spektrum ar7000

[john melia 1]

Well as seen on the photo I have manage to snap one of the ariels on the ar7000 , my question is , can i still use it , it has a satellite , and the other ariel is fine

If not what can I do , seems a shame tomthrow it in the bin for the sake of a tiny bit of wire

[scott finnie]

Ouch John, tough question, I could see it working ok on the ground then possibly loosing signal once at a certain distance or angle. I'd try putting it into a simple slow foamy and see how that works , though I'd still be thinking of replacing it with a newbie. You're cub would appreciate it more . It would always be on the back of my mind. What if?

Good luck and happy flying

scotti

[John F]

Isn't that the point of the system; to reduce the chance of a diaster if one aerial loses the Tx signal?

In my mind you still have three (and a 1/4) aerials that are available and considering you can use the Rx without the satelite unit I would guestimate that it would be perfectly fine as long as you use the satellite unit.

Have you done a range check?

Edited By John F on 07/08/2014 16:14:40

[Alan Gorham_]

Get it in a jiffy bag and sent back to Horizon to repair!

[john melia 1]

All sorted , soldered a piece of servo wire , the same length to the board , done a range check , works a treat

[john melia 1]

[Alan Gorham_]

I could be wrong..and probably am..but isn't part of the antenna covered with a braided shield?

I know the Futaba receivers have this and therefore substituting an equivalent length of normal cable is no good. The braided shield changes the effective length of the antenna (i.e. where the braid is over the inner core of the cable then the antenna is totally screened from the RF signal.)

Perhaps the AR7000 doesn't have this, as the antennas look much shorter, but better safe than sorry and perhaps someone else can confirm.

[Chris Barlow]

I maybe wrong but I always assumed the stiffer, thicker antenna wires were because they were a helical coil type antenna rather than a straight copper one?

[Alan Gorham_]

Had a think about this and I think I was talking rubbish above. The antennas on an AR7000 are not partially shielded.

[Paul C.]

Hi John, don't risk what looks a really nice model with a home repair on the receiver. I am sure I read somewhere that aerial wire is something special. A few weeks ago I sent two receivers to horizon to get checked out, all sorted excellent service and back to me in four working days. Go on mate send it back you don't want to end up kicking yourself do you.

[Shaunie]

The antennas on these are just a (1/4 wave) length of wire. If you are comfortable with your soldering and the accuracy of your measuring then it should be fine.

To protect the antenna you can push a suitable length of plastic sleeving onto the nipple protruding from the case to support the antenna.

Antenna wire can be improved if silver plated, but these ain't.

Shaunie

[glen johnson]

The wires on the ar7000 are just straight wire, I've also replaced one or two that dropped off, i now put a bit of heat shrink on them and attach it to the case with hot melt glue.