The Dish Antenna

Objectives:
1. To be familiar with the parts of a dish antenna.
2. Observe the gain and directivity of the dish form of antenna.

3. To determine the advantages and disadvantages of a dish antenna with a Yagi Uda antenna.

Background Information:
The dish antenna is a type of antenna that uses a parabolic dish reflector. It focuses the signal from a source into one direction. To have an efficient result, the diameter should not exceed ten wavelengths for the frequency being used. The dipole is used to capture signal from the reflector. The dish in the AntennaLab has a diameter of 60cm and the depth is 6cm. the focal length of the dish can be measured by:

F=D2/16d
where: F= focal length D= diameter of the dish d= depth of the dish

Dish Assembly Front View Dish assembly Rear View

Materials Used:
Antenna Lab Discovery software Nec-Win

Experimental Procedures:
Hardware Modelling A. Dipole Antenna
1. Place the Yagi Boom assembly on top of the generator tower.

2. Position the dipole at the center, directly above the tower. 3. Set the length of the dipole to 10cm. Remember: do not connect up the coaxial cable to the dipole.
4. Launch a new 2D polar graph of signal strength vs. angle.

5. From the menu, select TOOLS, then Change Motor Speed.

6. Set value of the motor speed to 12, and then click OK.

Note: The speed of rotation of the system should be lowered because the dish is physically a large structure. 7. Now, connect the coaxial cable. 8. Plot the polar response of the dipole at 1500MHz and record the gain of the antenna.

Remember: 1500 MHz is the standard frequency used in the system. 9. Remove the Yagi Boom assembly from the Generator Tower. B. Dish Antenna 1. Build up the Yagi Boom assembly into the dish. 2. Place the dipole towards the end with the plane reflector at the end of the boom. 3. Now, build up this assembly into Generator Tower. Note: Ensure that the length of the dipole is 10cm. 4. Set the distance to 38 cm from to the dish. 5. Set the plane reflector from the dish to the front of the dipole with 5cm. 6. Plot the new polar response at 1500 MHz. 7. Observe the response of the dish if it has directivity. 8. Record the high gain and compare it with the computed gain of the antenna. 9. Get the polar response and gain of the antenna with the frequencies: 1200 MHz, 1300 MHz and 1400 MHz. 10. 11. 12. Observe the response of the dish antenna if it has directivity over Setting the frequencies with 1600 MHz, 1700 MHz, and 1800 Observe the behavior of the antenna and determine if it has this range of frequencies. MHz, get the polar response and gain of the antenna. directivity over this range of frequencies. Note: The polar response may be affected by the persons as well as their distance towards the antenna. It is suggested to simulate the antenna with the absence of persons that may interfere the signal. C. Changing the positions

C.1 Plane reflector 1.1 Launch new signal strength vs. angle 2D polar graph. 1.2 Plot the polar response at 1500 MHz. 1.3 Reduce the spacing of the plane reflector from the dipole to 4 cm. 1.4 Plot the new polar response at 1500 MHz. 1.5 Increase the spacing to 6 cm and plot the new polar response. 1.6 Observe the polar response. C.2 Dipole 2.1 Reset the spacing to 5 cm. 2.1 Plot the polar plot at 1500 MHz 2.3 Reduce the distance from the dipole to the dish by 1 cm while the space of the plane reflector from the dipoles still at 5 cm. 2.4 At 1500 MHz, plot the new polar response. 2.5 Reduce another 1 cm to the distance from the dipole to the dish. 2.6 Plot the new polar response. 2.7 Observe the new polar response. Note: try other dipole and reflector spacing and observe the polar responses.

Conclusion:

Questions and Answer:

1. Does the dish antenna have gain over the dipole at 1500 MHz. 2. Does the dish antenna have directivity at 1500 MHz. 3. Does the measured gain of the antenna agree with the theoretical gain at 1500 MHz. 4. Does the dish antenna have gain for the frequencies 1200 MHz, 1300 MHz and 1400 Mhz? 5. Does the dish antenna have directivity for the frequencies for the 1200 MHz, 1300 MHz and 1400 Mhz?

6. What happens to the gain of the dish antenna for the range of 1600

MHz, 1700 MHz and 1800 Mhz?

7. Does the dish antenna still have directivity for the range of 1600

MHz, 1700 MHz and 1800 Mhz?

ANSWER:

1. At 1500MHz the dipole have gain over the dish antenna base in our data. 2. Yes, it has directivity but in our data is incorrect because of impairment of the coax.
3. Yes, but our data is in a vice versa because the gain is high so that

the directivity is small. 4. Yes, and when we vary the frequency the directivity decreased in the antenna gain increased.

5. Yes, it have directivity, the directivity is small. 6. The gain of the dish antenna increased in these frequencies. 7. Yes, it have directivity but it decreases when you vary these frequencies.

