This calculator will help you to calculate the different wavelength of antennas based on the frequency. Amateur radio toolkit is the best app for ham radio hobbyists. The antenna is designed to be fed with 50 or 75 ohm coax cable of most any length with a balun. It is ideal for technician class hams needing a first antenna, and also a very good emergency antenna for use during skywarn events when you dont want to. Antenna calculator vertical antennas maple leaf communications. Blog antenna ground plane calculation arcadian antenna.
Download the ground plane dipoleinverted v calculator by n2imf. The basic formula for determining the length of a fullwave wire loop antenna is 1005. As you can guess, the 58 wave antenna is a bit more complex to build than the simple ground plane antenna using a 14 wavelength vertical element. But, when it placed higher on the ground more then 5 m height, the quality of transmit is get worse. Amateur radio toolkit for android free download and.
High performance 40 meters vertical without radials. For optimal performance over average ground, the halfwave dipole should be. The antenna calculator assumes the antenna will be mounted on a mast, and not be close to actual ground. A quarterwavelength antenna is easy and inexpensive to build and can be an effective antenna with a low angle of radiation that is, power is radiated out, not up.
Groundplane calculator wire antennas uk hf antennas made by. This calculator requires the use of javascript enabled and capable browsers. For example, a 54wave dipole antenna has gain about 3 db higher than that. You get shunt fed matching network for lowest possible swr over entire 2 meter band. Remember that ground radials of at least 14wavelength for the frequency. The ground plane antenna is designed for unbalanced feed cables, like a coaxial cable. There were just 2 of them on the market back then, and they were both designed for cb only. The old standby formula 468 freq in mhz total length is used in the calculator for an average height of 12 wave high and horizontal dipoleand then 5 % is. However when it is not possible to ground mount an antenna because of ground conditions or it is necessary to elevate the antenna, another solution is to use a ground plane.
I know theres a up side to a bigger antenna, is there a down side other than the awkward physical size of using a full wave length antenna versus using a quarter wave length antenna. The normal quarter wave ground plane antenna consists of a vertical radiator which is insulated and centered between 4 horizontal surrounding radials which extend out from the base of the antenna. In other words, if you divide the antenna at the center feed point, the 2 halves of the antenna look like mirror images of each other. Fortunately there is an antenna that is inexpensive and simple to build with a minimum amount of parts and tools.
The measurements below are for building a simple dipole antenna. The amountsize of the ground plane required for the optimal performance of a monopole antenna is determined by the frequency you are transmittingreceiving at. The super penetrator 500 gold made by hygain, and a ground plane from radio shack called the crossbow. The quarterwavelength, ground plane antenna is made up of one vertical element, called the driven element, and four radials. Here we have collected some links to building instructions for 11m antennas on the internet. An efficient vertical antenna, such as a medium wave broadcast tower might appear to work off the earth ground however it most likely has conductive radials buried just below the surface the number of them and the.
Calculator fullwave wire loop maple leaf communications. Paying attention to the effect of the ground plane, using the right materials and matching the impedance of the antenna to the impedance of the coax and the coax impedance to the receiver impedance can all play a role in wringing out the last drop of gain from the antenna. Use our simple calculator to determine approximate dimensions of materials needed to build a vertical antenna. Other 58 waves cant work any better no matter how much they cost. This calculator is designed to give the vertical length of a quarter wave ground plane antenna, and the length of each of the four radials for the selected frequency you have entered. The formula for calculating the approximate length of a quarter wave vertical antenna is.
If you have no particular preference within a given ham radio band, then simply enter its center frequency i. Today were going to build a simple ground plane for the vhf 2 meter band. The basic formula for determining the length of a fullwave wire loop antenna is. Quite often a vertical antenna or a random wire is one side of the antenna and the earth ground is the other a flat plane. A ground plane antenna by definition gives you a ground plane, but still, if you antenna has a good ground plane there should be only marginal deferences. Fullwave loop antennas can be large at lower frequencies, but they are quieter than dipoles and have more gain broadside to the plane of the loop. Ground plan element dimensions for various local australian and some international amateur radio bands with 4nec2 an nec based antenna modelling and optimizing computer application the proposed 14. Since closed loops are not subject to endeffect the calculated physical lengths with this formula are longer than corresponding dipole dimensions and are close to free space dimensions. The slopers feed point is anchored high above ground near the top of the tower on which sits a grounded hf yagi beam antenna. Everywhere we look, everything tells us the 58th wave has 3db gain. A quarter wave ground plane antenna has a radiation pattern that produces maximum gain at about 25 degrees and a half wave antenna drops that angle to 20 degrees, and the 58 wave antenna further drops that angle to 16 degrees. Inches and meters javascript wavelength calculator.
