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

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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.

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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