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Amateur radio portal (Project)
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio spectrum for non-commercial communication, technical experimentation, self-training, recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communications. In 1927 a radio amateur was defined as "a duly authorized person interested in radioelectric practice with a purely personal aim and without pecuniary interest," meaning without monetary or similar reward. The definition distinguished amateur activity from commercial broadcasting, public safety services, and professional two-way radio uses such as maritime, aviation, and taxi communication. (Read more...)
An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequenciesassigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators have been granted an amateur radio license by a governmental regulatory authority after passing an examination on applicable regulations, electronics, radio theory, and radio operation. As a component of their license, amateur radio operators are assigned a call sign that they use to identify themselves during communication. About three million amateur radio operators are currently active worldwide. (Read more...)
The Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) is a United States Department of Defense sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the United States Army and the United States Air Force. The United States Navy-Marine Corps program closed in 2015. The program is a civilian auxiliary consisting primarily of licensed amateur radio operators who are interested in assisting the military with communications on a regional and national level when access to traditional forms of communication may no longer be available. The MARS programs also include active duty, reserve, and National Guard units; and Navy, Marine Corps units. (Full article...)
Charles Emory Apgar (June 28, 1865 – August 17, 1950) was an American business executive and amateur radio operator. He is known for making early recordings of radio transmissions at the start of World War I. The recordings that he made of a wireless telegraphy station owned by a German Empire-based company operating from the United States were used to expose an espionage ring. They provided evidence of clandestine messages being sent in violation of a prohibition intended to maintain United States neutrality. This proof of illicit operation led to the government seizing control of the facility to stop the activity. Apgar's efforts received extensive coverage in newspapers and technical science magazines at the time. His contributions were praised by government investigators. Publications continued to remark on his work many years later. (Full article...)
Amateur radio or ham radio is practised by more than 22,000 licensed users in India. The first amateur radio operator was licensed in 1921, and by the mid-1930s, there were around 20 amateur radio operators in India. Amateur radio operators played an important part in the Indian independence movement with the establishment of illegal pro-independence radio stations in the 1940s. The three decades after India's independence saw only slow growth in the number of operators until the then Prime Minister of India and amateur radio operator, Rajiv Gandhi (VU2RG), waived the import duty on wireless equipment in 1984. Since then, numbers have picked up, and as of 2007, there were more than 16,000 operators in the country. Amateur radio operators have played a vital role during disasters and national emergencies such as earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, floods, and bomb blasts, by providing voluntary emergency communications in the affected areas. (Full article...)
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The Hungarian World Bus & DX-Pedition or Globexpedition (in Hungarian: Globexpedíció), also known by the radio call signHA5BUS and its variations, was a DX-pedition with the aim of traveling around the globe with a bus. The expedition lasted 614 days from 23 October 1991 to 27 June 1993, and its team traveled through or visited places in Hungary, the Soviet Union (which was in the process of dissolution at the time), Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Singapore, Australia, the United States, Canada, Germany and Austria. The participants were three Hungarian men, all licensed amateur radio (or "ham") operators; bus driver Gábor Kovács (nicknamed "Gabi", call sign: HG5BKG), Volánbusz mechanical engineer István Himberger ("Pista", HG5CHI) and Rádiózás magazine's then chief editor Imre Páskuly ("Imi", HA5HO). (Full article...)
Amateur radio operator's "Radio shack" with vintage gear Vintage amateur radio is a subset of amateur radio hobby where enthusiasts collect, restore, preserve, build, and operate amateur radio equipment from bygone years, such as those using vacuum tube technology. Popular modes of operation include speaking over amplitude modulation (AM), and communicating using Morse code through continuous wave (CW) radiotelegraphy. Some enthusiasts have interest in owning, restoring and operating vintage military and commercial radio equipment such as those from 1940s to 1960s. Some undertake to construct their own gear, known in ham slang as homebrewing, using vintage parts and designs. A number of amateur radio clubs and organizations sponsor contests, events, and swap meets that cater to this specialized aspect of the hobby. (Full article...)
