126 - Antenna Polarization

Do you struggle to understand why antenna designs differ? In this episode, I explain antenna polarization and how the design impacts it.   What You Need To Know Your antenna needs to be within the same polarity in order to receive what you’re trying to receive. A vertically polarized antenna will pick up vertically polarized signals better than horizontal. Radio waves are oscillating sine waves, and the frequency at which they oscillate is measured in a hertz. Vertically polarized antennas are perpendicular to the earth’s horizon Horizontally polarized antennas are parallel to the earth’s horizon. Satellites are not in a fixed position, so we’ve needed to develop circular polarization to communicate with satellites when their polarization is constantly changing. Vertically polarized antennas are the most common in general, and horizontally polarized antennas are common in the scanner radio hobby world. A common example of vertical antennas is on cars. Cell phones are the most common example of a need for cross-pole antennas. Circular antennas are good for eliminating multi-path distortions. A GPS and some drones use circular polarization.    All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session126 You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello