Parasitic effects of the metallic towers on the characteristics of the broadcast antennas

Abstract

In this article, we use a tool NEC (Numerical Electromagnetic Code) to model antenna on top of a tower structure. Simulation results for the parasitic effect of the tower on characteristics of broadcast DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial) antenna such as input impedance, return loss, gain, front-to-back ratio and radiation patterns are reported. In addition, the effect of a nearby tower on antenna characteristics is studied. A 3D tower and broadband antenna in the UHF (470-862) MHz band are constructed. The antenna works for both digital and analog TV with return loss (RL) ≥ 10 dB, fractional bandwidth of 87% and gain of 12.3 dBi at center frequency. The effective radiated power is calculated by mounting the antenna at each face of the tower to give a satisfactory coverage to a region around the antenna.