Originally Posted by JimDrew

Here is my Dietrich Edge 540 with a RCGF 56cc engine, X10+ expander, and dual Nano receivers. This was setup as a test bed to begin real world testing of a new product.

x24 ...

Ok another one off the board finally... Two actually. Here is the first.

Straighten the Nano antenna wires!

They are straight now, I was trying to keep them out of the mess I made with the canopy glue. Maidened it this morning, just wish I had some of that good flying weather you guys have out that way this time of year!

Nice looking plane Chris; good luck with her. Anyone can fly in nice weather.

Thanks. Nice weather isnt something we get a lot of this time of year. Here is the other one. A 2.5M ASW28. Hopefully will get to maiden it soon, but looks like rain all this coming weekend.

Nice. Install!

Thanks. Hopefully it flies that well also.

Experimental actually.

This is how you behave when you want to get that first test flight in. As the afternoon of a beautiful NJ December sunny Sunday with low winds wore on I worked for several hours performing final setup tasks. Before it got dark I decided to give it a go and slapped the RFU on top of the wing with painter's tape. The plane flew well and the receiver stayed on for two flights.

Four A123 cells powers her and a Castle BEC supplies the power for the airborne electronics. The motors are RC Man Child 2212-1000kv with 20A ESCs intended for quadcopters but they don't know they're on an airplane. 9x5 counter-rotating props. The X10+ is under the wing on the side of the fuse. 54" span and a bit over three pounds. One drawback of quick and easy foam parts is that everything goes on the outside.

The RFU will be relocated to the tail in the final setup. Such fun.

Ok, better now...

I hope winding the extension around the carbon fiber tail boom has no negative effect on the RFU's operation.

That winding is fine. You wouldn't want to do that with the antenna wires though!

Jim,

Hope your Christmas and New Year holiday is going well.

Can you please confirm for me which of the two Nano orientations is best for reception in the diagram below. I'm pretty sure it is "B" but I want to make sure.

Also, I suppose the best position for the Tx antenna would be as close to vertical as possible?

Thanks,

Paul

It's interesting that you posted this. I spent the weekend testing this very thing. At 1' away, the Nano in position B has a -7dBm signal strength. In position A from the same distance, the signal strength is about -20dBm. The RFU shows absolutely no difference in signal strength at any position in relation to the transmitter when the antennas are placed 90 degrees from each other.

Interesting, thanks Jim.

If both the receiver antenna and the transmitter antenna are linearly polarized, then it follows that the best reception would be when the Tx antenna is parallel to the Rx antenna. Is that correct?

Thanks,

Paul