All You Need To Know About Antennas

Antenna concepts

• The antenna is an electrical conductor or system of conductors that radiates or collects electromagnetic energy to/from space.
• An antenna is a passive device. So, the power radiated by the antenna is always less than the power entering from the transmitter.
• The antenna is a reciprocal device. So, the same antenna can be used for both transmitting and receiving.

Antenna installation

Types of Antennas

• Isotropic Antennas: An isotropic antenna is a point in space that radiates power in all directions equally. They are just used for theoretical studies. No existence in practice.
• Dipole Antennas: Half-wave dipole antenna is a simple and practical antenna which is in common use.
• Parabolic Antennas: A parabolic antenna is a high-gain reflector antenna used for radio, television and data communications, and is also for radiolocation.

Digital Antennas Vs Analog Antennas

• The analogue antenna has the poor capacity. It works well within a particular range of signals. Once you start moving away from its range/source, the signal reduces. Analogue antennas are more prone to noise.
• But in the case of digital antennas either you receive a signal, or you don’t. If you move away from the source, you simply won’t receive any signal. Digital antennas are affected by weather vagaries but are less prone to noise because they have inbuilt filters. These filters help to neutralize noisy channels and also improve the quality of the signal.
• A device such as TV receives an analogue signal directly, but in case of a digital signal, the receiver needs to have a decoder to decode it. This helps in error checks and rectifying them. It also helps to add more features such as extra bandwidths, better channel capacity and interactive full-duplex communications.
• Nowadays, digital antennas have overpowered the analogue antennas.

Antenna installation

Digital antenna installation

Nowadays digital antennas are mostly used for televisions. People often want to know about the digital antenna installation. So, let’s see how it’s done.

• Digital antenna installation for roofs

Installation of roof antennas is not a simple task for the house owner. You have to hire some expert to install your antenna to get better results.

Digital antenna installation on the rooftop is a very common practice. This type of antenna is smaller than dish antennas and has lower capacity, but the signal quality is good and up to the mark. If you place your digital antenna on the roof, you are guaranteed to get a good audio-visual signal even in case of bad weather.

• Digital Antenna installation for attics

What will you do if you can’t install an antenna on the roof? You may have a problem if you stay in a rented apartment or property dispute or neighbourhood problem. To overcome this problem, you can always install your antennas in the attic. It is always suggested to get some expert to install your antenna since they know all the techniques and have all the necessary equipment. There won’t be much difference between attic installation and roof installation. Here you will also be able to hide your antenna from the outsiders as well as enjoy good quality streaming.

• Digital Antenna Installation for Master Antennas

To get a good digital connection in a condo or an apartment is a serious issue. If there is a dispute between the landlord and the tenants on whether to get some particular packages individually or to get it for the entire condo, installation of master antennas can help. It can distribute the signals received to the entire building. Mostly, a master antenna is installed on the roof. You obviously need experts to make these installations properly. This type of antenna provides good audio-visual signals with less noise.