"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news

Why not attach it to the INSIDE of the fuselage? That's where all of the
grounding takes place -- and -- you don't have to cover it up!

I would use the 4 strips of the 1/4" tape, at 45 deg from each other and
a piece of thin copper sheet about 1" dia, soldered to the center,
joining all the radials.

1/4" wide is plenty wide for the frequency band you are using -- just
make sure that each radial is about the same or greater length as the
antenna.

Thanks for the reply!

I have heard that carbon fiber does not allow radio signals to pass through
it, so that for a ground plane to be effective, it would have to be outside
the carbon barrier. As a practical matter, I'm sure some radio signals get
through, but if it were a significant amount, I'd put the antenna inside!

Another benefit of putting the foil on the outside is that I have clear
space to put the foil. Inside the fuselage, there isn't 22" of clear space
around the antenna, because the antenna is near the aft spar.

Some Legacy builders have installed short ground plane radials inside the
fuselage, some have put them outside, others have painted the belly with
special metal paint, and others have done nothing about ground planes. So
far as I know, every method tried that uses an external antenna seems to
work, so I'm likely worrying over nothing anyway. But the search for an
answer is, by itself, a pretty interesting process!

Thanks again,
Dennis Johnson