Getting decent range with R/C in brass locos has always been a problem with most brands of R/C. I have tried many ways including a simulated coal rake laying across the coal load, connecting the antenna to the track and stringing it around the edge of the load. Nothing worked really well. I have just finished installing battery R/C and Phoenix sound in an Accucraft K-28 for a customer and thought I would try another approach. The AZARR 27 MHz Lite antennas give fantastic range in plastic locos BUT, the base of the antenna (the thick part in the pics below) MUST be mounted vertically for the best results. I needed to have the antenna removable so I had to make a plug and socket for the tender coal load. Here is how I did it.
The top antenna is the standard “as it comes” AZARR. Below it is with the smallest K & S brass tubing I could find soldered to the exposed AZARR wire.
The text in this pic should be self explanatory.
Here is the antenna plugged into the home made socket. The socket can still be seen because it was not yet darkened.
Once darkened the antenna base is barely visible. 6’ feet away and it is invisible. The actual antenna wire is so thin it can barely be seen against any sort of garden background. During testing I could not get any further away than 200’. I have no doubt it would work flawlessly at greater than 200’.