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Amateur radio station with transceivers, amplifiers, and a computer for digital modes. On the wall are awards, certificates, and QSL cards from foreign stations Amateur radio, also known as Ham radio, is the use of specific bands and frequencies within the radio spectrum for non-commercial communication, technical experimentation, self-training, recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communications. A surge of popular interest in radio experimentation in the early 20th century necessitated that parts of the radio spectrum be allocated to non-professionals. In 1927 a radio amateur was defined as "a duly authorized person interested in radioelectric practice with a purely personal aim and without pecuniary interest", meaning without monetary or similar reward. The definition distinguished amateur activity from commercial broadcasting, public safety services, and professional two-way radio uses such as maritime, aviation, and taxi communication. (Full article...)
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This Morse key was originally used by Gotthard railway, later by a shortwave radio amateur. Morse code is a telecommunications method which encodestext characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. It is named after Samuel Morse, one of several developers of the system. Morse's preliminary proposal for a telegraph code was replaced by an alphabet-based code developed by Alfred Vail, the engineer working with Morse. Vail's version was used for commercial telegraphy in North America. Friedrich Gerke simplified Vail's code to produce the code adopted in Europe, and most of the alphabetic part of the (ITU) "Morse" is copied from Gerke's revision. (Full article...)
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An amateur radio net, or simply ham net, is a radio net composed of amateur radio operators. Most nets convene on a regular schedule and specific frequency, and are organized for a particular purpose, such as relaying messages, discussing a common topic of interest, in severe weather (for example, during a Skywarn activation), emergencies, or simply as a regular gathering of friends for conversation. (Full article...)
Contesting (belonging to the category of the radiosports) is a competitive activity pursued by amateur radio operators. In a contest, an amateur radio station, which may be operated by an individual or a team, seeks to contact as many other amateur radio stations as possible in a given period of time and exchange information. Rules for each competition define the amateur radio bands, the mode of communication that may be used, and the kind of information that must be exchanged. The contacts made during the contest contribute to a score by which stations are ranked. Contest sponsors publish the results in magazines and on web sites. (Full article...)
Illustration of the spectrum of AM and SSB signals. The lower side band (LSB) spectrum is inverted compared to the baseband. As an example, a 2kHz audio baseband signal modulated onto a 5MHz carrier will produce a frequency of 5.002MHz if upper side band (USB) is used or 4.998MHz if LSB is used. In radio communications, single-sideband modulation (SSB) or single-sideband suppressed-carrier modulation (SSB-SC) is a type of signal modulation used to transmit information, such as an audio signal, by radio waves. A refinement of amplitude modulation, it uses transmitterpower and bandwidth more efficiently. Amplitude modulation produces an output signal the bandwidth of which is twice the maximum frequency of the original baseband signal. Single-sideband modulation avoids this bandwidth increase, and the power wasted on a carrier, at the cost of increased device complexity and more difficult tuning at the receiver. (Full article...)
U.S. Military Telegraph battery wagon, Army of the Potomac headquarters, Petersburg, Virginia, June 1864.
The U.S. Military Telegraph Corps was formed in 1861 following the outbreak of the American Civil War. David Strouse, Samuel M. Brown, Richard O'Brian and David H. Bates, all from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, were sent to Washington, D.C. to serve in the newly created office. In October of that year, Anson Stager was appointed department head. During the war, they were charged with maintaining communications between the federal government in Washington and the commanding officers of the far-flung units of the Union Army. (Full article...)
