Antennas (or ariels for the English)

[Hairball]

Greetings from the frozen rock of Newfoundland: I have an Esky CO-CO LAMA and I'm loving it! However, it had quite a long length of antenna folded neatly with tape. I don't want that lot dangling underneath my chopper so I cut it and soldered the shortened wire to about 3 inches of heavy copper wire and fixed this to one of the landing skids, didn't even havre to re-trim her. But... Is this OK range-wise? Antenna wisdom would be greatly accepted.

Also, what's the thinking on heat sinks for the 2 motors? Should I wait a bit for them to cool down before putting a new battery in and continuing flying? This is my first helicopter and I love it! Are there any bigger co-axial helicopters on the market?

Due to my shedule it's easier for me to check my email so if ayone has some thoughts on the foregoing could they drop me a line?

Thanks a lot guys and have a great flying day! Aaron.

PS. What wine goes best with electric helicopters?

[Boggy]

the second question is easy its the whine you get from a 600e spooling up!

[Boggy]

just do a range check mate! switch on and walk away slowly see how far you get before loosing movement. co axial heli's are small so range is not really an issue! let the motors cool for a few minutes between batteries and you wont need a heatsink!

[Hairball]

No its not, it's my wife saying, "Are you flying that in the living room again?"

[Hairball]

........ let the motors cool for a few minutes between batteries and you wont need a heatsink!

Thanks bud, I've had one motor cook, but this was bad luck not bad chopper. As Forest Gump said, " **it happens!" Was treated great by the dealer and she flies great. Please excuse posts/thanks in the wrong place etc, still learning this stuff.

[Boggy]

no probs mate nothing is in the wrong place?
if you would feel happier with a heat sink fit one for peace of mind, but they are not essential,i regularly fly three batteries in a session with no problems.
keep on top of you maintenance you should be ok!

[Hairball]

[quote=Boggy;134494]no probs mate nothing is in the wrong place?

I don't think I'll bother with heat sinks, too much weight, I'll let her cool-down for about 5 minutes or two beers, whichever comes first.

BTW, good site and good people here, Bravo Zulu! Hairball.

[Boggy]

only two beers!!!

[Hairball]

Antenna idea

Bear with me - it's a partial repeat of my previous antenna babble but... with an update.

On unpacking my LAMA V-3 (the V-4's for parts now, but that's another story) I was amazed at the 100 feet or-so of antenna wire neatly wrapped with tape and it didn't seem to have anywhere to live. So being a hairy colonial I cut a 3" section of heavy gage (yes, we spell it that way) copper wire and then soldered it to the antenna cutting off the excess. Duh! Dumb move. It works - but there's a modest, but unwanted, weight penalty. So reading through all the chopper forums I saw this great idea with the result that you get a moderate length of antenna with a lot less weight than my chunk of copper (I mined it myself too!).

I must give credit to, 'Ranavalona,' from the, 'rcgroup forum,' for this and for his pic of his antenna idea below.

I'm a newbie to r/c chopppers but have discovered that you can learn one hell of a lot from forums such as these and I have to say that you guys are good! Like your humor too!

Well, time to go cuddle a sweet, young, Polar Bear and quaff a few pints of Mother Murphy's Jellied Gin from One-Boob Sally down at the Hudsons Bay outpost! <- By the way, those mugs are NOT beer, they're Jellied Gin.

Here's the pic - and once again to thanks to Ranavalona -whoever you are.



Can you see what he's done? Obvioussly wound it around a toothpick or something and inserted it down a tube - neat!