Antenna

Short wave "curtain" antenna (Moosbrunn, Austria)

An antenna (or aerial) is a transducer designed to transmit or receive

electromagnetic waves. In other words, antennas convert electromagnetic waves
into electrical currents and vice versa. Antennas are used in systems such as
radio and television broadcasting, point-to-point radio communication, wireless
LAN, radar, and space exploration. Antennas are most commonly employed in
air or outer space, but can also be operated under water or even through soil and
rock at certain frequencies for short distances.
 Types of Antennas

1. Bogus Antennas.

"Make you whole house wiring a huge TV antenna" or so say the ads for this
scam device. All conductors, your body included, are antennas. An antenna
designer trys to get a bunch of conductors to feed energy in sync, or
constructively in phase so as to collect the energy into one spot. It is improbable
random wiring will collect energy and feed it in phase into your receiver. But then
you could win a million dollars on a slot machine. I never wasted my time on this
scam, or on slot machines, nor should you.
2. The dipole is the fundamental unit of antenna design. The impedance of a
dipole at its center frequency is about 70 ohms. Impedance is the ratio of
voltage to Amperage combined with the "springyness" of a circuit. in the
mechanical sense it is like having a number for torque plus RPM
combined with a measure for how much the metal twists in a vehicle
power train. In the electrical world an impedance transformer (or any
transformer) is exactly like a gear box in the mechanical world. By
convention transmitters and commercial receivers are designed to operate
with 50 ohm systems, while consumer receivers are designed to operate
with 75 ohm systems.
3. Twin Lead Antennas are a form of folded dipole. This is a small antenna,
but at a small price, so you actually get what you pay for. Not much in
either case. This guy has the right ideas about how to make your own twin
lead antenna.

Rabbit Ears.Bunnie ears are still dipoles, and small, and slightly more
expensive than twin leads, though they have the advantage that you can
move them around the room or outdoors in hopes of finding a better spot
to get a signal
4. This dish clip on antenna is advertised a lot recently. Now, you should
recognize this as a twisted folded dipole. Don't expect a lot of this form of
dipole. It is, possibly, not better than rabbit ears, in that you cannot move it
for best reception. It is outdoors, away from your TV, so maybe it could be
better than an indoor antenna, if you are lucky. You will note the similarity
to the twin lead type dipole, except you can't move this baby for best
signal, or adjust for wavelength. If your reception is less that ideal, don't
blame me! Uhg.
5. Turnstile. This is simple. The dipole has a dead spot, so set up one
crosswise to the other, feed both dipoles connecting from one to the other
with 1/4 wave length delay line, and you can get an omnidirectional
antenna. Great if all stations, being in differing directions have perfect
signals at your location. This antenna is sold as an FM Band antenna, with
dipoles, usually in the "folded" form cut for the FM band.

6. Yagi. The Yagi antenna is narrow band, designed to work on only one
channel or FM. It has the best gain for its size, and a correspondingly
narrow main lobe (beam). If you need the highest gain, or to discriminate
against an interfering signal 20-40 degrees azimuth off the desired signal,
use a Yagi.
7. Log Periodic Logs have designed in broad bandwidth. The boom length
being shared over a band of frequencies means lower gain than a Yagi,
and a fatter main lobe, but far better rejection of signals off the side and
rear. Logs are infrequently used except in professional settings. Usually
they are expensive, large, heavy and rugged. If you have a lot of money to
spend and want something that will last a very long while, check out Log
periodics. These images take you to manufacturer sites.
8. Typical TV-FM VHF Only Home Antenna. If you want to get VHF
channels, this is probably the type of antenna for you. If you need FM
band capability, you have to look for that as well, but be careful. FM
stations can easily overpower your TV. See more on that in the
interference section. If an antenna is supposed to work on a range of
frequencies from 50 to over 200 MHz, and still not cost much, then
compromise is in order. In real life, most consumer antennas are not pure
Yagi, or log-periodic, but instead are a jumble of rods designed to get the
most from the limited boom space over a wide range of channels.

9. Typical UHF Only Home Antenna. Here, in South Central Alaska, there is
no place where you should use a UHF only antenna. But if where you live
you have no VHF choices, or if you want to use one antenna for VHF and
another for UHF here are views of UHF only home antennas. Panels are
the only all band transmitting antenna used in Europe, so it must be pretty
 good with tens of thousands transmitting multiple channels. I have had
luck with the yagi-corner reflector style and parabolic style, except on the
lowest channels. On the highest channels, the parabolic may be best.