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Antennas for High-speed Amateur-radio Multimedia Network (HamNET) in Europe, part of the AMPRNet wireless mesh network
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the United States. The ARRL is a non-profit organization and was co-founded on April 6, 1914, by Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska of Hartford, Connecticut. The ARRL represents the interests of amateur radio operators before federal regulatory bodies, provides technical advice and assistance to amateur radio enthusiasts, supports a number of educational programs and sponsors emergency communications service throughout the country. The ARRL has approximately 161,000 members. In addition to members in the US, the organization claims over 7,000 members in other countries. The ARRL publishes many books and a monthly membership journal called QST. In 2023, the ARRL reported a significant increase in new amateur radio licensees in the United States, with over 30,000 new licenses issued for the first time since 2014. (Full article...)
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A diving grebe creating surface waves In physics, a surface wave is a mechanical wave that propagates along the interface between differing media. A common example is gravity waves along the surface of liquids, such as ocean waves. Gravity waves can also occur within liquids, at the interface between two fluids with different densities. Elastic surface waves can travel along the surface of solids, such as Rayleigh or Love waves. Electromagnetic waves can also propagate as "surface waves" in that they can be guided along with a refractive indexgradient or along an interface between two media having different dielectric constants. In radiotransmission, a ground wave is a guided wave that propagates close to the surface of the Earth. (Full article...)
General images
The following are images from various amateur radio-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Amateur station featuring some older transceivers (from Amateur radio station)
Image 2Collins S-Line, featuring separate power supply, receiver, transmitter, and speaker console, c.1960s (from Vintage amateur radio)
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Selected antenna
Image 1
Crossed field test antenna installed in Silsden, U.K.
A crossed field antenna (CFA) is a controversial type of radio antenna for long and mediumwavebroadcasting, patented by F. M. Kabbary and M. C. Hately in 1986, which was claimed to have the same efficiency as a conventional antenna but only one-tenth the overall height. The invention was received with incredulity from experts in electromagnetics and antenna technology owing to the deficient theoretical justifications offered and the lack of viable experimental verification. Although the antenna was installed in a few broadcasting stations in the 1990s, performance has not borne out the claims of the inventors. (Full article...)
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A 1935 photo of WOR / 710AM's facility in Carteret, New Jersey. In this case there are three radiators: the two towers and the center ‘T’-antenna, suspended in the middle.
A "T"-antenna, "T"-aerial, or flat-top antenna is a monopoleradio antenna consisting of one or more horizontal wires suspended between two supporting radio masts or buildings and insulated from them at the ends. A vertical wire is connected to the center of the horizontal wires and hangs down close to the ground, connected to the transmitter or receiver. The shape of the antenna resembles the letter "T", hence the name. The transmitter power is applied, or the receiver is connected, between the bottom of the vertical wire and a ground connection.
A closely related antenna is the inverted-L antenna. This is similar to the T-antenna except that the vertical feeder wire, instead of being attached to the center of the horizontal topload wires, is attached at one end. The name comes from its resemblance to an inverted letter "L" (Γ). The T-antenna is an omnidirectional antenna, radiating equal radio power in all azimuthal directions, while the inverted-L is a weakly directional antenna, with maximum radio power radiated in the direction of the top load wire, off the end with the feeder attached.
'T'- and inverted-L antennas are typically used in the VLF, LF, MF, and shortwave bands, and are widely used as transmitting antennas for amateur radio stations, and long wave and medium waveAM broadcasting stations. They can also be used as receiving antennas for shortwave listening. They function as monopole antennas with capacitive top-loading; other antennas in this category include the umbrella, and triatic antennas. They were invented during the first decades of radio, in the wireless telegraphy era, before 1920. (Full article...)
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Direction-finding system Galeta Island, Panama A circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA), sometimes referred to as a circularly disposed dipole array (CDDA) or a wullenweber, is a large circular antenna array used for radio direction finding. They are used by military and government agencies to triangulate radio signals for radio navigation, intelligence gathering, search and rescue, and enforcement of broadcasting laws. Because their huge circular reflecting screens look like circular fences, some antennas have been colloquially referred to as "elephant cages". The term "wullenweber" was the World War II German cover term used to identify their secret CDAA research and development program; its name is unrelated to any person involved in the program.
