The Parabolic Reflector Antenna (Satellite Dish) - Radiation Patterns

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In this section, the 3d radiation patterns are presented to give an idea of what they look like. This example will be for a parabolic dish reflector with the diameter of the dish D equal to 11 wavelengths. The F/D ratio will be 0.5. A circular horn antenna will be used as the feed.

The maximum antenna gain from the physical aperture is peak gain; the actual gain is 29.3 dB = 851, so we can conclude that the overall efficiency is 77%. The 3D patterns are shown in the following figures.

3d radiation pattern for dish antenna

three dimensional (3d) radiation antenna pattern for dish antennas

As can be seen, the pattern is highly directional. The HPBW is approximately 5 degrees, and the front-to-back ratio is approximately 33 dB.

Video Overview of Parabolic Reflector Antennas

If you prefer to listen to an intro on parabolic reflector antennas, here is a video discussing some of the major points:


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