Technological Institute of the Philippines

938 Aurora Boulevard, Cubao, Quezon City College of Engineering and Architecture Department of Electronics Engineering

EXPERIMENT NO 10 DISH ANTENNA

In Partial Fulfillment for the Completion of the Requirements in the Subject COMMUNICATION 3 ( EC413L1)

Submitted by:

Bellen, Geraldine Ruth B. Cabansag, Mark Anthony O. Moralidad, Elmar A. Gajasan, Shiella Marie E. Rivarez, Jane Christine R. Tactac, Marimel L. Valenzuela, Jecil K.
EC51FC2 Submitted to: Engr. Dennis Jefferson Amora Instructor October 6, 2011 Date

CONCLUSION

In this experiment entitled Dish Antenna weve learned that a parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the crosssectional 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. The main advantage of a parabolic antenna is that it is highly directive; it functions similarly to a searchlight or flashlight reflector to direct the radio waves in a narrow beam, or receive radio waves from one particular direction only. Parabolic antennas have some of the highest gains, that is they can produce the narrowest beam width angles, of any antenna type.[1] In order to achieve narrow beam widths, 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 wavelengths are small enough that conveniently sized dishes can be used.
The operating principle of a parabolic antenna is that a point source of radio waves at the focal point in front of a parabolic reflector of conductive material will be reflected into a collimated plane wave beam along the axis of the reflector. Conversely, an incoming plane wave parallel to the axis will be focused to a point at the focal point. A typical parabolic antenna consists of a metal parabolic reflector with a small feed antenna suspended in front of the reflector at its focus, pointed back toward the reflector. The reflector is a metallic surface formed into a paraboloid of revolution and usually truncated in a circular rim that forms the diameter of the antenna. In a transmitting antenna, radio frequency current from a transmitter is supplied through a transmission line cable to the feed antenna, which converts it into radio waves. The radio waves are emitted back toward the dish by the feed antenna and reflect off the dish into a parallel beam. In a receiving antenna the incoming radio waves bounce off the dish and are focussed to a point at the feed antenna, which converts them to electric currents which travel through a transmission line to the receiver.

The reflector can be of sheet metal, metal screen, or wire grill construction, and it can be either a circular "dish" or various other shapes to create different beam shapes. A mesh screen reflects radio waves as well as a solid metal surface as long as the holes are smaller than 1/10 of a wavelength, so screen reflectors are often used to reduce weight and wind loads on the dish. To achieve the maximum gain, it is necessary that the shape of the dish be accurate within a small fraction of a wavelength, to ensure the waves from different parts of the antenna arrive at the focus in phase.

Large dishes often require a supporting truss structure behind them to provide the required stiffness. A reflector made of a grill of parallel wires or bars oriented in one direction acts as a polarizing filter as well as a reflector. It only reflects linearly polarized radio waves, with the electric field parallel to the grill elements. This type is often used in radar antennas. Combined with a linearly polarized feed horn, it helps filter out noise in the receiver and reduces false returns.
The feed antenna at the reflector's focus is typically a low-gain type such as a half-wave dipole or more often a smallhorn antenna called a feed horn. In more complex designs, such as the Cassegrain and Gregorian, a secondary reflector is used to direct the energy into the parabolic reflector from a feed antenna located away from the primary focal point. The feed antenna is connected to by the means of associated a coaxial radio-frequency cable transmission

(RF) transmitting or receiving equipment line or waveguide.

An advantage of parabolic antennas is that most of the structure of the antenna (all of it except the feed antenna) isnonresonant, so it can function over a wide range of frequencies, that is a wide bandwidth. All that is necessary to change the frequency of operation is to replace the feed antenna with one that works at the new frequency. Some parabolic antennas transmit or receive at multiple frequencies by having several feed antennas mounted at the focal point, close together.

A Yagi-Uda array, commonly known simply as a Yagi antenna, is a directional antennaconsisting of a driven element (typically a dipole or folded dipole) and additional parasitic elements(usually a so-called reflector and one or more directors).

The reflector element is slightly longer (typically 5% longer) than the driven dipole, whereas the so-called directors are a little bit shorter. This design achieves a very substantial increase in the antenna's directionality and gain compared to a simple dipole.

INTERPRETATION OF DATA Being a group set to the table which has the generator and receiver quite impaired, our group didnt get the desired output of every step in the experiment. For Part B, as we built up the Yagi Boom antenna into the dish and placed the dipole towards the end with the plane reflector at the end of the boom, we built up the assembly into Generator Tower with 10 centimeter length dipole. With the distance from the link to the dish of 38 cm, we then set the plane reflector from the dish to the front of the dipole with 5cm, and from 1500 MHz frequency we plotted the polar response, we have seen that the output or the polar response got by the other group was quite omni-directional but slightly directive to the north or the positive side of the y-axis. When we varied the frequency from 1500 to 1200 MHz, we have seen that the directivity of the signal attenuated, it became more non-directional, but when we

still varied the frequency by increasing it from 1200 to 1300 to 1400 MHz, we have observed that the data were getting directive, because the signal or the gain was increased. And as we continually increased the frequency the polar response was getting very directive. For the Part C, we launched a 2D polar graph and plotted the polar response, having 1500 Mhz frequency as the reference frequency, after setting the necessary data, we reduce the spacing of the plane reflector from the dipole to 4 cm and plotted the new polar response, we got a very and extremely directive signal (polar response), as we increase the spacing between the dipole and the plane reflector, the more directive the signal we were getting. For the second part of Part C, we returned the spacing to 5 centimeters, we got the polar response of our reference frequency- the1500 MHz, thereafter, we reduced another 1 cm to the distance from the dipole to the dish and the plot became very closed to the near field and became very directive. The inaccuracy of the data we had gathered are due to the loss of the coaxial cable, the people hindering the transmitted signal and the faulty of our equipment. We were unable to gather data from part A since our time was not enough because of the inaccuracy of the equipment.

GATHERED DATA PART B

Procedure No. 4

Procedure No. 6

Procedure No. 9.1

Procedure No. 9.2

Procedure No. 9.3

Procedure No. 11.1

Procedure No. 11.2

Procedure No. 11.3

PART C .1
Procedure No. 1.2

Procedure No. 1.4

Procedure No. 1.6

PART C.2 Procedure No. 2.2

Procedure No. 2.4

Procedure No.2.6