RX antennas damaged? Heres how to fix them

[Lee]

So i was out at the weekend with all my buddies ready for a great session of FPV.
Had a thought in the morning, that my antennas should be moved further away from the props.
Ah well I'll do it tomorrow
First flight, hit a bush, both antennas on my X4R RX ripped out by the props, and lost in the bushes. F*** !!!!

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So day was over before it started. 8 batteries charged, and nothing to fly.
Went home depressed, and wondering how long the slow boat from China will take to deliver new antennas.

Then I had a brain wave.
Wifi runs on 2.4. I have an old router lying around.
Lets take a look inside and see whats what.

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BINGO!!!!!

Two long lengths of 2.4Ghz antenna cable
So I stripped them out, and threw away the rest.

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There are three pads on the RX to attach the antenna.
Two for the outer sheath, and the centre signal wire.
I split the sheath into two, to make a cross.

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Then cut the outer cable to expose the correct length of inner cable for 2.4Ghz. Which is 31mm.

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Soldering was a pain. The connector had been ripped off. so i had to attach the signal wire by scratching the enamel off the trace to expose enough copper to solder to.
Crossed eyed but happy to get it fixed, and ready to fly again this week end.

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[Graham Lawrie]

Nice one Lee good tip:)

[Stambo]

Just be careful Lee.
Every VTX I have had that ripped antennas completely off, suffered damage resulting in drastically reduced range after repairs.

[Lee]

This isn't the VTX.
Its my FRsky X4R.
Flew yesterday behind stone walls and thick trees.
Signal held well, even though it only has one antenna, not two

[Stambo]

Doh!
Didn't look at the pictures or read the post very carefully.

[cml001]

Nice!