Wave Propagation and Antenna lab Lab report # 1

Lab objectives:
1. Familiarization with ST-2266 2. Characteristics of Transmission Lines 3. Effect of Frequency on Inductance (L) and Capacitance (c) ST-2266 This is the transmission line trainer. It is use for studying the behavior of the transmission lines. This trainer has 100 meter physical transmission line (Coaxial cable) which is fitted in the box in the form of coil shape. The total length of the transmission line is divided into 4 equal parts, 25 meter apart. In addition it includes a function generators and variable resistors.

Characteristics of Transmission Lines: Transmission lines are designed to transmit the information or data from one place to another usually at a very high frequency. Coaxial Cable Coaxial cables are specially designed transmission lines which consist of four parts. The inner conductor called core, the dielectric which his also called as inner insulation, shield and the outer most called the outer insulation or jacket. As the transmission lines carries the signal at a very high frequency therefore the parameters inductance, capacitance, resistance and conductance are introduced in it. That is between the conductor and braided wires. The conductance which is the opposite of the resistance is introduced in the transmission lines because of the leakage current through the dielectric. These parameters L, R, C and G are not fix to a portion of the transmission lines but are distributed along the line. One more important point is that in transmission lines the phase of the signal must be taken into account. As in lump circuit analysis we usually ignore the phase of the signal that is we consider the input and output across any lump element to be in phase. But in transmission lines we must take into account the phase of the signal. Because a signal at one end of the element may be in phase or out of phase at the other end which is important.

Effects of frequency on inductance L and capacitance C: At low frequency the inductive reactance is very low and at a high frequency its inductive reactance is high. Whereas a capacitor has low reactance at a very high frequency and has high reactance at a very low frequency. XL = 2fL XC=1/2fC Since in transmission lines usually the frequencies are very high therefore with the increase in frequency the inductive reactance increases whereas the inductance decreases while at low frequency the inductive reactance decreases causes an increase in the inductance. On the other hand with increasing frequency the capacitive reactance decreases and so the capacitance also while at lower frequency the capacitive reactance increases causes increase in the capacitance. Procedure: 1. Inductance measurement can be made by short circuiting the output and measuring the inductance at the input with the help of LC meter. 2. Capacitance can be measured by open circuiting the output and measuring the capacitance of the transmission lines with the help of LC meter. 3. The effect of frequency can be seen by connecting the function generator to the input of the transmission lines and then measure the inductance and capacitance by the same procedure as mentioned above.