Array of four axial-mode helical antennas used as a satellite tracking-acquisition antenna, Pleumeur-Bodou, France A helical antenna is an antenna consisting of one or more conducting wires wound in the form of a helix. A helical antenna made of one helical wire, the most common type, is called monofilar, while antennas with two or four wires in a helix are called bifilar, or quadrifilar, respectively.
In most cases, directional helical antennas are mounted over a ground plane, while omnidirectional designs may not be. The feed line is connected between the bottom of the helix and the ground plane. Helical antennas can operate in one of two principal modes: normal or axial.
In the normal mode or broadside helical antenna, the diameter and the pitch of the aerial are small compared with the wavelength. The antenna acts similarly to an electrically shortdipole or monopole, equivalent to a 1/4 wave vertical and the radiation pattern, similar to these antennas is omnidirectional, with maximum radiation at right angles to the helix axis. For monofilar designs the radiation is linearly polarized parallel to the helix axis. These are used for compact antennas for portable hand held as well as mobile vehicle mount two-way radios, and in larger scale for UHF television broadcasting antennas. In bifilar or quadrifilar implementations, broadside circularly polarized radiation can be realized.
In the axial mode or end-fire helical antenna, the diameter and pitch of the helix are comparable to a wavelength. The antenna functions as a directional antenna radiating a beam off the ends of the helix, along the antenna's axis. It radiates circularly polarized radio waves. These are used for satellite communication. Axial mode operation was discovered by physicist John D. Kraus (Full article...)
A spiral antenna is a type of radio frequencyantenna shaped as a spiral, first described in 1956. Archimedean spiral antennas are the most popular, while logarithmic spiral antennas are independent of frequency: the driving point impedance, radiation pattern and polarization of such antennas remain unchanged over a large bandwidth. Spiral antennas are inherently circularly polarized with low gain; antenna arrays can be used to increase the gain. Spiral antennas are reduced in size with its windings making it an extremely small structure. Lossycavities are usually placed at the back to eliminate back lobes, because a unidirectional pattern is usually preferred in such antennas. Spiral antennas are classified into different configurations: Archimedean spiral, logarithmic spiral, square spiral, etc. (Full article...)
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X-band slotted waveguide marine radar antenna on ship, 8–12GHz. The antenna radiates a narrow vertical fan-shaped beam of microwaves, scanning the entire 360° water surface around the ship with each rotation.
A slot antenna consists of a metal surface, usually a flat plate, with one or more holes or slots cut out. When the plate is driven as an antenna by an applied radio frequency current, the slot radiates electromagnetic waves in a way similar to a dipole antenna. The shape and size of the slot, as well as the driving frequency, determine the radiation pattern. Slot antennas are usually used at UHF and microwave frequencies at which wavelengths are small enough that the plate and slot are conveniently small. At these frequencies, the radio waves are often conducted by a waveguide, and the antenna consists of slots in the waveguide; this is called a slotted waveguide antenna. Multiple slots act as a directivearray antenna and can emit a narrow fan-shaped beam of microwaves. They are used in standard laboratory microwave sources used for research, UHF television transmitting antennas, antennas on missiles and aircraft, sector antennas for cellular base stations, and particularly marine radar antennas. A slot antenna's main advantages are its size, design simplicity, and convenient adaptation to mass production using either waveguide or PC board technology. (Full article...)
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Curtain arrays at Radio Free Europe transmitter site, Biblis, Germany Curtain arrays are a class of large multielement directional radio transmitting wire antennas, used in the short-wave radio bands. They constitute a type of reflective array antenna, consisting of multiple wire dipole antennas, suspended in a vertical plane, often positioned in front of a "curtain" reflector made of a flat vertical screen of many long parallel wires. These are suspended by support wires strung between pairs of tall steel towers, reaching heights of up to 90m (300 feet) high. Primarily employed for long-distance skywave (or skip) transmission, they emit a beam of radio waves at a shallow angle into the sky just above the horizon, which is then reflected by the ionosphere back to Earth beyond the horizon. Curtain arrays are extensively used by international short-wave radio stations for broadcasting to large areas at transcontinental distances.
