PT-04 wireless flash trigger - antenna hack

[westcocanuck2]

I opened up the TX (transmitter) unit and removed the 1" wire they had for the antenna. I then replaced it with an 8" length of 24g hookup wire. That's about 1" inside the TX unit and 7" sticking out of it. I tried coiling the wire at first to reduce the size but it drastically reduced the reception less than original.

So then I added a 6.5" length of 3mm expandable sleeving to give the wire some rigidity, used shrink tubing on either end to help keep the sleeving in place and gooped it at the RX unit to retain its position. I bared about 1/4" of wire at the end of the antenna and tinned it.

Now when I place the TX unit in the camera build. I'll lay out the antenna as straight as possible and avoid overlapping the wire onto itself. That part I think is important to maintain optimum reception.

For all of my builds, everything has to be placed inside a steel Bear case for protection. So with that in mind, I did a quick test by placing the slave w the RX (receiver) unit under my van in the dark. I walked away to about 60' and held the TX unit inside a 4 gal. steel pot and aimed it at the slave flash. It fired perfectly every time.
This extended antenna has increased the reception considerably for my needs and can highly recommend it to anybody who uses these remote slaves.

[johnnydeerhunter]

Nice work Gary

[westcocanuck2]

Thanks JDH,

I thought of the idea when I discovered that the original reception wasn't working for my needs, at all. I then researched the subject on the internet and sure enough, someone else had done this. The length and gauge of the wire I'm sure will give you varying results. I didn't go very deep into my testing at all but just enough to satisfy my needs. The hack is about as easy as it can get for anybody's skill level, that's for sure.