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The folded dipole is therefore well matched to 300 ohm balanced transmission lines, such as twin-feed ribbon cable. The
folded dipole has a wider bandwidth than a single dipole. They can be used for transforming the value of input
impedance of the dipole over a broad range of step-up ratios by changing the thicknesses of the wire conductors for the
fed- and folded-sides.[13]

Instead of altering thickness or spacing, one can add a third parallel wire to increase the antenna impedance to 9 times
that of a single-wire dipole, raising the impedance to 658 Ω, making a good match for open wire feed cable, and further
broadening the resonant frequency band of the antenna. More extra parallel wires can be added: Any number of extra
parallel wires can be joined onto the antenna, with the radiation resistance (and feedpoint impedance) given by

where is the number of parallel halfwave-long wires laid side-by-side in the antenna, and connected at their ends. It is
also possible to "cheat" on the so-called flattened-loop design, and get nearly as-good performance, by making each the
parallel wires too short by the same amount, but connecting a single capacitive loading wire (going off in nearly any
direction, most often dangling) on each of the antenna ends. The loading wire length is equal to the single missing length
of one of the parallel wires.

Other variants
There are numerous modifications to the shape of a dipole antenna which are useful in one way or another but result in
similar radiation characteristics (low gain). This is not to mention the many directional antennas which include one or
more dipole elements in their design as driven elements, many of which are linked to in the information box at the
bottom of this page.

The bow-tie antenna is a dipole with flaring, triangular shaped arms. The shape gives it a much wider bandwidth than
an ordinary dipole. It is widely used in UHF television antennas.

The cage dipole is a similar modification in which the bandwidth is increased by

using fat cylindrical dipole elements made of a "cage" of wires (see photo). These
are used in a few broadband array antennas in the medium wave and shortwave
bands for applications such as over-the-horizon radar and radio telescopes.
A halo antenna is a half-wave dipole bent into a circle for a nearly uniform
radiation pattern in the plane of the circle. When the halo's circle is horizontal, it
produces horizontally polarized radiation in a nearly omnidirectional pattern with
only a little power wasted toward the zenith, compared to a straight horizontal
dipole. In practice, it is categorized either as a bent dipole or as a loop antenna,
depending on author preference.[b] Cage dipole antennas in the
A turnstile antenna comprises two dipoles crossed at a right angle and feed Ukrainian UTR-2 radio telescope.
system which introduces a quarter-wave phase difference between the currents The 8 m by 1.8 m diameter
along the two. With that geometry, the two dipoles do not interact electrically but galvanized steel wire dipoles have a
their fields add in the far-field producing a net radiation pattern which is rather bandwidth of 8–33 MHz.
close to isotropic, with horizontal polarization in the plane of the elements and
circular or elliptical polarization at other angles. Turnstile antennas can be
stacked and fed in phase to realize an omnidirectional broadside array or phased for an end-fire array with circular
polarization.
The batwing antenna is a turnstile antenna with its linear elements widened as in a bow-tie antenna, again for the
purpose of widening its resonant frequency and thus usable over a larger bandwidth, without re-tuning. When
stacked to form an array the radiation is omnidirectional, horizontally polarized, and with increased gain at low
elevations, making it ideal for television broadcasting.
A 'V' (or "Vee") antenna is a dipole with a bend in the middle so its arms are at an angle instead of co-linear.
A quadrant antenna is a 'V' antenna with an unusual overall length of a full wavelength, with two half-wave horizontal
elements meeting at a right angle where it is fed.[14] Quadrant antennas produce mostly horizontal polarization at low
to intermediate elevation angles and have nearly omnidirectional radiation patterns.[15]
One implementation uses "cage" elements (see above); the thickness of the resulting elements lowers the high driving
point impedance of a full-wave dipole to a value that accommodates a reasonable match to open wire lines and increases
the bandwidth (in terms of SWR) to a full octave. They are used for HF band transmissions.

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The g5rv antenna is a dipole antenna fed indirectly, through a carefully chosen length of 300 Ω or 450 Ω twin lead,
which acts as an impedance matching network to connect (through a balun) to a standard 50 Ω coaxial transmission
line.
The sloper antenna is a slanted vertical dipole antenna attached to the top of a single tower. The element can be
center-fed or can be end-fed as an unbalanced monopole antenna from a transmission line at the top of the tower, in
which case the monopole's "ground" connection can better be viewed as a second element comprising the tower and
/ or transmission line shield.
The inverted 'V' antenna is likewise supported using a single tower but is a balanced antenna with two symmetric
elements angled toward the ground. It is thus a half-wave dipole with a bend in the middle. Like the sloper, this has
the practical advantage of elevating the antenna but requiring only a single tower.
The AS-2259 antenna is an inverted-‘V’ dipole antenna used for local communications via Near Vertical Incidence
Skywave (NVIS).

