Vertical antenna designer

Design a vertical antenna for portable use. Vertical antennas for portable use are designed for one principal HF/VHF/UHF amateur band only; they have an advantage over other types of antenna in that they receive and transmit omni-directionally, i.e. in all directions. Radiation patterns in elevation typically show low-angle vertically-polarized radiation, so verticals can be very good DX antennas, especially when used in open areas free of vertically-oriented conducting objects like trees, etc.  Read more...

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  1. Use the controls on the left-hand side to configure your antenna - set the design frequency, antenna element lengths and angles, wire diameter, wire insulation if required, support height, etc.
  2. When you are happy with your configuration, press the "Show antenna" button to display your antenna in interactive 3D graphics mode in the area on the right-hand side. Each time you change your configuration, you should press the "Show antenna" button to register the changes to the app.
  3. After you have configured your antenna, you can then use the controls further down in the page to generate charts and diagrams to evaluate the antenna's performance - you will need to to access these controls.
    You can choose to view any combination of the available charts and diagrams: these include four radiation pattern types: azimuth, elevation, 3D and polarization patterns; other options include VSWR charts, an antenna currents diagram, and a Smith chart.

Set antenna color:    

Principal band
Band:
Frequency: kHz    Info
Nom. length : m     Corrected length:   m
Wvl-fraction : λ Info
Antenna configuration
Configure as:
Antenna wire
Wire core: mm  diameter
Insulation: thickness    Info
Ins. type: Corr. factor:
Support pole
Height: m
Main vertical section
Length: m
Base height: m
Radials     - for 1/4-wave and 5/8-wave vertical antenna variants
No. of radials:
Radials length: λ = m Info
Radials angle: °  from horizontal
Counterpoise   - for 1/2-wave vertical antenna variant
Length: λ     = m Info
Antenna overview
Support
height
Main vertical section Radials / Counterpoise
Length Top
height
Bottom
height
No. Length Angle Tip
ht.
 
 Vertical antenna designer
  1. Use the controls on the left-hand side to configure your antenna.
  2. When you are happy with your configuration, press the "Show antenna" button to display your antenna in interactive 3D graphics mode in this area.
  3. After you have configured your antenna, you can then use the controls further down in the page to generate charts and diagrams to evaluate the antenna's performance ...
Antenna feed-point:   
 

Antenna performance

Here you can generate plots of radiation patterns, VSWR chart, antenna currents diagram and Smith chart for your antenna over a choice of ground types. By changing the physical dimensions of the antenna, and refreshing these plots, you can learn a lot about how such antennas will perform in the field.
Please note that radiation patterns are here modelled over flat ground - generally speaking, when an antenna is erected on a hill-top or mountain summit, surrounding sloping ground will often cause angles in the elevation radiation pattern to be lowered in the direction of the slope.
This is not, however, the case with vertical antennas, since the vertically-polarized waves radiated by the antenna are emitted horizontally, such that reflections from the ground will be minimal, with the resulting elevation radiation pattern being largely unaffected by downward-sloping ground.
A more profound effect on the take-off angle from vertical antennas arises from the conductivity of the ground immediately surrounding the antenna: the higher the ground conductivity, the lower will be the take-off angle. Try it!

Choose ground type of
land in the vicinity
of the antenna:
   Conductivity: S/m    Dielectric const.: F/m
View radiation patterns:    Set elevation angle for azimuth plot:     Info
Set azimuth angle for elevation plot:     Info

Info
View VSWR chart:
Display impedance curves: Using unun   
Impedance curves scales:   
View currents diagram:
View Smith chart:
Antenna gains
at 0° elevation:
Antenna impedance:
Frequency range: