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

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