Signal.

Ello. In Anxious im using 40mhz technobots radio gear. the signal is very poor and it only works in the arena if its right near where your stood. Any ideas? Its just a metal box so i have about 200mm of loose aerial stuck out of the top .its not touching any metal. the aerial is 1020mm in length. if i stick a boat aerial on the roof what length would you recomend cutting the aerial down to? Im expecting a msg saying what you do is take out your rx and put it to one side and stick a spektrum rx in its place. i dont really wanna spend any cash on this thing but if i have to i will.

1 dont cut the aerial its ment to be that lenght.
2 have u got capatiors on motors ?
3 have the rest of the robots got capasitors on motors ? (NO)
4 the only way i solved this problem over the years is to get a 2.4 gig system sorry

Hi there Tom, the TBots units are fine (though a 200mm aeriel on your bot is a bit short), I still use one for my wheely bin robot. The problem is likely to be what everybody else is using! Namely Spektrums, once you get a number of them being used they interfere with 40meg units. We had increasing problems with not being able to control Skink (on 40meg at the time) as more people started using Spektrums, in one fight (16 bots)we had no control at all, when it was on its own....perfect!
The only solution was to buy a Spektum (£60 off e-bay), weve had no trouble since.
Not good news for you, sorry!

ill have to cut aerial for the boat aerial. but i dont know what i should cut it down by. just the overall length that i can measure or is the coiled springy bit at the bottom of the airial classed as if its un coiled if you know what i mean. i dont even understand what i just typed.

Hehe. in your robot sadly it will need to stick out a good 300mm. You may wanna invest in a specktrum. Were all guilty of it, but the more robots in the arena, more motors, more arena effects and even now with the added steel cage, radio mics, walkie talkies, mobile phones and more roboteers standing closer together, i dont wanna know what RF interfeance is flying about. Do your self a big favour, get a spectrum.

I think if most poeple got their way - all heavy weights and all feather weight flippers/axes/spinners would be made to run on 2.4ghz.

Mr Stu

i have spektrums but for the other robots. didnt wanna have to get another one :p

Ordered another spektrum just incase :p

as stated above id flog your 40mhz on ebay and buy a dx5e or similar for about £60 from a model shop.. If not..

In the first turbulence we had loads of interfearance problems.. the best solution was to cut the ariel off. put a spade connector on what was left (about an inch) then co-axial cable going from the r/x in the robot to the boat ariel on the outside of the robot (same as youve got) it solved most problems.. i also wraped the r/x and upto the co-axial in tin foil and put the r/x in a plastic box.

also- your power cables (red and black from battery to speedo etc) im told if you wind those together in a drill for example that can help reduce noise.. aswell as keeping r/x wires away from main power cables.. supressing your motors etc..

But after all those mods.. id still suggest a 2.4kit :)

Yeah i ordered a spektrum last night. ill try get it to run on the 40mhz but if not spektrum goes in.

if you are getting a spektrum jst bung it in, I think the days of 40meg have passed us by.

Shame really as I have a couple of 40meg sets sitting there that are still usable

Hooligan my other rambot is on 40meg with no problems. but he might get a spektrum for christmas.

Nope. Anxious just doesnt like 40meg. spektrum going in, right about... Now.

Tom, Bit late but if you have a commerial 40MHz Arial then the length of wire joining it is expected to be 0. In other words open up your receiver and connect a 50 Ohm coax (not TV coax thats 75 Ohms) to it. The inner to where the areial goes and the outer to the ground connection of the receiver. If the ground is isolated from the main battery connect the other end of the coax to your chasis next to where the arial exits your robot (if its metal). If not isolated, connect it though a 100nF ceramic capacitor to your chasis. This is what we did with big nipper and it worked great, until we changed to a Spectrum (Only did it for true dual controls without the trainer wire)

The arial is usually tunned by cutting it to the correct length when made otherwise so you should never change it, even a few centimeters will decrease the range considerably. If you do join a new wire to it, make sure the overall length is the same.