Aug 23, 2008 a 12 wave antenna isnt dependent on a good ground, it isnt as prone to lose power in a poor ground situation. Whats the difference between a dipole and a ground plane. Use our simple calculator to determine approximate dimensions of materials needed to build a full wave wire loop antenna, and then shop for your needs on our other pages and select from our inventory of wire, coax, connectors, baluns, and other parts and accessories for amateur radio and other radio applications. Full wave loop antennas can be large at lower frequencies, but they are quieter than dipoles and have more gain broadside to the plane of the loop. So, why go to all the trouble of building the 58 wavelength vertical antenna. Download software 14 wave antenna with ground plane windows and linux version.
Download software 14 wave antenna with ground plane. The amountsize of the groundplane required for the optimal performance of a monopole antenna is determined by the frequency you are transmittingreceiving at. This calculator can be used to design a quarter wave ground plane antenna, with radials. Your antenna usually works like my 2m half wave ground plane. It follows the fm convention of vertical polarization. This antenna has no gain and requires a ground plane reflection to operate. Ground plane antenna calculator resource detail the. The 58th wave is a great antenna misunderstanding example. Accordingly the radiation patterns the antenna can be viewed as either transmitting or receiving, whichever is more convenient. This calculator will help you to calculate the different wavelength of antennas. In telecommunication, a ground plane is a flat or nearly flat horizontal conducting surface that serves as part of an antenna, to reflect the radio waves from the other antenna elements. K7tjo metric to imperial calculator feet inches and fractions of an inch element length scaling calculator for scaling the antenna you read about to the frequency you want with the materials you have.
Laird 450470mhz 58 over 58 wave no ground plane antenna. The sloper antenna explained with a twist ham radio. The first antenna that you should consider building is the quarter wave ground plane antenna for the 2m band. All the elements of this antenna are the same length as stated, 14 wavelength. Ground plane and antennas electronics forum circuits. In reality it is not necessary to have a full circular conducting plate for a ground plane. Building and experimenting with antennas can be an interesting part of the radio hobby. Id like to get input from others as to whether i would get better performance out of a full wave antenna versus a half wave.
Apr 08, 2012 the first antenna that you should consider building is the quarter wave ground plane antenna for the 2m band. The quarter wave antenna is what i use as standard measurement to compare results for reception and transmission properties of other antenna designs. Dipole, inverted v and ground plane antenna calculators. It has advantages over your folded dipole in several important ways. It is an unbalanced antenna, therefore compatible with coaxial transmission line without requiring a balun. Wire antenna calculator amateur radio ham radio station ws6x. The radiation pattern polar diagram for a half wave dipole antenna shows that the direction of maximum radiation or sensitivity is at right angles to the axis of the rf antenna. Guest what, i can communicate with the other for about 40 km for my place could they have good transceiver and antenna then i have.
This does not take into consideration the type or size of horizontal reflectors, of even if there is a need for them. The full wave loop antenna consists of a loop elevated from the ground. Remember that location, height, obstructions, wire type, wire coating, etc will effect the calculated lengths. The calculation refers to either a loaded 14 wave or a loaded dipole. Antenna design calculators category is a curation of 83 web resources on, parallel square conductor transmission line calculator, magnetic loop excel sheet, analysis of antenna mast strength and bending stress. Antenna calculator is an app that takes the trouble out of calculating antenna lengths. So, im getting my ideas together to build a 2m ground plane antenna. The ground plane antenna consists of a vertical rod lifted by four radials. The bottom end of the coil is completely insulated from ground ie the antenna is open circuit to ground if measured with an ohmmeter. Ground mounted antennas are often very easy and convenient to use. Have a yaesu ft2500m ham radio set up to shift between my car and indoors. Dec 16, 2010 im trying to build a 58 wave antenna out of an old cb antenna for the vhf band the problem is i cannot find out how to calculate the coil dimentions. The following program will calculate the lengths needed to construct several. The classic sloper antenna is a topfed 14 wave vertical antenna sloping down and away from a tower.
Use this online calculator to determine the length of a quarterwave antenna. I have tried out different wire sizes,number of turns and diameters and i have got good results on the swr meter but when the antenna is up and compared to a folded dipole at the same height the 58 is down at least 5 or more spoints. In other words, it is just a series inductance that connects to the bottom of the 58th wave whip. The yagi plays the role of a ground plane, while the tower plays the double role of reflector and grounding rod. Typically this design is used mounted on a pole so that you can get the line of sight up high, and still have the ground plane effect and not go with a 12 of full wave antenna. I did some searches and found that i can put sheet metal on the inside to do this. The most common dipole length is half the wavelength. The basic formula for determining the wire length of a center fed, 12 wave wire dipole or inverted vee antenna 30 mhz or less is 468freqinmhz for feet and inches or 143freqinmhz for meters. The distance between one point to another adjacent point in a wave is known as the wavelength. To function as an antenna ground plane, the conducting surface must extend for least a quarter wavelength from the base of the antenna. Courtesy of and designed by n2imf joseph r mielko this downloadable calculator will provide you with good starting measurements for a basic ground plane, inverted v or standard dipole antenna. This shortened easytobuild vertical, with noradials, is made from surplus military camouflage poles. As the dipole antennas, the monopole antennas are also omnidirectional, this means they transmit and receive equally well in a 360 degree plane around their axis.
