Antenna Grounding

[lr172]

For one of my antennas, I plan to put a doubler on the floor and use a few rivets to hold it. My antenna grounds via the nut on the interior side of panel. If I ensure that the rivets are set in unpainted material and the top of the doupler at ant contact point is also unpainted do I have a good ground path? Or do I need to strip the paint on the panel for complete contact with the doubler?

Thanks for your assistance.

Larry

 

[wjb]

Hi Larry,

AC 43.13-2B give the FAA's advice on how to bond the antenna to the airframe. It's very important to get a good electrical connection between the antenna and the skin, since the skin is an integral part of the antenna design. I'd remove the paint and alodine mating surfaces it to provide a passivated but conductive surface to bond. A reasonable number of rivets should hold this connection tightly together.