Boosting radio signals

[gromitvt10]

Hey All,
I've got a Kyosho Abrams mini-tank and the range is literally like 10 feet. Is there anyway i can boost the singnal to make its range longer? Thanx

Kyle

[leccyflyer]

Kyle

I'll move the thread to Car Talk where you might get some answers. I think these are on 27mhz and the limit to range would be the transmitter, rather than the receiver, so if you can try the tank with a 27mhz TX used for surface vehicles then maybe that would work??

We've got one of these and a couple of 27mhz transmitters on different frequencies so I'll give that a shot if I get a chance.

Brian

[CHOMP_ROCK]

The antenna is to small! They never the right size! 17.3 feet will do for a quarter wave antenna. Make a coil of 35 feet of wire and use it as an antenna. That will certainly help.

[Tachikaze]

Kyle,
This is the same problem that I and Umi were working on for our Micro X tanks. They were on 49mHz and 27mHz. The unit that Umi had on 27mHz did respond with a more powerful 27mHz transmitter. I have a Traxxas E Maxx which is 27mHz, the channels did not match up and I was unable to use.
The problem becomes one of the transmitters not putting out enough power. If you talk to the ham operators they will tell you that you need more watts to transmit further. So you need to find a way to increase the power out put of the transmitter.
Take the transmitter apart, if there are resistors and capacitors on the circuit board and not the intergrated resistors and capacitors that are printed into the board you will have a chance in making the modifications. I was unable to make teh modifications to the Micro X because it is a printed board and I do not have the equipment to solder into something that small. If you transmitter has the larger components I can send you a schematic of the modifications.
Other things that you can do is increase the battery power. If you have a 9V battery in the transmitter, you may be able to increase that to 7 AA batteries without buring out you system.
Depending on what the antenna is on the tank you may be able to replace that with cat 5 cable wire. We used this on the tank and it gave us another 10-15ft.

[gromitvt10]

thanx for all the advice guys. I went with Chomp-Rocks advice and lenghtened the antenna, i took a telescopic antenna from an TX and inserted the existing flimpsy antenna inside of it. this added an addition 2 feet or so to the overall length. I get about 4-5x more distance on the tank, which is good enough for me, for now at least:) The plan was to deploy it out the back of my RC C-160 Transall onto the runway and drive it back to the pits. this modification gives me that ability now. So again thanx for all of your help, it WORKED!!!

Kyle

[fixwingagain]

thanx for all the advice guys. I went with Chomp-Rocks advice and lenghtened the antenna, i took a telescopic antenna from an TX and inserted the existing flimpsy antenna inside of it. this added an addition 2 feet or so to the overall length. I get about 4-5x more distance on the tank, which is good enough for me, for now at least:) The plan was to deploy it out the back of my RC C-160 Transall onto the runway and drive it back to the pits. this modification gives me that ability now. So again thanx for all of your help, it WORKED!!!

Kyle


I would love to see some video of that or even pics ....

[lectraplayer]

Be careful about playing with your TX though, you may get it so strong or noisy that the FCC will come after you, especially if you're screwing up someone else!

Maybe you can get a better range by putting the reciever's antenna wire in a "antenna" straw. If not, like Tach says, you can make the antenna longer. I find that opening up the reciever to solder in some 20=gauge "speaker" wire (one strand and end only) works great, and you can make it whatever length you have room for.

[noall]

Well guys. This is interesting. I would also love to c this antenna. so heres my question. I need more distance as well. I get into details in a minute. I have a 72 megahertz transmitter. old one for a plane. it doesnt go far a nuff for me( explain in a minute) . what is the distance of the wire i need . quarter cycle half cycel etc... do i only make the transmitter antenna bigger or the reciever one bigger or both????? the resister capacitor idea is great, email me the things i need to change. I can totally do this..... But what I was looking for ws an amplifier to stick between the antenna and the transmitter. anyone know of any body who makes such a beast.....
I need distance cause i just jacked up my spy camera I hve inside the tank. it was a cheap china one 250 ma watt range. it was worse than the rc transmitter. I got a 1 watt camera transmitter reciever package from japan. , small too. pretty kick ass. but now when i sit in my house and run the tank. the transmitter distance is crap compared to the camera.... like i would say.... 50 feet ( thats through walls though....anyway. I just rambled on. sry....
any help on the antenna making would be great. an amp booster would be way better. last resort. I would for sure try and boost power by modding the inside....
thx
guys hope to here form someone soon.....