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I am using 16AWG Magnet Wire to create a 15 element Yagi Antenna for the 2.4ghz range which should theoretically give me a little over 15db gain. The magnet wire I am using has an enamel coating on it.

Do I need to remove the enamel coating in order for the antenna to work? Of course I am going to remove it at the place where I solder the coax cable on but do I need to do it for all the directors and the reflector?

How much will this affect the quality of the signal gained?

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    $\begingroup$ The kind folks over on the ham radio SE (ham.stackexchange) might be the best to answer this. My gut tells me it will make zero difference, but I haven't used it a 2.54GHz. $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Feb 7, 2017 at 14:27
  • $\begingroup$ @JonCuster Thank you for your response. I agree I should have tried that first. If you could move this question over to that SE that would be awesome! $\endgroup$
    – NULL
    Feb 7, 2017 at 14:56

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Insulation around the wire does not prevent it from working as an antenna. It can slightly affect the resonant length, but that's not the same thing.

Ideally you would calculate the length taking into account the coating, but the reality of it is that you should cut your wires about 10% too long, and then carefully trim them to length while measuring the resonant frequency.

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