Due to their powerful directional characteristics, curtain arrays are frequently utilized by government propaganda radio stations to beam propaganda broadcasts across national borders into other nations. For instance, curtain arrays were used by Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty to broadcast into Eastern Europe. (Full article...)
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The U.S. Navy Clam Lake, Wisconsin ELF transmitter in 1982. Sections of the power lines that make up the two crossed ground dipole antennas can be seen passing through the forest at lower left.
In radio communication, a ground dipole, also referred to as an earth dipole antenna, transmission line antenna, and in technical literature as a horizontal electric dipole (HED), is a huge, specialized type of radio antenna that radiates extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic waves. It is the only type of transmitting antenna that can radiate practical amounts of power in the frequency range of 3Hz to 3kHz, commonly called ELF waves. A ground dipole consists of two ground electrodes buried in the earth, separated by tens to hundreds of kilometers, linked by overhead transmission lines to a power plant transmitter located between them. Alternating current electricity flows in a giant loop between the electrodes through the ground, radiating ELF waves, so the ground is part of the antenna. To be most effective, ground dipoles must be located over certain types of underground rock formations. The idea was proposed by U.S. Dept. of Defense physicist Nicholas Christofilos in 1959.
Although small ground dipoles have been used for years as sensors in geological and geophysical research, their only use as antennas has been in a few military ELF transmitter facilities to communicate with submerged submarines. Besides small research and experimental antennas, four full-scale ground dipole installations are known to have been constructed; two by the U.S.Navy at Republic, Michigan and Clam Lake, Wisconsin, one by the Russian Navy on the Kola peninsula near Murmansk, Russia, and one in India at the INS Kattabomman naval base. The U.S. facilities were used between 1985 and 2004 but are now decommissioned. (Full article...)
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The J-pole antenna, more properly known as the J antenna, is a vertical omnidirectional transmitting antenna used in the shortwave frequency bands. It was invented by Hans Beggerow in 1909 for use in Zeppelin airships. Trailed behind the airship, it consisted of a single one half wavelength long wire radiator, in series with a quarter-wave parallel transmission linetuning stub that matches the antenna impedance to the feedline. By 1936 this antenna began to be used for land-based transmitters with the radiating element and the matching section mounted vertically, giving it the shape of the letter "J", and by 1943 it was named the J antenna. When the radiating half-wave section is mounted horizontally, at right-angles to the quarter-wave matching stub, the variation is usually called a Zepp antenna. (Full article...)
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Comparison between the two antenna types.
A short backfire antenna (or short back-fire, SBA, SBF or SBFA) is a type of a directional antenna, characterized by high gain, relatively small size, and narrow band.
It has a shape of a disc with a straight edge, with a vertical pillar with a dipole acting as the driven element in roughly the middle and a conductive disc at the top acting as a sub-reflector. The bottom disc has the diameter of two wavelengths, and its collar (edge) is quarter the wavelength tall. The center pillar consists of two coaxial tubes (their diameter has to be carefully chosen to give the desired impedance), with a quarter-wavelength slot cut into the outer tube.
This structure behaves like a resonant cavity, resulting in a substantial gain in small space.
Short backfire antennas are used in some satellites, and in high-frequency (short-wavelength) communication equipment (often for communication with satellites) on ships and other applications where rugged construction is an advantage. They are also used for wireless LANs. The SBF antenna was invented by Dr. Hermann W. Ehrenspeck of Air Force Cambridge Research Labs based at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA and was used for, among other purposes, to provide Tactical Satellite Communications for U.S. Army ground forces due to the SBF's portability and gain.
The bandwidth of the antenna can be increased by using a conical main reflector instead of a flat one.
