Aluminum Paint & Inerior antenna?

Will the aluminum paint applied of a fabric plane preclude use of an
interior VHF antenna? Just a simple yes or no would be appreciated. JLW

On Wed, 03 May 2006 22:56:14 GMT, "JOHN L. WOLFE"
wrote:

Will the aluminum paint applied of a fabric plane preclude use of an
interior VHF antenna? Just a simple yes or no would be appreciated. JLW

My Fly Baby is covered with the Stits process and has the antenna inside. Seems
to work fine. But then, it has a wood structure...won't work as well, inside a
steel tube fuselage.

Ron Wanttaja

RST Engineering wrote:
OK. Yes or no.
-------------------------------------------------

Ditto :-)

If you don't want to think about, don't do it. Mount the antenna on
the exterior of the airframe (attached to a good ground plane) and go
flying.

-R.S.Hoover

wrote:
RST Engineering wrote:
OK. Yes or no.
-------------------------------------------------

Ditto :-)

If you don't want to think about, don't do it. Mount the antenna on
the exterior of the airframe (attached to a good ground plane) and go
flying.


Will the aluminum paint applied to a fabric plane make a good grond
plane
for an externally mounted antenna?

If the answer is clearly no, does that also answer the first question?

--

FF

The question cannot be answered. The question was asked if this particular
aircraft with some "aluminum paint", whatever the hell that is, would be
affected. The question cannot be answered.

If the question was, "Does the standard UV dope that we use on fabric
aircraft impede the use of internal antennas?" I could have answered that in
the last thirty years I haven't had one reported case of the dope affecting
the use of internal antennas. I could have reported that the work I did for
Bellanca twenty-five years ago where we used a double coat of UV dope and
still got outstanding antenna performance is documented.

The original question cannot be answered. However, your question as to
whether UV dope would make a good ground plane CAN be answered. No, it will
not. It makes an absolutely lousy ground plane, no ground plane at all to
tell the truth. The aluminum particles are way too microscopic and too
widely dispersed in the dope to be an effective solid sheet of metal.


Jim



Will the aluminum paint applied to a fabric plane make a good grond
plane
for an externally mounted antenna?

wrote:
Will the aluminum paint applied to a fabric plane make a good grond
plane
for an externally mounted antenna?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The general answer is 'no.'

You really need to look into this a bit deeper than yes/no or assuming
that a negative answer to one of your questions asserts a positive
answer to another.

The original role of powdered aluminum was two-fold, serving as a
light-weight filler material as well as a UV blocker. But the flakes
of aluminum do not necessarily form an electrically conductive
membrane. That depends upon the vehicle in which the powdered aluminum
is suspended and the thickness of its application. These reservations
also apply to RF energy, in that some 'aluminum paint' may block the
signal whereas a different brand or thinner coating may only result in
attenuating the signal by some degree.

--------------------------------------------------------------

As a general rule your best ground plane is a solid sheet of metal.
Lacking that, you can emulate a solid ground plane using radials made
of copper foil or wire. Although as few as four equally spaced radials
should give you a reliable signal, the more radials you have the closer
the system will come to the ideal.

-------------------------------------------------------------

There are metallic-based paints formulated specifically to serve as
electrical conductors and ground planes but if you are not familiar
with them your brusk insistance on yes or no answers to questions that
can not be answered so simplisticly guarantees you never will be.

-R.S.Hoover

wrote:
wrote:
Will the aluminum paint applied to a fabric plane make a good grond
plane
for an externally mounted antenna?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...but if you are not familiar
with them your brusk insistance on yes or no answers to questions that
can not be answered so simplisticly guarantees you never will be.


I made no such insistance, brusque or otherwise.

--

FF

wrote:

I made no such insistance, brusque or otherwise.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please accept my apology.

I can only see the current msg. Your reference to the original msg
caused me to believe you were the original author.

-R.S.Hoover

In article .com,
wrote:

wrote:
RST Engineering wrote:
OK. Yes or no.
-------------------------------------------------

Ditto :-)

If you don't want to think about, don't do it. Mount the antenna on
the exterior of the airframe (attached to a good ground plane) and go
flying.


Will the aluminum paint applied to a fabric plane make a good grond
plane
for an externally mounted antenna?

"maybe", "possibly", "if", "sometimes"

If the answer is clearly no, does that also answer the first question?

Nope.

wrote:
wrote:
...
I can only see the current msg. Your reference to the original msg
caused me to believe you were the original author.


Thanks, and I concur with your opinion of the wording of the original
query.

--

FF