This calculator is designed to give the vertical length height of a quarter wave ground plane antenna, and the length of each of the four radials often called radiators for the frequency chosen. Calculate safety distance from your antenna icnirp is a calculator software. Ground plane antennas are easy to recognize by their appearance. This page can be used to calculate the element and radial lengths for a 14 wave ground plane antenna. Antenna calculator for ios free download and software. Let your antenna down just once if it was up yet, adjust the length, put it back up, and you are done.
In this case, its a multiband antenna the customer is using it can be used from 700 mhz 2700 mhz so the ground plane required could be anywhere from 464 square inches. The na4it cheap dual band ground plane antenna here is a neat little antenna that is very easy and cheap to build. I have been making a few 14 wave antennas lately, mainly for uhf and the ghz bands with good success, so i decided to create a calculator to simplify the process and maybe get some people who have not tried one before to give it a go. Choose from quarter wave, half wave, the powerful 58 wave, 34 wave, or full wave, and calculate minimum lengths of required radials, and then shop for your needs on our other pages and select from our inventory of aluminum, fiberglass, wire, coax, connectors, and other parts and. They are very easy to build and will perform better than the antennas that come with most handhelds. Each radial is evenly spaced 90 degrees apart from each other around the vertical element. This calculator is designed to give the vertical length of a quarterwave ground plane antenna, and the length of each of the four radials for the selected.
Vhf and uhf antenna systems 1821 fig23these drawings illustrate the dimensions for the 144mhz ground plane antenna. So why not just keep extending the antenna out to one full wave. There are usually four radials, three being a minimum, but you could use up to six. Have a maxrad 58 wave whip antenna that i think is supposed to be tuned to the rr frequencies, but a quick search hasnt revealed what length is best for a 58. Ground wave meteor scatter tropospheric propagation. Also, anyone know what would make a good mobile antenna for 2m.
The minimum height of the antenna should be 12 wave length and for the inverted v antenna, add the height of end points above ground for the minmum height of the antenna feed point. The full wave loop antenna has a higher gain than the dipole antenna. Vhf and uhf antenna systems 1821 fig23these drawings illustrate the dimensions for the 144mhz groundplane antenna. If the ground plane is adequately sized and conductive, the performance of the ground plane is equivalent to a vertically mounted. Dipole antenna calculator electrical, rf and electronics. The closer the antenna is to ground, the closer the source and image become, and more pronounced the null along the ground. Hi all so i wanted to move the antenna on our fire depts tanker to the roof of the trucks cab but the roof is fiberglass. Let this app do all the hard calculations for you at the touch of a button. It is inversely proportional to the frequency which means the wave with higher frequency will have shorter wavelength. Tags antenna, calculator, download, electronic software, linux, transmitters post navigation. Page 1 of 2 general antenna question posted in general discussion.
Dec 30, 2015 download software 14 wave antenna with ground plane windows and linux version. This calculator is designed to give the vertical length height of a particular antenna, for the frequency and wavelength chosen. Various antennas from a quarterwave to a fullwave vertical can be calculated below. Do the horizontal conductors of a ground plane antenna. The inverted vee antenna legs will be longer by 2 6% from those of the horizontal antenna depending on the angle. The third calculator on dons page is a tool for determining correct length of a quarter wave transmission line of 75 ohm coax rg11u from dx engineering to transform the 150 ohm nominal full wave loop impedance to 50 ohms for tunerless. Modeling a ground plane antenna with 4nec2 part 1 youtube.
My understanding is that when building or installing an antenna designed to operate over a ground plane e. The inner of the coax feeder goes to this series inductance, the outer sheath goes to the ground plane. Personally in that situation i would have going with a full wave antenna since you are not looking at a very long antenna. The earth ground below the antenna, a conducting surface a least. I wanted high efficiency 40 meter antenna with lowangle radiation. Having looked at dipole antennas, it is apparent that the antenna currents are symmetric about the center of the antenna. Modeling a ground plane antenna with 4nec2 part 5 youtube.
Aug 21, 2018 to the rescue, would be an external antenna. Listed under the antennas antenna calculators category that is about antenna design calculators. It contains many calculators to help you design radios and antennas for all your projects. A 12 wave dipole is slightly better than a 14 wave ground plane and 58 or.
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