Archery target antenna is an evolution of the short-backfire antenna. The name is derived from its appearance. Its base diameter is 5 wavelengths (5 λ), the rim height is 0.7 λ, the diameter of the small center reflector is 0.7 λ, its height above the base is 0.7 λ as well, the height of the dipole above the base is 0.35 λ, there is one more reflector - an annular reflector - at the same height as the center reflector, with inner diameter 2.2 λ and outer diameter 3.7 λ.
Short backfire antennas are able to achieve high aperture efficiencies, at right cavity size even beyond 100%. (Full article...)
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An axial-mode turnstile antenna for 136–137 MHz to receive data from weather satellites, consisting of a pair of driven crossed dipoles above a pair passive crossed dipoles serving as a reflector.
A turnstile antenna, or crossed-dipole antenna, is a radio antenna consisting of a set of two identical dipole antennas mounted at right angles to each other and fed in phase quadrature; the two currents applied to the dipoles are 90° out of phase. The name reflects the notion the antenna looks like a turnstile when mounted horizontally. The antenna can be used in two possible modes. In normal mode the antenna radiates horizontally polarized radio waves perpendicular to its axis. In axial mode the antenna radiates circularly polarized radiation along its axis.
Specialized normal mode turnstile antennas called superturnstile or batwing antennas are used as television broadcasting antennas. Axial mode turnstiles are widely used for satellite ground station antennas in the VHF and UHF bands, as circular polarization is often used for satellite communication since it is not sensitive to the orientation of the satellite antenna in space. (Full article...)
Reflector elements (usually only one is used) are slightly longer than the driven dipole and placed behind the driven element, opposite the direction of intended transmission. Directors, on the other hand, are a little shorter and placed in front of the driven element in the intended direction. These parasitic elements are typically off-tuned short-circuited dipole elements, that is, instead of a break at the feedpoint (like the driven element) a solid rod is used. They receive and reradiate the radio waves from the driven element but in a different phase determined by their exact lengths. Their effect is to modify the driven element's radiation pattern. The waves from the multiple elements superpose and interfere to enhance radiation in a single direction, increasing the antenna's gain in that direction.
Also called a beam antenna and parasitic array, the Yagi is widely used as a directional antenna on the HF, VHF and UHF bands. It has moderate to high gain of up to 20dBi, depending on the number of elements used, and a front-to-back ratio of up to 20dB. It radiates linearly polarized radio waves and is usually mounted for either horizontal or vertical polarization. It is relatively lightweight, inexpensive and simple to construct. The bandwidth of a Yagi antenna, the frequency range over which it maintains its gain and feedpoint impedance, is narrow, just a few percent of the center frequency, decreasing for models with higher gain, making it ideal for fixed-frequency applications. The largest and best-known use is as rooftop terrestrial television antennas, but it is also used for point-to-point fixed communication links, radar, and long-distance shortwave communication by broadcasting stations and radio amateurs. (Full article...)
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In telecommunications, a collinear antenna array (sometimes spelled colinear antenna array) is an array of dipole or quarter-wave antennas mounted in such a manner that the corresponding elements of each antenna are parallel and collinear; that is, they are located along a common axis.
Collinear arrays are high gain omnidirectional antennas. Both dipoles and quarter-wavelength monopoles have an omnidirectionalradiation pattern in free space when oriented vertically; they radiate equal radio power in all azimuthal directions perpendicular to the antenna, with the signal strength dropping to zero on the antenna axis. The purpose of stacking multiple antennas in a vertical collinear array is to increase the power radiated in horizontal directions and reduce the power radiated into the sky or down toward the earth, where it is wasted. They radiate vertically polarized radio waves. Theoretically, when stacking idealized lossless antennas in such a fashion, doubling their number will produce double the gain, with an increase of 3.01 dB. In practice, the gain realized will be below this due to imperfect radiation spread and losses.
