Inverted F antenna clearance from Board edge.
I would like to know what should be the minimum board edge to inverted F antenna clearance, currently having only 11.3 mils. Can I proceed with this or need to increase the clearance?
Also, based on my customer's mechanical details there are two mounting holes in the antenna copper clearance area, I just removed the plating from these holes. Is that enough?, or if they mount a mechanical screw in this area in future what will be the effects?
Kindly help me.
Thanks,
Deepuvasant
if the mounting is a plastic pin from the housing body, or a plastic screw, it would be better....
11 mils is not that much. two line trace widths of gap to the edge would be better. but a lot depends on what is next to the edge of the board. if it is a plastic housing it will not be as bad as a metal housing. It may detune the antenna, needed you to modify the antenna length a little when installed in the housing.
It's reasonable to consider how antenna impedance and directional characteristic are changed by the mounting situation in total. The queried details are probably less important.
Unless the geometry is pretty simple, you'll hardly predict the result. You should plan to either adjust the antenna geometry or the matching network according to a VNA measurement.