Flat external FLARM antenna?

Two options come to mind.
1) Put the A antenna as high as reasonable around the glare shield. Away from other conductors that might mess with the pattern. I run with a piece of 1/16 lexan to put the antenna vertically above the glare shield. Use the Flarm web site tool to see what coverage you have. If there is a coverage hole behind and below, you could put a B antenna out the bottom. If it doesn't transmitt, it won't help others see you, but it should help you see others.

2) It seems like something in the tail leading edge should work well if you could figure out how to put the Flarm brick back there so the antenna cable was not excessive. This seems more trouble that it's worth unless the around the glare shield radiating out the canopy plan doesn't work.

On 05/10/2018 05:54 PM, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
On Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 4:22:43 PM UTC-7, kinsell wrote:
So are you talking about Flarm or PowerFlarm?? They are different you know.


On 05/10/2018 08:07 AM, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
Flarm antennas are a real pain for ships with carbon hulls. Coverage is always poor, especially below. Is there a way to make a perfectly flat and thin antenna that could be taped to the outside of the hull and fed through a small (1/8"?) hole? I am thinking 2 thin wire strands, or foil strips, fed through from the inside, then taped in place with wing tape. I would put one on either side of the nose for good coverage. The wires could even be longer (some wavelength ratio) for better gain. The tiny hole could easily be filled later if the install was reversed.

Any RF engineers out there care to take a shot at this?


power flarm


Ah, that's what I guessed. But I shouldn't have to guess. If you mean
Flarm, say "Flarm", and if you mean PowerFlarm, say "PowerFlarm". If
you say "Classic Flarm", hopefully people will explain to you there's no
such thing.

See the recent thread with people who are shocked that Flarm isn't
approved for use in the US or Canada.

On Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 3:07:15 PM UTC+1, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
Flarm antennas are a real pain for ships with carbon hulls. Coverage is always poor, especially below. Is there a way to make a perfectly flat and thin antenna that could be taped to the outside of the hull and fed through a small (1/8"?) hole? I am thinking 2 thin wire strands, or foil strips, fed through from the inside, then taped in place with wing tape. I would put one on either side of the nose for good coverage. The wires could even be longer (some wavelength ratio) for better gain. The tiny hole could easily be filled later if the install was reversed.

Any RF engineers out there care to take a shot at this?



It is possible to make a flat antenna with the same radiation pattern as a 1/4 wave dipole.

But, it needs exotic ( read expensive) rf material, and would not be flexible, so hard to fit on the outside of the fuselage. thickness would be about 6-7mm, and would be unaffected by carbon fibre underneath it

It would also be 200-300€