receiver aerial inside a CF mast

[Michael Rogers]

This request is respectfully addressed to the many boffins in Swallow yacht circles. If the advice I'm seeking is, so to speak, tuppeny-ha'penny, please do have an indulgent chuckle at my expense.

I must also say that this post is not big-boat related, so might be 'struck off' by Big Brother. It relates to activities to keep-busy-and-sane-during-lockdown, from one who doesn't even have access to his boat for a bit of pre-season fettling.

I am building a rather small scale model Thames Sailing Barge, which I hope will sail and (thanks to the micro servos etc available for model aircraft) will be radio-controlled. That's the Plan. The mast will be CF tube, and my question is - can I put the receiver aerial up the hole in the mast (which would be very neat), or will that seriously reduce or completely blank off the signal from the transmitter?

Answers please in a self addressed tea chest or, if it's less bother, on this forum.

Thanks, boffins*!

Michael R

PS talking of boffins (well I was) I have for a long time known the last three lines (the two short ones and the punch line) of what should be quite a snazzy limerick. Having failed to discover how it starts, I've managed to finish it off. Does anyone else know a different version?

There once was an asthmatic boffin
Who succumbed to a bad bout of coughin'.
But it wasn't his cough
That carried him off;
'Twas the coffin they carried him offin.

[TimLM]

Hi Michael,
Sadly no carbon fibre absorbs RF so would act as an insulator. 
See also:
https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/composites-fabrication-repair-97/7133385-placing-receiver-aerial-near-carbon-fibre-rods.html
From the model aircraft bods.
Tim
PS after consultation with my RC guru he says the aerial for 2.4meg is only 2 or 3 cm so could be hidden elsewhere - just a thought.

[Michael Rogers]

Thanks, Tim. I thought that might be the case. If the aerial is that short (and given the sort of short distances I'll be operating over), it could probably go under one of the (0.8mm ply) hatch covers.
I'm a long way from getting operational, but it constantly surprises me how far in advance you need to plan some of these things. When the time comes, I'll be using technology (micro servos etc) the RC aircraft guys have developed - bigger market than RC model Thames Barges!
I like your boat name.

Michael R (Trouper 12 'Cavatina')