Questions tagged [antenna]
Questions about the design, selection, building, testing, mounting, or properties of antennas. See also specific tags: [antenna-theory], [antenna-construction], [dipole], etc.
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Is this true about ferrite loop antennas?
There is an article on wikipedia about loop antennas.
It shows like an AM radio's antenna with the ferrite rod and says this:
This greater conductance channels thousands of times more magnetic power ...
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What type of antenna are these?
On top of a mountain in south Salt Lake City, Utah there are many antennas.
What are these curly ones?
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Does a NVIS antenna have to be exactly below the maximum NVIS frequency to have NVIS characteristics?
For example if the maximum NVIS frequency is 5 MHz in a given region, would a NVIS antenna have to be resonant at less than 5 MHz to have NVIS propagation characteristics or can it be slightly above ...
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Why is there so little difference in the gains of Yagi Uda antennas with omnidirectional antennas? Shouldn't the power at the back be at the front?
Consider an omnidirectional antenna with X dBi gain. Intuitively I understand that the power that would have been dispersed in now-dead directions is directed around the antenna.
What I don't get is ...
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How do VHF antennas compensate for change in frequency in Frequency Modulation?
I would like to understand how antennas specifically, compensate for variability in the frequency while receiving FM waves in VHF. The way FM works is that the receiver system - receiver and antenna ...
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EFHW: better to get far end really high, or middle somewhat high?
I built a 40m end fed halfwave antenna and unun, and the wire is about 66 ft long. I have some tall trees nearby I can hang it in, semi-permanently.
Which of the following would be better?
A) hanging ...
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Do you need to analyse the SWR of your radio repeatedly? Or periodically? If so, Why?
Let us assume that I have an adjustable antenna, between 160m - 6m. And let's also assume that using an antenna analyser I have estimated the SWR for that antenna for a specific frequency. If my ...
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SWR erratic based on time of day
I have an odd issue - SWR swings wildly, like a loose connection (there are no loose connections), on 17 and 15 M, only mid-afternoon local. I have made contacts as far as Japan (from central NC) at ...
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Is this author correct about using a λ/2 of wire for a coil to get the proper delay on a λ/2 collinear antenna?
Is this author correct about using a λ/2 of wire for a coil to get the proper delay on a λ/2 collinear antenna?
Improving the Super-J
August 5, 2012 by John S. Huggins
I agree with him that there has ...
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UV-5R High Gain Antenna Performance
My Baofeng UV-5R came with a shorter 6.5” antenna and a “high gain” 15.3” RH-771 antenna. In your experience, how much of a difference in range does the use of the longer antenna achieve?
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Why does beamforming bring more power to the received desired signal?
Consider a normal array model with $N$ element. The output of the array is given by,
$$\mathbf{y}=\mathbf{w}^H\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{w}^H\mathbf{as}$$
where
$\mathbf{a}=[a_1,...,a_N]^T=\in\mathbb{C}^{N\...
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Grounding a vertical antenna from a balcony
I have a multiband vertical antenna mounted onto the railings of my balcony apartment high up on the 6th floor of an apartment building. The antenna is not grounded. This antenna comes without radials....
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Troubleshooting range on Lora Radio
I am using these Adafruit LoRa radio microcontrollers: M0 radio
paired with these parts to make up the antenna system:
antenna
connector
cable
And for some reason I am unable to get much further than ...
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Recommendations for Antennas installation with Steep slopes
I have a property that I am trying to figure out the right antenna setup for.
Transmission Goals
North of this property is 900 miles to communicate 80M or 40M.
Also want to communicate to another ...
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Does anyone know of a compact ELF wave transmit antenna I can buy or make?
I need to transmit frequencies as low as 1Hz and I know the wavelength is the speed of light but wondered if there has been any breakthroughs in this field? I need a handheld antenna or at least one ...
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I'm looking for an effective beam antenna for both 20 meters and 10 meters
My favorite HF bands are 20 meters and 10 meters.
I am currently using a multi-band vertical antenna, but it's not so great for DX'ing. I am looking for a good upgrade.
I'm still learning a lot about ...
