Antenna on-glass

A transparent antenna for a motor vehicle, comprising:

• a first glass ply;
• a second glass ply secured in overlaying relation to said first glass ply to form a windshield having at least one exposed major surface;
• a transparent electroconductive antenna element positioned along a major surface of one of said first and second glass plies;
• and
• an electroconductive patch positioned at least in close proximity to the at least one exposed major surface of said second ply spaced from the antenna, wherein said patch is defined by an outline and having opaque elements within the outline to define discrete spaced areas wherein at least one of the areas is an opaque area and at least one of the areas is a non-opaque area wherein the patch overlays at least a portion of said antenna element to capacitively couple with said antenna element, and has a visibility coefficient within the range of greater than 0 and less than 1.

A method of making a transparent antenna comprising the steps of:

• positioning an electroconductive antenna element at least in close proximity to a major surface of a rigid transparent dielectric ply,
• applying an electroconductive patch having an outline and opaque elements within the outline to define spaced discrete areas wherein at least one of the areas is an opaque area and at least two of the areas are non-opaque areas, the patch having a visibility coefficient within the range of greater than 0 and less than 1;
• and
• positioning said patch over the electroconductive element such that said patch is electrically connected to said antenna element.