10. Typical All Band Home Antenna. This is what I use at home. See more
about this on the next page.
 Log-periodic antenna

In telecommunication, a log-periodic antenna (LP, also known as a log-

periodic array) is a broadband, multielement, unidirectional, narrow-beam
antenna that has impedance and radiation characteristics that are regularly
repetitive as a logarithmic function of the excitation frequency. The individual
components are often dipoles, as in a log-periodic dipole array (LPDA). Log-
periodic antennas are designed to be self-similar and are thus also fractal
antenna arrays.

It is normal to drive alternating elements with 180° (π radians) of phase shift from
one another. This is normally done by connecting individual elements to
alternating wires of a balanced transmission line.

The length and spacing of the elements of a log-periodic antenna increase

logarithmically from one end to the other. A plot of the input impedance as a
function of logarithm of the excitation frequency shows a periodic variation.
 Yagi antenna

A Yagi-Uda Antenna, commonly known simply as a Yagi antenna or Yagi, is a

directional antenna system consisting of an array of a dipole and additional
closely coupled parasitic elements (usually a reflector and one or more directors).
The dipole in the array is driven, and another element, typically 10% longer,
effectively operates as a reflector. Other parasitic elements shorter than the
dipole may be added in front of the dipole and are referred to as directors. This
arrangement gives the antenna directionality that a single dipole lacks.
Directional antennas, such as the Yagi-Uda, are also commonly referred to as
beam antennas or high-gain antennas (particularly for transmitting).

Description

Yagi-Uda antenna. Viewed left to right: Reflector element, driven element,

director element.
Yagi-Uda antenna signal-gathering action compared with other end-fire, back-fire
and traveling-wave types.

Yagi-Uda antennas are directional along the axis perpendicular to the dipole in
the plane of the elements, from the reflector through the driven element and out
via the director(s). If one holds out one's arms to form a dipole and has the
reflector behind oneself, one would receive signals with maximum gain from in
front of oneself. Typically, all elements are arranged at approximately a one-
quarter-wavelength mutual spacing, with directors progressively shorter than a
half wavelength to couple signals of increasingly higher frequencies onto the
dipole. (See also log-periodic antenna.) All elements usually lie in the same
plane, supported on a single boom or crossbar; however, they do not have to
assume this coplanar arrangement. For example, some commercially available
Yagi-Uda antennas for television reception have several reflectors arranged to
form a corner reflector behind the dipole.

The bandwidth of a Yagi-Uda antenna, which is usually defined as the frequency

range for which the antenna provides a good match to the transmission line to
which it is attached, is determined by the length, diameter and spacing of the
elements. For most designs, the bandwidth is small, typically a only a few
percent of the design frequency.

The gain of a Yag-Uda antenna is proportional to its length, rather than simply
the number of elements.

Yagi-Uda antennas can be designed to operate on multiple bands. Such designs

are more complicated, using pairs of resonant parallel coil and capacitor
combinations (called a "trap" or LC) in the elements. The trap serves to isolate
the outer portion of an element from the inner portion at the trap design
frequency. In practice, the higher frequency traps are located closest to the boom
of the antenna. Typically, a triband beam will have two pairs of traps per element.
For example, a triband design covering the 10, 15 and 20 meter bands would
have traps for the 10 and 15 meter bands. The use of traps is not without cost, as
they reduce the bandwidth of the antenna on each band and reduce its overall
efficiency.
 Dish antenna

A dish antenna, also known simply as a dish, is common in microwave systems.

This type of antennacan be used for satellite communication andbroadcast
reception, space communications, radio astronomy, and radar.

A dish antenna consists of an active, or driven, element and a passive parabolic

orspherical reflector. The driven element can be a dipole antenna or a horn
antenna. If a horn is used, it is aimed back atthe center of the reflecting dish. The
reflector has a diameter of at least several wavelengths. As the wavelength
increases(and the frequency decreases), the minimumrequired dish diameter
becomes larger.

When the dipole or horn is properly positioned and aimed, incoming

electromagnetic fields bounce off the reflector,and the energy converges on the
driven element. If the horn or dipole is connectedto a transmitter, the element
emits electromagnetic waves that bounce off the reflectorand propagate outward
in a narrow beam.

A dish antenna is usually operated with an unbalanced feed line. For satellite
televisionreception, coaxial cable is used. Inapplications such as radar where a
high-power signal is transmitted, a feed system is preferred.