ChapterSixteen:

Antennas

Introduction
Theantennaistheinterfacebetweenthetransmissionline
andspace
Antennasarepassivedevices;thepowerradiatedcannot
begreaterthanthepowerenteringfromthetransmitter
Whenspeakingofgaininanantenna,gainreferstothe
ideathatcertaindirectionsareradiatedbetterthanothers
Antennasarereciprocalthesamedesignworksfor
receivingsystemsasfortransmittingsystems

SimpleAntennas
TheIsotropicRadiatorwouldradiateallthepower
deliveredtoitandequallyinalldirections
Theisotropicradiatorwouldalsobeapointsource

TheHalfWaveDipole
Amorepracticalantennaisthehalfwavedipole
Dipolesimplymeansitisintwoparts
Adipoledoesnothavetobeonehalfwavelength,
butthatlengthishandyforimpedancematching
Ahalfwavedipoleissometimesreferredtoasa
Hertzantenna

BasicsoftheHalfWaveDipole
Typically,thelengthofahalfwavedipoleis95%of
onehalfthewavelengthmeasuredinfreespace:
c

RadiationResistance
Thehalfwavedipoledoesnotdissipatepower,assuming
losslessmaterial
Itwillradiatepowerintospace
Theeffectonthefeedpointresistanceisthesameasifaloss
hadtakenplace
Thehalfwavedipolelookslikearesistanceof70ohmsat
itsfeedpoint
Theportionofanantennasinputimpedancethatisdueto
powerradiatedintospaceisknownasradiationresistance

AntennaCharacteristics
Itshouldbeapparentthatantennasradiatein
variousdirections
Thetermsappliedtoisotropicandhalfwave
dipoleantennasarealsoappliedtootherantenna
designs

RadiationPatterns
Antennacoordinatesareshown
inthreedimensionaldiagrams
Theangleismeasuredfrom
thexaxisinthedirectionofthe
yaxis
Thezaxisisvertical,andangle
isusuallymeasuredfromthe
horizontalplanetothezenith

PlottingRadiationPatterns
Typicalradiationpattersaredisplayedinapolarplot

GainandDirectivity
Inantennas,power
gaininonedirectionis
attheexpenseoflosses
inothers
Directivityisthegain
calculatedassuminga
losslessantenna

Beamwidth
Adirectionalantennacanbesaidtodirectabeam
ofradiationinoneormoredirections
Thewidthofthisbeanisdefinedastheangle
betweenitshalfpowerpoints
Ahalfwavedipolehasabeamwidthofabout79
inoneplaneand360intheother
Manyantennasarefarmoredirectionalthanthis

FronttoBackRatio
Thedirectionofmaximum
radiationisinthehorizontal
planeisconsideredtobe
thefrontoftheantenna,and
thebackisthedirection
180fromthefront
Foradipole,thefrontand
backhavethesame
radiation,butthisisnot
alwaysthecase

MajorandMinorLobes
Inthepreviousdiagram,theantennahasone
majorlobeandanumberofminorones
Eachoftheselobeshasagainandabeamwidth
whichcanbefoundusingthediagram

EffectiveIsotropicRadiatedPower
andEffectiveRadiatedPower
Inpracticalsituations,wearemoreinterestedinthepower
emittedinaparticulardirectionthanintotalradiated
power
EffectiveRadiatedPowerrepresentsthepowerinput
multipliedbytheantennagainmeasuredwithrespecttoa
halfwavedipole
AnIdealdipolehasagainof2.14dBi;EIRPis2.14dB
greaterthantheERPforthesameantennacombination

Impedance
Theradiationresistanceofahalfwavedipolesituatedin
freespaceandfedatthecenterisapproximately70ohms
Theimpedanceiscompletelyresistiveatresonance,which
occurswhenthelengthoftheantennaisabout95%ofthe
calculatedfreespace,halfwavelengthvalue
Ifthefrequencyisaboveresonance,thefeedpoint
impedancehasaninductivecomponent;ifthefrequencyis
belowresonance,thecomponentiscapacitive

GroundEffects
Whenanantennaisinstalledwithina
fewwavelengthsoftheground,the
earthactsasareflectorandhasa
considerableinfluenceonthe
radiationpatternoftheantenna
Groundeffectsareimportantup
throughtheHFrange.AtVHFand
above,theantennaisusuallyfar
enoughabovetheearththat
reflectionsarenotsignificant
Groundeffectsarecomplexbecause
thecharacteristicsofthegroundare
variable

