06/05/2016

W5ALTHome

AntennaNotes

ANTENNANOTESFORADUMMY

Index
Introduction
Electromagnetic
Waves
BasicConceptsI
BasicConceptsII
AntennaScaling
Balance
Matching
SWR?
RFGround
AntennaTuners
Dipoles
Horizontal
Dipoles
VerticalDipoles
InvertedVee
Dipoles
BentDipoles
ShortDipoles
GroundPlane
Verticals
1/4WaveGP
Verticals
Groundvs.
Radials
ShortVerticals
PracticalStuff
General
CaseStudy1
CaseStudy2
CaseStudy3
Previous
Next

RestrictedSpaceAntennas
byWaltFair,Jr.,W5ALT

ImpedanceMatching
Impedancematchingisanothersubjectwhichoftencausesconfusion.In
thissectionwe'lltakealookatwhyweshouldworryaboutimpedance
matchinginantennasystemsandwhateffectmaybeduetoamatched
orunmatchedcondition.Itwillbeseenthatimpedancematchingis
importantintwoseparateinstancesforverydifferentreasons:the
transmittertotransmissionlinematchandthetransmissionlineto
antennamatch.
TransmitterPower.We'veallheardthatourtransmittershaveanoutput
impedanceof50ohms.(No,youcan'tmeasurethatwithanohmmeter
Itried.)Orperhapsinthetransmitterspecificationsitsaysthatthe
transmitterwilldeliver100watts,forexample,intoa50ohmload,which
isthesamething.Whatdoesthatmean?Whatisthesignificanceof50
ohms?
First,rememberthatpowerisvoltagetimescurrent:P=EI.Alsofrom
Ohm'sLawvoltageiscurrenttimesresistance:E=IR.Therefore,we
cancalculatetheneededvoltageandcurrentfrompowerandresistance
usingI=SQRT(P/R)andV=SQRT(PR).
Let'ssaywehaveatransmitteroutputof100watts.Ifthetransmitteris
connectedtoa50ohmdummyload,thenwecancalculatethatthe
currentis1.414ampsandthevoltageis70.721volts,forgettingabout
whetherthatispeak,average,RMSorwhatever.(Youcancheckthat
1.414x70.721=100)Thismeansthatthemanufacturer(orcircuit
designer,ifit'shomebrew)iswillingtoguaranteethatthetransmitterwill
generate1.414ampsat70.721volts,whichiswhatisneededtooutput
100wattsintoa50ohmload.Andthat'sallitmeans.
Whathappensifwewanttoput100wattsintoadifferentload,say25
ohmsor100ohms?Inthesameway,fromOhm'sLawwecancalculate
thatthecurrentandvoltagefor100wattsintoa25ohmloadare2amps
and50volts,whilefora100ohmloadthecurrentis1ampatavoltage
of100volts.Noticethatinthefirstcasethecurrentishigher(2amps
insteadof1.414amps),whileinthesecondcasethevoltageishigher
(100volts,insteadof70.721volts).Nowperhapsthetransmitterwill
handlethat,butthemanufacturerisn'twillingtoguaranteeit.
Likewise,wecancalculatethecurrentandvoltagerequiredtogenerate
100wattsintoanytypeofload.Wewillseethatinallcases,eitherthe
currentwillbehigherthan1.414ampsorthevoltagerequiredwillbe
higher70.721volts.Soonerorlaterwewillarriveatacurrentorvoltage
thatexceedsthedesignspecificationsofthetransmittercircuits.Inthat

