like 15 feet! Now, as for looking good, it's horrible lol, but it works!

has anyone tried hooking up some Monster Cable from their home stereo to the pcb? lol

You know, that gets me thinking.... I wonder if you could hook up another antenna, make some micro speakers lol, and have a micro-radio lol