Amateur ExtraE9D06
What happens to SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?
B
Answer
Antennas and transmission lines
Type
A
It is increased
B
It is decreased
C
It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
D
It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
Answer Notes
Any time an antenna is made physically shorter than its natural resonant length, its performance involves a series of compromises. An electrically short antenna has high capacitive reactance and low radiation resistance. Adding a loading coil introduces inductive reactance to cancel the capacitance, creating resonance.
This combination of high reactance and low resistance turns the antenna system into a high-Q (high quality factor) tuned circuit. A fundamental property of high-Q circuits is that they are very sharply tuned. They resonate perfectly at one specific frequency but detune very quickly as you move away from that center frequency.
Consequently, the SWR rises sharply as you change frequency, meaning the SWR bandwidth is significantly decreased compared to a full-sized, naturally resonant antenna. No matter where the coil is placed, this narrowing of bandwidth is an unavoidable tradeoff of physically shortening the antenna.
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Approximately how long is a Yagi’s driven element?
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What is an advantage of top loading an electrically short HF vertical antenna?