http://www.comportco.com/~w5alt/antennas/notes/antnotes.php?pg=7

1/3

06/05/2016

AntennaNotes

case,mostmoderntransmitterscontainadditionalcircuitrytolimitthe
currentorvoltage,hencereducingtheoutputpower.Ofcoursethe
alternativeistoexceedtheratingsoftheinternalcircuitryandburnup
thetransmitter.
So,inordertogetthemostpoweroutofthetransmitter,itisneccesary
toensurethatthetransmitterisconnectedtoa50ohmload.Iftheload
impedanceisdifferent,thenthetransmitterwillrequireeithermore
currentormorevoltage,andthemanufacturerisn'twillingtoguarantee
thatitwilldeliver.That'swhywewanttomatchtheloadimpedanceatthe
transmitteroutputto50ohms.Ithasnothingtodowiththefunctionor
efficiencyoftheantenna.Wecandothatinseveralways,includingthe
useofanantennatuneratthetransmitteroutput.Wearesimplymaking
surethatthetransmitterisoperatingwithinitsspecifications.Nothing
more.
Whenshouldwebeworriedaboutmatchingthetransmittertothe
transmissionline?Ifthetransmitterisgeneratingfullpowerintotheline,
thenthereisnomorepoweravailable.Spendingtimeandeffort
improvingthematchwillnotincreasethepoweroutputofthetransmitter,
sinceit'salreadyatmaximum.Ifthetransmitterisgeneratinglessthan
maximumpower,however,improvingthematchwillallowittogenerate
more.Inthatcasetheeffortmaybeworthwhile.
TransmissionLines.Thesubjectoftransmissionlinesisanentirefield
ofstudyinandofitself,sowewon'tcoververymuchhere.However,at
leastabasicunderstandingoftransmissionlinetheoryisessentialto
understandingantennasystems.Afterall,thetransmissionlineiswhat
deliverspowerfromthetransmittertotheantenna,orfromtheantenna
toareceiver.Wecertainlywanttomakesurethatallthepowergets
wherewewantittogo.TheARRLHandbook,theARRLAntennaBook,
ormostanytextbookonantennashasamoredetaileddescriptionand
discussionoftransmissionlines.
Itiswellknownthateverycommontypeoftransmissionlinehasa
characteristicimpedance.Whenyouhearof50ohmcoaxor75ohm
cableor300ohmtwinlead,the50,75and300ohmnumbersrefertothe
characteristicimpedanceoftheparticulartransmissionline.Itcanalso
beshownthatwhenatransmissionlineisterminatedinaloadthat
matchesitscharacteristicimpedance,thepoweristotallyabsorbedinthe
load,whichiswhatwewantfromourantennasystems.However,ifthe
lineisterminatedinanimpedancethatisnotthesameasits
characteristicimpedance,thenthepowerisnottotallyabsorbedand
someofitisreflectedbackdownthelinetowardthetranmitter.Whenit
reachesthetransmitter,itagainisreflectedbacktowardstheload.After
all,wehopethatthetransmitterisgeneratingpower,notabsorbingit!
Thisprocessofreflectingpowerbackandforthbetweenthetransmitter
andloadeventuallyleadstoasteadystateconditionwhereadistribution
ofcurrentexistsonthetransmissionline.Thepoweralleventuallygets
absorbedbytheload,butinthemeantimethereisahighercurrenton
thetransmissionlinethanneedbe.Sinceahighercurrentmeansmore
losseswithinthetransmissionline,duetowireresistanceandother
effects,whentheloadisnotmatchedtothetransmissionline,therewill
bemorelossesintheline.Rememberthatpowerlossesarerepresented
http://www.comportco.com/~w5alt/antennas/notes/antnotes.php?pg=7

2/3

06/05/2016

AntennaNotes

byI2R,sodoublingthecurrentwillcause22=4timesmorelosses.
Inaddition,thecurrentreflectedbackandforthcreatesstandingwaves
onthetransmissionline.Thatmeansthatthevoltageandthecurrent
varyalongthelinewhentheloadisnotequaltothecharacteristic
impedanceoftheline.WecanuseanSWR(StandingWaveRatio)
metertomeasurethemagnitudeofthesewaves.TheSWRmetergives
theratioofthehighestandlowestvoltagealongtheline,whichisthe
sameastheratioofthehighesttolowestcurrentsontheline.Aperfect
matchisastandingwaveratioof1:1,meaningthatthehighestand
lowestvoltagesandcurrentsareequalinotherwords,thereisno
variationalongtheline.
Whenshouldwebeworriedaboutmatchingourantenna,whichisthe
load,tothetransmissionline?Asshowninmostbooksaboutantennas
andtransmissionlines,thepowerlossesonthelinedependontheline
length,thetypeoftransmissionline,thefrequencyandtheSWRonthe
line.So,inordertodeterminewhetherthelossesduetomismatchare
important,itisneccesarytodeterminethefeedlinelosses.
Parallellinesnormallyhavearelativelylowlossandarenotseverely
affectedbyhighSWRormismatch.Generallyspeaking,rarelywillthere
beamajorbenefitfromimprovingthematchtoparallellines,unlessthe
frequencyisveryhighorthelineisverylong.AtnormalHFfrequencies
andlineslessthan100feetlong,theimprovementwillnotusuallybe
noticable.
Coaxialcables,however,generallyhaveahigherlossandaremore
dramaticallyaffectedbyhighSWRandmismatch.Especiallyforlonger
linesandhigherfrequencies,improvingthematchbetweentheantenna
andthefeedlinemaywellyieldasignificantimprovementinantenna
performancebyreducingtransmissionlinelosses.Forbothparalleland
coaxialtransmissionlines,refertothechartsinmosttextbooksto
determinethemagnitudeofthelosses.
Anotheroftheconceptsrelatedtotransmissionlineswasdiscussedin
theprevioussectiononantennabalance.Itmustbenotedthatthe
consequenceofamismatchisentirelydifferentfromtheconceptof
balance.Theyhaveabsolutelynothingtodowitheachother.Itis
possibletohaveamatchedsystemwithaSWRof1:1andstillhavean
unbalancedfeedline.Likewise,itisquiteeasytohaveabalanced
feedlineandhaveaterribleSWRandhightransmissionlinelosses.
Finally,wenotedthatmatchingthetransmittertothetransmissionline
andmatchingthetransmissionlinetotheantennaserve2verydifferent
purposes.Notethatmatchingthetransmissionlinetotheantennamay
wellensurethatallpowerisabsorbedbytheantennaandtherefore
radiated,butitwillnotensurethatthetransmitterisoperatingat
maximumefficiency.Likewise,matchingthetransmittertothe
transmissionlinewillnotaffectthetransmissionlinelosses,sincethose
aredeterminedonlybythematchbetweenthetransmissionlineand
antenna.
Previous
Next
http://www.comportco.com/~w5alt/antennas/notes/antnotes.php?pg=7

3/3