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What gauge of winding wire will be "invisible" but sturdy as an antenna?
I plan to build a receive-only longwire/Beverage antenna. The wire will be at least 40m/120' long and strewn at about 7m/21' above ground. Tried "regular" thin insulated wire but it was an ...
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Is there such thing as a center-fed longwire?
I want to make a longwire/Beverage receive antenna that will work on a wide range of bands (80-10m or wider). I've got a place where I can put a wire of at least 50m/150'. The only problem is — the ...
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Can I use electrical ground / earth as my RF ground?
I live on a high floor in an apartment block and have a radial-free multi-band vertical antenna attached to my terrace railing. This is the antenna :
https://www.thunderpole.co.uk/amateur-radio-...
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Generally speaking what might one expect from a J-pole based on PVC covered in tinned braid? [closed]
Would the skin effect provide benefits or would capacitance/inductance cause problems?
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Titan antenna VSWR and radio problem
I just installed a new Titan DX antenna and I am using psk31 with fldigi. When I transmit on 20m at 14072, the SWR is 1.65 and it shuts off my computer and the radio keeps transmitting.
However, on ...
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Can ham radio antennas interfere with RING devices, causing them to produce high-pitched noise? [closed]
Can a HUGE ham radio antenna on a house with an array of RING devices (5 in total) cause interference and high-frequency reverberation?
The attached shows one of these devices (there's 2 under the ...
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Hardened UHF Antennas
Minuteman missile silos used an interesting hardened UHF antenna.
What kind of antenna is this? Does anyone have a drawing with a cross section?
Edit:
Jay Moore added a picture to a different type of ...
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When to use air dielectric cables for antenna installation
I'm putting up antennas on a tower, and have a couple of 7/8" cables style on hand. One is Hj5-50 air dielectric cable and the other AVA5-50 "Virtual Air" cable.
I notice that the HJ5 ...
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Isolated linearly loaded antenna?
Is there a name or common descriptive term for a linearly loaded dipole or end-fed, where a (near) parallel loading element or elements are not connected (galvanically isolated) to the fed element or ...
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How to compute the efficency of an omnidirectional antenna from its gain?
Some antennas have very limited specifications with no stated efficiency. For example, this antenna has the following specifications:
Frequency Band
902-928 MHz
VSWR
<2.0:1
Impedance
50 Ω
Gain
...
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How does a loopstick antenna actually receive signal?
Around 1970, I acquired a little transistor radio (powered by 4xAA cells, 6V) that had no external antenna. Inside the back panel (which opened to allow replacing the battery cells) one could see the ...
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Measurement of antenna with VNA does not match its specs
I have a NanoVNA V2 Plus (50kHz - 3GHz) and decided to test my LoRa antennas:
an unknown antenna delivered with a LoRaWAN gateway (RAK831)
a 868Mhz antenna from Linx Technologies (ANT-868-OC-LG-RPS)
...
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What do radials really do for a vertical antenna?
I have read everything I can find about monopole (vertical antenna) radials, and also watched many YouTube videos that touch on the topic. I see conflicting information about what they do, where a ...
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Can a smartphone with single antenna receive signals modulated by different schemes
I am working on a system whereby a smartphone may receive signals simultaneously from different sources.
As we know, the fading and pathloss will make the transmitters send their traffic with ...
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At near-QRP levels should I include a balun/unun in the antenna system? [duplicate]
To my comprehension a BALUN/UNUN is an RF Transformer. If this is correct and since a BALUN/UNUN is part of the antenna system ... how much power does one expect to lose there?
Specifically, how much ...
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Yagi antenna isolation from other Yagi antennas
I have multiple Yagi antennas horizontally polarized. They are all placed in closed proximity at the same height horizontally and operating in a similar frequency.
The yagis are 2.45GHz, bluetooth ...
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Ground plane reflects RF or brings it to ground
I'm still confused with the purpose of a ground plane purpose in an antenna.
My understanding is this. If an antenna is perfectly balanced, there will be no common-mode currents going to ground. If an ...
