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Guitar String Antena

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:40 pm
by Finks
Well before heading off to work my wife was changing the strings on her 12 String and after about well... 1 min my brain turned on and I snatched myself 3 dirty strings. Question is, what length would you guys recomend and any other tips that I should know before heating up the soldering iron?

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:17 pm
by betty.k
ph2t learned me up real good on this one! :-)
i usually have about 4 - 5 inches of aerial poking out the top on my bits. get about an inch and a half of insulation from some wire and slip it over one end leaving 1/8 inch of the string exposed. bend the string to shape before soldering. using a small file or sand paper roughen the end to be soldered and tin it. bend the other end over so you don't stab yourself in the eye with the exposed pointy bit (alot more likely to happen than you think! :sad: ). maybe another bit of insulation on the end to keep it visible.

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:53 pm
by sessiz
Ph2t did me up one of these, unfortunatly the range wasn't all that much increased. Maybe about 4ft past my other cars. The cool factor of it is more than worth doing it though. :-)

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 1:22 am
by hogjowlz
you can also use a twist tie. just take the paper shit off.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 3:25 pm
by ph2t
sessiz wrote:Ph2t did me up one of these, unfortunatly the range wasn't all that much increased. Maybe about 4ft past my other cars. The cool factor of it is more than worth doing it though. :-)
That's strange man, it worked well for me. Sometimes two controllers on the same freq can still be out of perfect tuning a bit and therefore you can get greater range with one controller vs. the other one..... Well, that's my excuse anyways :-)

ph2t.
(1000th post!)

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 3:38 pm
by crazydave
I didn't get any range increase, in fact I think it glitches slightly more now, but that's ok, because I didn't know it was supposed to, I just thought it looked cool. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of nickel coating the string has. I don't think nickel conducts electricity well. :???:

Personally I didn't care for it, because it makes it kinda hard to carry around without getting the antenna all bent up, but maybe I'm using too thick of a string.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:20 pm
by ph2t
If it's getting bent (lol) then yes the sting is too thick. Dude, use the number 9 string for the top E on an electric guitar, that's what I use. It's mad...

It also pays to tune the variable inductor on the car's PCB for the best range possible. On a 49Mhz with guitar string antenna, outdoors I've had a recorded range of 50M, approx 150 feet. No BS!



ph2t.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:22 pm
by filelicker
high " e "string , the thinnest one or any of the non wound strings.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:29 pm
by ph2t
yeah, when I meant "top" I meant pitch wise, :grin:

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 6:53 pm
by betty.k
definately tune the variable inductor, usually (eg)27mhz is not exactly the same from tx to tx. try different combinations of rx/tx . my multi band tx can push some cars 150 ft away while others only a few feet. if i swap tx's the results are different. the best reception is achieved by dual celling a car and ensuring the aerial is at 90 degrees to the ground, which the guitar string does well. and remember, guitar strings come in different guages like wire. so go for the thinnest for looks or thicker for best reception.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:06 pm
by crazydave
ph2t wrote:If it's getting bent (lol) then yes the sting is too thick. Dude, use the number 9 string for the top E on an electric guitar, that's what I use. It's mad...
Oh ok, that explains that. I hate 9s, I play with 10s or 11s, and I think I used the B string, so yep, the one I used was way too thick.

I'll have to try again...

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:20 pm
by sg219
I think I have to go get a geet-tar string or two!! I need a new antenny.....Yippee, the still is brewin'...


Aww..my dog just ran away and my pick-up truck died.....Well, I guess I'll go watch that there new fangled TV contraption...It has them there boys in fast autos going around to the left forever, I hear..........Did you know they started runnin' moonshine?

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 8:14 am
by DarkTari
pht2 did this mod for me, My range is great ! and you can't beat the looks! Actually it's hard to see it, that's what I like about it ! That and the fact that it's really flexible! Went and got a .009 E string last week. I'll be doin a few mods soon.

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 6:25 pm
by CaboWabo
hogjowlz wrote:you can also use a twist tie. just take the paper shit off.
and you guys called my staple suspension ghetto lol
whatever sanford and son :lol:

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 6:29 pm
by Finks
LMAO! :lol: