If range is not a problem is there any reason not to use a rubber duck antenna? Just got a new transmitter and want to let my grandson use it but a three yr old with a long antenna may be an issue. I have an old transmitter with a rubber antenna I’d like to swap over but want to know if its ok. Thanks, Denny
It should work fine.
I have one of each. The metal antenna one controls my battery car, so I’m never far away. The rubber duck version controls the track side Rx located in my basement and it works fine over most of my RR.
[Edit] Remove reference to Chinese cooking utensils.
Jon Radder said:A new use for the TE! Stir fry! Can Tony Walsham top that? :D;)
... and it woks fine over most of my RR.
My antennas are shorter than any others so, I doubt I could find another use for them. 
Now, my horns are something else entirely.
TonyWalsham said:
My antennas are shorter than any others so, I doubt I could find another use for them.
Nope! I’m not going to touch that one at all!
(http://www.freerails.com/images/emoticons/yahoo.gif)
Never thought of that. Now I DO use mine to uncouple H&L couplers.
If range is a problem with the TEm then just add witr to the receiver antenna to make it twice as long and make it go straight up.
I have done this with 2 friends and kept the power supplies below the receivers on a bottom shelf with receivers on a top shelf with antennas going up the side of a shed or house.
Much better operation and all transmitters had the rubber ducky.
Aren’t antenna lengths tuned to the frequency of the transmitter? Wouldn’t your rubber duck antenna have to be specifically made for that unit/that frequency?
I could be wrong, in that it is possible that a generic (length) rubber ducky antenna exists (for certain frequency ranges) and all transmitter manufacturers know of it and design/tune their transmitters to work with that generic length.
A mismatched transmitter/antenna would cause the final output transistor to heat up, and have poor range.
You want the length of the wire to be the length of the wave or of a harmonic of the wave. A rubber ducky has the wire wound 'round a flexible rod.
I often keep my long antenna collapsed. It will operate the train from a ways. If I can’t blow the whistle, I pull it out. The throttle in the tender picks up much better than the accessory receiver in the boiler that runs the sound.
As far as the receiving antenna goes, it’s actually not very critical. In general, the longer the better. When it gets close to the length of the wave, or a harmonic of the wave, it works better.
The 27MHz wave is about 36 ft 4 inches long. Remember those 9ft long “CB” antennas? Same frequency range.