Reach Antenna & Ground Plane Choice

[TB_RTK]

@Johannes_Eberenz

I compared two antennas:

Nice work.
Did you also test Ø=10cm tinfoil as ground with the stock antenne?
Would be nice som specs with that.

[Juan_Diaz]

Thanks, I will try 10x10 square planes. by the way, How about the antenna cable? should I drill a hole and send the cable straight down or run it above the plane and then send it down?

[panky (Benedikt)]

you should drill a hole - but keep it as small as possible;
see here:

Antenna Ground Plane

I am the Director of Sales and Marketing for Tallysman. We recommend a ground plane of 10cm. The ground plane should be symmetrical about the antenna and perfectly flat. The cable exiting the antenna should be routed under the ground plane as close to the housing of the antenna as possible. It doesn’t matter if the ground plane is made from aluminum, copper, or any other metal. The important feature is that the material is an RF reflective material. Thickness also doesn’t matter.

[Juan_Diaz]

Again, thank you very much, @panky.

[coby (Coby Leuschke)]

@Rabun Did you have any luck with your new antenna?

[simon]

Hi @Allen_Crawford,

My drone is constructed in-house of mostly Carbon Fiber (CF), so I have lots of CF scraps laying around. To get the Reach up and running quickly, I used a piece of CF as an antenna ground plane. Some research papers show that CF and Aluminum have similar ground plane properties. Do you have any comments about using CF as a ground plane for Tallysman antennas such as the TW4721?

Thank you.