Help! HELP!!! Turnigy 9x Connection problems

[StevenWinnen25]

Hi,
I’ve been trying to fly my ft sparrow and new ft mini mustang yesterday and today but I’m having trouble with the connection. I’m using the same receiver for each plane, I’m just swapping it between the two. The receiver is the 8ch one that comes with my Turnigy 9x. With the sparrow I would throw it and started flying and when it got about 10-15 feet out it would lose connection and lock the controls up. Luckily I was able to get a spotty connection to crash land it.
With the mustang, i would take it off from the ground and when it go maybe 50ft our and 20 feet high it lost reception and it rolled over to crash and break my only prop....
Between these flights I changed out the batteries in my transmitter and the bat. Level stayed about the same. Like 1-2 volts higher.
This is running the base firmware and everything. I haven’t changed a thing since I bought it a few years ago. Hasn’t been used much.
I don’t know what the problem is and it’s causing damage to my aircraft.

 

[Merv]

I’ve got the exact same setup, you’ve got a problem with an antenna. Its going to take some detective work to figure it out. Let’s start with easy, the placement of your antenna is critical. I don’t care about the grey coaxial cable, I only care about the red part of your antenna. If you took the heat shrink, you would find a brass tube, the ground plane. And a single wire, the active element. The active element needs to be relatively straight and away from batteries and anything metal. If you put the active element in a big U shape, you will cut your range.

 

[Merv]

I suspect we will need go deeper. I suspect the antenna in your Rx has been damaged in a wreck. The Rx went violently forward and the antenna did not. The forward motion of the Rx was stoped by the antenna catching on something. This sudden stop damaged toe coax cable near where the coax goes into the plastic case. Remove the plastic case and check for damage. If so the damaged part of th coax can be cut off and remainder solder back on the board. It’s a bit difficult but I’ve done it many times.

 

[d8veh]

Check your transmitter's antenna wire too, that it isn't broken where the antenna hinges.

 

[StevenWinnen25]

@Merv and @d8veh opened up the transmitter and receiver and this is what I see...

 

[Merv]

Your Rx antenna is damaged, that break in the outer braid is the damage, right between your fingers in the picture.
To repair, cut it at the break & solder it back on.
I will point you to a video when I can find it.

 

[Merv]

opened up the transmitter and receiver and this is what I see...

Here is a video, he is modifying a Tx antenna but the process is the same for the Rx. How to solder the coax back on the board.

 

[StevenWinnen25]

Here is a video, he is modifying a Tx antenna but the process is the same for the Rx. How to solder the coax back on the board.

Thank you very very much I’m going to try it out this week.

 

[Merv]

Thank you very very much I’m going to try it out this week.

The main thing is getting ALL of the braid pulled back. If you miss just one strand, you repair will fail. I like to get a magnifying glass to examine for any stray strands. Instead of pulling all of the braid to one side, I’ll pull half to each side.

Make sure to range test after the repair. I leave my Tx sitting & take the Rx for a walk. You’ll be able to tell if you are getting signal by the red light in the Rx, as long as it is on, you’ve got a lock. You should be able to easily get 700 feet.