Collinear arrays are frequently constructed as a stack of dipoles, but can also be constructed as a stack of phased quarter-wave antennas. In this configuration, the individual radiators within the array are often constructed of coaxial feedlines with the center conductor of one element being connected electrically to the shield of the one above, and so on in alternating phase for as many elements are specified by gain or overall length requirements. The final or 'top' element in the stack is a quarter-wave radiator connected directly to the center conductor of the element below it. This style of collinear antenna is usually housed in a fiberglassradome, to provide both support and environmental protection to the relatively fragile coaxial elements.
A third type of collinear array, rarely seen outside amateur radio VHF/UHF applications, uses half-wavelength monopole elements with phasing coils between each consecutive pair of elements to achieve the necessary phase shift. This style tends to be less efficient due to coil losses, but has the advantage that it can be constructed with the elements supporting themselves, doing away with the need for a protective radome.
Collinear arrays are often used as the antennas for base stations for land mobile radio systems that communicate with mobile two-way radios in vehicles, such as police, fire, ambulance, and taxi dispatchers. They are also sometimes used for broadcasting. (Full article...)
A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or parabolic dish. It functions similarly to a searchlight or flashlight reflector to direct radio waves in a narrow beam, or receive radio waves from one particular direction only.
The main advantage of a parabolic antenna is that it has high directivity. Parabolic antennas have some of the highest gains, meaning that they can produce the narrowest beamwidths, of any antenna type. In order to achieve narrow beamwidths, the parabolic reflector must be much larger than the wavelength of the radio waves used, so parabolic antennas are used in the high frequency part of the radio spectrum, at UHF and microwave (SHF) frequencies, at which the wavelengths are small enough that conveniently sized reflectors can be used.
The other large use of parabolic antennas is for radar antennas, which need to transmit a narrow beam of radio waves to locate objects like ships, airplanes, and guided missiles. They are also often used for weather detection. With the advent of home satellite television receivers, parabolic antennas have become a common feature of the landscapes of modern countries.
The parabolic antenna was invented by German physicist Heinrich Hertz during his discovery of radio waves in 1887. He used cylindrical parabolic reflectors with spark-excited dipole antennas at their foci for both transmitting and receiving during his historic experiments. (Full article...)
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Typical GSM sector antenna outdoor unit A sector antenna is a type of directionalmicrowaveantenna with a sector-shaped radiation pattern. The word "sector" is used in the geometric sense; some portion of the circumference of a circle measured in degrees of arc. 60°, 90° and 120° designs are typical, often with a few degrees 'extra' to ensure overlap and mounted in multiples when wider or full-circle coverage is required (see photos below). The largest use of these antennas is as antennas for cell phonebase-station sites. They are also used for other types of mobile communications, for example in Wi-Fi networks. They are used for limited-range distances of around 4 to 5km. (Full article...)
An offset dish antenna or off-axis dish antenna is a type of parabolic antenna. It is so called because the antenna feed is offset to the side of the reflector, in contrast to the common "front-feed" parabolic antenna where the feed antenna is suspended in front of the dish, on its axis. As in a front-fed parabolic dish, the feed is located at the focal point of the reflector, but the reflector is an asymmetric segment of a paraboloid, so the focus is located to the side.
The purpose of this design is to move the feed antenna and its supports out of the path of the incoming radio waves. In an ordinary front-fed dish antenna, the feed structure and its supports are located in the path of the incoming beam of radio waves, partially obstructing them, casting a "shadow" on the dish, reducing the radio power received. In technical terms this reduces the aperture efficiency of the antenna, reducing its gain. In the offset design, the feed is positioned outside the area of the beam, usually below it on a boom sticking out from the bottom edge of the dish. The beam axis of the antenna, the axis of the incoming or outgoing radio waves, is skewed at an angle to the plane of the dish mouth.
The design is most widely used for small parabolic antennas or "mini-dishes", such as common Ku band home satellite television dishes, where the feed structure is large enough in relation to the dish to block a significant proportion of the signal. Another application is on satellites, particularly the direct broadcast satellites which use parabolic dishes to beam television signals to homes on Earth. Because of the limited transmitter power provided by their solar cells, satellite antennas must function as efficiently as possible. The offset design is also widely used in radar antennas. These must collect as much signal as possible in order to detect faint return signals from faraway targets.
