Application Notes

Antenna Selection by Application

Here is a listing of some of the common test types and the appropriate antennas to perform that test.

Antenna Selection by Test Standard

Consult the specific standard for its requirements, which may list required antenna types or parameters like frequency range, gain, polarization, and test distance. Common standards like MIL-STD-461 for military applications or CISPR 32 for multimedia devices often specify antennas suitable for different test types, such as horn or log-periodic antennas for high-frequency immunity, or dipole antennas for site attenuation.

What exactly is the "Antenna Factor" concept, how is it created and how is it used. This basic application notes defines the term "Antenna Factor" and gives a brief explanation on how to use it.

While it is not neccessary before each test, these maintenance mesures go a long way. Not only will they keep critical features in working order, they can also help protect and extend the life of your antenna.

Here is a list of antenna terms and definitions for engineers and technicians commonly used with compliance testing.

Our tunable dipole antennas have a set of telescoping elements that needs to be adjusted to the frequency of interest. Here is a lookup table of our Tuned Dipole Antennas and the appropriate element lengths for each balun.

Much of the success or failure of EMC test depends on the performance of a calibrated antenna. Antenna calibration is important to ensure repeatable, reliable data and this technical note will discuss calibration intervals.

Here is a listing of the letter designations that are assigned to the frequency bands for the radio spectrum up to 300 GHz.

This is a list of abbreviations and acronyms commonly used with compliance testing.

In order to help better identify signals of interest from ambient signals that might already be in the area, we have included a table of VHF, UHF, and FM frequencies, as a companion to our TDS-536 TV Dipole set, specifically designed for testing at these frequencies.

There are a number of different standards for differnet types of waveguide.

Just in case you don't care for mathematical equations, here's a little "cheat sheet" table to help understand the correlation of VSWR to the percentage of reflected power that will return.