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How much dB gain do you need from an LNA in front of an antenna for great low-signal reception from satellites in the 2m and 70cm bands?
We are building a multi-stage LNA for a TR module we are building in the 144MHz and 440MHz range. This LNA we are considering (Qorvo QPL9547) provides about 22dB gain in the 2m and about 27dB in the ...
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3D Printed yagi antenna
I'm trying to produce a Yagi antenna for the 2.45 GHz band using a 3D dual extruder printer. The idea is to print the antenna elements using a metal filament and encasing it all in plastic.
The ...
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What might a "split-ring on a printed-circuit board" antenna for 144 MHz on a downward-looking Space Shuttle window look like? How big would it be?
This excellent answer to First Ham Radio contact from space; what frequency, what kind of antenna, and how did they route the coax out the window? in Space Exploration SE contains the block-quoted ...
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Antenna suggestions for SDRPlay RSP1A
Looking for suggestions for a portable antenna for use with a SDRPlay RSP1A. I notice that most other SDRs come with a few antennas, but not the RSP1A. I have a 2m/70cm HT, so I own a Nagoya NA-771R ...
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How might various conductive mast mounting configurations affect an electrically isolated rhombic antenna?
Assuming a rhombic antenna is:
terminated for directionality
electrically isolated at its mount point
mounted to a metal mast partway up vs top of mast
horizontally oriented (elements parallel to ...
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Tuning two antennas using wire length
I've heard that in the early spark-gap wireless telegraphy era people would use kites with a wire acting as antennas and if the receiving side had a wire length that was an even division or multiple ...
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Interpreting (noise) signals from a small untuned shielded loop
This a follow up from this question:
QRN: How to chase down a solid S9 noise floor on 40m only
Focusing on how to interpret the signals received with an electrically small, untuned "shielded loop&...
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Tuning wire with SWR LED
I have a QRP rig (Mountain Topper) and a variable capacitor QRP end fed half wave antenna with an SWR LED indicator. The LED doesn't go fully out in all configurations but there is always a local ...
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Hang wire antenna on TV antenna?
I have a TV antenna on the top of my house that I don't use. It is the highest point around so I would like to hang a wire antenna (for HF) on it. Is an inactive antenna going to cause any ...
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When a dipole antenna is fed via coax, what powers the ground-side of the dipole?
I've been trying to understand how dipole antennas work, and I believe I understand the basics when they're fed via a balanced feed line. In fact, every dipole physics YouTube video and web page I can ...
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Why do we need special geometry for telecommunication antennas?
In many youtube videos about building low power radio transmeters , I have seen a piece of regular wire or extension cord used as a antenna. But , it seems like telecommunication antennas have ...
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Replacing a N-connector with SMA, easy?
I purchased a cell phone booster for the cottage that came with an external yagi. Since its important to get the antenna as far away as possible from the indoor omni, the yagi has about 25 meters of ...
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Boosting Mobile Phone Reception
Yes, I know, this could very well be a controversial topic, so feel free to close this off if you feel it's not a good fit for this site. That said, I'm posting it here because hams (and as a ...
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what is main reason for formation of side lobes in directional antennas?
I would like to know why are side lobes formed along with main beam in an antenna.
I asked one of my colleague and he explained me that its due to radiation of frequencies near to the required center ...
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Is a MagLoop antenna better than my 50ft end fed di-pole for 20-80 meters?
I'm restricted to putting antennas in my attic which is 50 feet long and peaks at about 8 feet. I'm currently using the Nelson UJM-150-50 end-fed dipole 80-10 meter antenna. The attic is about 25 feet ...
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What type of omnidirectional antenna gives the most gain for a frequency of 2.4 GHz?
I have a 2.4 GHz transceiver that outputs 4.5 DBm. I wish to amplify the signal using a 15.5 DBi antenna so that the signal reaches 20 DB, the maximum legal limit. Preferably, the antenna would be of ...
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How to compute the required length and turns for an air-cored antenna
I'm experimenting with RF reception in the 433MHz band and have made the most simple "whip" monopole antenna with 17.6 centimeters of wire.
Out of curiosity, I tried various designs for the ...
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