Offset dish antennas are more difficult to design than front-fed antennas because the dish is an asymmetric segment of a paraboloid with different curvatures in the two axes. Before the 1970s offset designs were mostly limited to radar antennas, which required asymmetric reflectors anyway to create shaped beams. The advent in the 1970s of computer design tools which could easily calculate the radiation pattern of offset dishes has removed this limitation, and efficient offset designs are being used more and more widely in recent years. (Full article...)
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A corner reflector for radar testing A corner reflector is a retroreflector consisting of three mutually perpendicular, intersecting flat reflective surfaces. It reverses the direction of an incoming wave by translation via reflections from the three orthogonal sides. The three intersecting surfaces often are triangles (forming a tetrahedron) or may have square shapes. Radar corner reflectors made of metal are used to reflect radio waves from radar sets. Optical corner reflectors, called corner cubes or cube corners, made of three-sided glass prisms, are used in surveying and laser ranging. (Full article...)
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Patent diagram of a choke ring antenna A choke ring antenna is a directional antenna designed for reception of GNSS signals from satellites. It consists of a number of concentric conductive cylinders around a central antenna.
The first choke ring antennas were invented at JPL; since 1989 they have been improved and extended by many companies. Due to its intricate construction, it is often enclosed in a protective cover or radome when placed outside and exposed to the elements. (Full article...)
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The regenerative loop antenna can consist of a tuned signal winding on an open X frame with a feed back winding in close proximity. High effective gain is achieved, for example by placing this feedback winding in the drain circuit of a JFET (junction field effect transistor). An antenna of this type employing vacuum tubes was constructed by Vladimir Zworykin in the 1920s. (Full article...)
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Animation showing the radiation pattern of a phased array of 15 antenna elements spaced a quarter wavelength apart as the phase difference between adjacent antennas is swept between −120 and 120 degrees. The dark area is the beam or main lobe, while the light lines fanning out around it are sidelobes.
In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the antennas.
In a phased array, the power from the transmitter is fed to the radiating elements through devices called phase shifters, controlled by a computer system, which can alter the phase or signal delay electronically, thus steering the beam of radio waves to a different direction. Since the size of an antenna array must extend many wavelengths to achieve the high gain needed for narrow beamwidth, phased arrays are mainly practical at the high frequency end of the radio spectrum, in the UHF and microwave bands, in which the operating wavelengths are conveniently small.
Phased arrays were originally invented for use in military radar systems, to detect fast moving planes and missiles, but are now widely used and have spread to civilian applications such as 5GMIMO for cell phones. The phased array principle is also used in acoustics in such applications as phased array ultrasonics, and in optics.
The term "phased array" is also used to a lesser extent for unsteered array antennas in which the radiation pattern of the antenna array is fixed. For example, AM broadcast radio antennas consisting of multiple mast radiators are also called "phased arrays". (Full article...)
A mast radiator (or radiating tower) is a radio mast or tower in which the metal structure itself is energized and functions as an antenna. This design, first used widely in the 1930s, is commonly used for transmitting antennas operating at low frequencies, in the LF and MF bands, in particular those used for AM radio broadcasting stations. The conductive steel mast is electrically connected to the transmitter. Its base is usually mounted on a nonconductive support to insulate it from the ground. A mast radiator is a form of monopole antenna. (Full article...)
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Dimensions of a single element quad antenna A quad antenna is a type of directional wire radio antenna used on the HF and VHF bands. A quad is a Yagi–Uda antenna ("Yagi") made from loop elements instead of dipoles: It consists of a driven element and one or more parasitic elements; however in a quad, each of the loop elements may be square, round, or some other shape. It is used by radio amateurs on the HF and VHF amateur bands. (Full article...)
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