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Monopole Antenna FAQ's

As part of our commitment to provide you with information that adds value to your work, A.H. Systems is continuously producing articles and application notes on specific uses of our products. Our complete library of technical articles and application notes is available below for public use as an open reference for the RF engineering community. If you need information on a topic you don’t see here or you require additional technical support, we can help. Contact support to talk with one of our engineers for answers.

Common Questions

Biconical antennas are broadband dipole antennas with conical shaped elements. These antennas have similar characteristics to the dipole antennas. They typically have an omni-directional pattern in the vertical polarity and usually a very wide half power beamwidth in the horizontal polarity.

Yes, the telescoping rod with a BNC connector (P/N 2337-1) is for our older active monopole antennas. All new active monopole antennas have been re-designed to accept a telescoping rod with a 1/4-20 thread instead of a BNC connector. This new connection makes for a better electrical performance as well as an improved rugged design.

The signal output connector is bonded to the antenna matching network case.

Our standard monopole antennas comes with an 18” ground plane, a 24” ground plane is available and typically in stock.

ECSM stands for Equivalent Capacitance Substitution Method and it’s a calibration method that measures the insertion loss of the matching unit with an equivalent antenna fixture (our model ECF-12K).

Both fixtures are 12 pF capacitance, the difference is the connections ECF-12 is our older model that connects to antennas with a BNC(f) connector. The ECF-12K connects to a ¼-20 male connection point.

Yes, please contact our sales department (sales@AHSystems.com) with your specific requirements.

The wavelength at those frequencies is so large that it will make very little difference. We recommend measuring the element length from the BNC connector.

Yes, however calibration results were based on a 1.04 Meter (41”) element length and they will not be valid for different lengths. Please contact our calibration department for a custom calibration of the active monopole with a different element length.

No, the active monopole antennas are a receive only antenna. Any attempt to transmit power with damage the antenna.

The active monopole antenna has a 12VDC NiMH 2000mAh battery assembly (P/N 2351-3).

Every hour of charge will result in two hours of operation for up to 10 hours of charging. Charging for up to 24 hours will not damage the battery.

18 to 24 hours

18 to 24 hours

That will depend on the amount of usage (charge/discharge cycles). A typical battery pack should last 3 to 5 years; ≥ 500 charge cycles (IEC 61951-2). NiMH/NiCd battery voltage can drop significantly during storage due to self-discharge. We strongly recommend checking the voltage of your stored batteries, or cycle them, at least once every 6 months.

Technically no, however check with the requirements of the test standard. Some standards require attaching the ground plane to the ground and/or test table.
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