The range on my RC car has dropped from around 250 feet to less than 20 feet and I cannot figure out why. It's taken a bit of a bashing lately which is probably the cause. To troubleshoot, I have pulled the onboard electronics package including the receiver (Rx) and set them up with just the steering servo connected. I set the steering trim on the transmitter (Tx) to full lock on one side and powered up the Tx and the Rx. While the Tx is within a foot or two, the servo steers as it should. I then walk the Tx away from the Rx until the servo returns to center (i.e. the Rx no longer picks up the Tx signal). I put the Tx down and return to the bench to fiddle with the Rx to see if I can see something obviously wrong. I have replaced the antenna with no sucess and there are no obvious loose connections or components hanging off. So I haven't found anything obvious. The odd thing is sometimes, if I pick up the antenna, or hold the Rx board in a certain way or sometimes just cup my hands around the Rx, it will start to respond to the Tx properly. Initially I thought I was grounding the board somehow which was helping the Rx. But now I think that my touching the board or somehow getting between the Rx and Tx is modifying the signal so that the Rx is better able to pick it up. The Tx/Rx are AM operating at 49 MHz.
Thoughts? Comments?
p.s. - I have replaced all the batteries with fresh one (Rx and Tx) to no avail and I am pretty sure that this is not a Tx problem.
Thanks in advance.
Thoughts? Comments?
p.s. - I have replaced all the batteries with fresh one (Rx and Tx) to no avail and I am pretty sure that this is not a Tx problem.
Thanks in advance.
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