OtherSimpleAntennas
Othertypesofsimpleantennasare:

Thefoldeddipole
Themonopoleantenna
Loopantennas
Thefiveeighthswavelengthantenna
TheDisconeantenna
Thehelicalantenna

TheFoldedDipole
Thefoldeddipoleisthesame
lengthasastandarddipole,butis
madewithtwoparallel
conductors,joinedatbothends
andseparatedbyadistancethatis
shortcomparedwiththelengthof
theantenna
Thefoldeddipolediffersinthatit
haswiderbandwidthandhas
approximatelyfourtimesthethe
feedpointimpedanceofastandard
dipole

TheMonopoleAntenna
Forlowandmediumfrequencytransmissions,itisnecessarytousevertical
polarizationtotakeadvantageofgroundwavepropagation
Averticaldipolewouldbepossible,butsimilarresultsareavailablefromaquarter
wavelengthmonopoleantenna
Fedatoneendwithanunbalancedfeedline,withthegroundconductorofthe
feedlinetakentoearthground

LoopAntennas
Sometimes,smaller
antennasarerequiredfor
certainapplications,like
AMradioreceivers
Theseantennasarenotvery
efficientbutperform
adequately
Twotypesofloopantennas
are:
Airwoundloops
Ferritecoreloopsticks

TheFiveEighths
WavelengthAntenna

Thefiveeighthswavelength
antennaisusedverticallyeitherasa
mobileorbaseantennainVHFand
UHFsystems
Ithasomnidirectionalresponsein
thehorizontalplane
Radiationisconcentratedatalower
angle,resultingingaininthe
horizontaldirection
Italsohasahigherimpedancethan
aquarterwavemonopoleanddoes
notrequireasgoodaground

TheDisconeAntenna
Thedisconeantennais
characterizedbyverywide
bandwidth,coveringa10:1
frequencyrange
Italsohasanomnidirectional
patterninthehorizontalplaneanda
gaincomparabletothatofadipole
Thefeedpointresistanceistypically
50ohms
Typically,thelengthofthesurface
oftheconeisaboutonequarter
wavelengthatthelowestoperating
frequency

TheHelicalAntenna

Severaltypesofantennasare
classifiedashelical
Theantennainthesketchhas
itsmaximumradiationalong
itslongaxis
Aquarterwavemonopolecan
beshortenedandwoundintoa
helixcommoninrubber
duckyantennausedwithmany
handheldtransceivers

AntennaMatching
Sometimesaresonantantennaistoolargetobe
convenient
Othertimes,anantennamayberequiredto
operateatseveralwidelydifferentfrequenciesand
cannotbeofresonantlengthallthetime
Theproblemofmismatchcanberectifiedby
matchingtheantennatothefeedlineusinganLC
matchingnetwork

AntennaArrays
Simpleantennaelementscanbecombinedtoformarrays
resultinginreinforcementinsomedirectionsand
cancellationsinotherstogivebettergainanddirectional
characteristics
Arrayscanbeclassifiedasbroadsideorendfire

Examplesofarraysare:
TheYagiArray
TheLogPeriodicDipoleArray
TheTurnstileArray
TheMonopolePhasedArray
OtherPhasedArrays

Reflectors
Itispossibletoconstructaconductivesurfacethat
reflectsantennapowerinthedesireddirection
Thesurfacemayconsistofoneormoreplanesor
maybeparabolic
Typicalreflectorsare:
PlaneandcornerReflectors
TheParabolicReflector

CellSiteAntenna
Forcellularradiosystems,thereisaneedfor
omnidirectionalantennasandforantennaswith
beamwidthsof120,andlessforsectorizedcells
CellularandPCSbasestationreceivingantennasare
usuallymountedinsuchawayastoobtainspacediversity
Foranomnidirectionalpattern,typicallythreeantennasare
mountedonatowerwithatriangularcrosssectionandthe
antennasaremountedat120intervals

MobileandPortableAntenna
Mobileandportableantennas
usedwithcellularandPCS
systemshavetobe
omnidirectionalandsmall
Thesimplestantennaisthe
quarterwavelengthmonopoleare
theseareusuallytheones
suppliedwithportablephones
Formobilephones,andcommon
configurationisthequarterwave
antennawithahalfwaveantenna
mountedcollinearlyaboveit

TestEquipment:
TheAnechoicChamber

Theanechoicchamberisusedtosetupantennasinalocation
thatisfreefromreflectionsinordertoevaluatethem