Vertical (monopole) antennas

The "vertical", "Marconi", or monopole antenna is a single-element antenna
usually fed at the bottom (with the shield side of its unbalanced transmission line
connected to ground). It behaves essentially the same as half of a dipole antenna.
The ground (or ground plane) is considered to be a conductive surface which
works as a reflector (see effect of ground). Vertical currents in the reflected image
have the same direction (thus are not reflected about the ground) and phase as
the current in the real antenna.[7](p 164) The conductor and its image together act
as a dipole in the upper half of space. Like a dipole, in order to achieve resonance
(resistive feedpoint impedance) the conductor must be close to a quarter
wavelength in height (like each conductor in a half-wave dipole).

In this upper side of space, the emitted field has the same amplitude of the field
radiated by a similar dipole fed with the same current. Therefore, the total
emitted power is half the emitted power of a dipole fed with the same current. As
the current is the same, the radiation resistance (real part of series impedance)
will be half of the series impedance of the comparable dipole. A quarter-wave 1
A 4 λ monopole antenna and its ground
monopole, then, has an impedance[7](p 173) of 1
image together form a 2 λ dipole that
Another way of seeing this, is that a true dipole receiving a current I has voltages radiates only in the upper half of space.
V
on its terminals of +V and −V, for an impedance across the terminals of 2 I ,
whereas the comparable vertical antenna has the current I but an applied voltage of only V.

Since the fields above ground are the same as for the dipole, but only half the power is applied, the gain is doubled to
5.14 dBi . This is not an actual performance advantage per se, since in practice a dipole also reflects half of its power off
the ground which (depending on the antenna height and sky angle) can augment (or cancel!) the direct signal. The
vertical polarization of the monopole (as for a vertically oriented dipole) is advantageous at low elevation angles where
the ground reflection combines with the direct wave approximately in phase.

The earth acts as a ground plane, but it can be a poor conductor leading to losses. Its conductivity can be improved (at
cost) by laying a copper mesh. When an actual ground is not available (such as in a vehicle) other metallic surfaces can
serve as a ground plane (typically the vehicle's roof). Alternatively, radial wires placed at the base of the antenna can
form a ground plane. For VHF and UHF bands, the radiating and ground plane elements can be constructed from rigid
rods or tubes. Using such an artificial ground plane allows for the entire antenna and "ground" to be mounted at an

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arbitrary height. One common modification has the radials forming the ground plane sloped down, which has the effect
of raising the feedpoint impedance to around 50 Ω, matching common coaxial cable. No longer being a true ground, a
balun (such as a simple choke balun) is then recommended.

Dipole characteristics

Impedance of dipoles of various lengths

The feedpoint impedance of a dipole antenna is sensitive to its electrical
length and feedpoint position.[8][9] Therefore, a dipole will generally only
perform optimally over a rather narrow bandwidth, beyond which its
impedance will become a poor match for the transmitter or receiver (and
transmission line). The real (resistive) and imaginary (reactive)
components of that impedance, as a function of electrical length, are
shown in the accompanying graph. The detailed calculation of these
numbers are described below. Note that the value of the reactance is
highly dependent on the diameter of the conductors; this plot is for
conductors with a diameter of 0.001 wavelengths.
Resistive (black) and reactive (blue) parts of the
Dipoles that are much smaller than one half the wavelength of the signal dipole feedpoint impedance versus total length in
are called short dipoles. These have a very low radiation resistance (and a wavelengths, assuming a conductor diameter of
high capacitive reactance) making them inefficient antennas. More of a 0.001 wavelengths
transmitter's current is dissipated as heat due to the finite resistance of
the conductors which is greater than the radiation resistance. However
they can nevertheless be practical receiving antennas for longer wavelengths.[c]

Dipoles whose length is approximately half the wavelength of the signal are called half-wave dipoles and are widely used
as such or as the basis for derivative antenna designs. These have a radiation resistance which is much greater, closer to
the characteristic impedances of available transmission lines, and normally much larger than the resistance of the
conductors, so that their efficiency approaches 100%. In general radio engineering, the term dipole, if not further
qualified, is taken to mean a center-fed half-wave dipole.

A true half-wave dipole is one half of the wavelength λ in length, where

c
λ = f in free space. Such a dipole has a feedpoint impedance consisting
of 73 Ω resistance and +43 Ω reactance, thus presenting a slightly
inductive reactance. To cancel that reactance, and present a pure
resistance to the feedline, the element is shortened by the factor k for a net
length of:

where λ is the free-space wavelength, c is the speed of light in free space,

Feedpoint impedance of (near-) half-wave dipoles
and f is the frequency. The adjustment factor k which causes feedpoint versus electrical length in wavelengths. Black:
reactance to be eliminated, depends on the diameter of the conductor,[17] radiation resistance; blue: reactance for four
as is plotted in the accompanying graph. The relative scale-size k ranges different values of conductor diameter.
from about 0.98 for thin wires (diameter, 0.00001 wave) to about 0.94 for
thick conductors (diameter, 0.008 wave). This is because the effect of
antenna length on reactance (upper graph) is much greater for thinner conductors, so that a smaller deviation from the
exact half wavelength is required in order to cancel the 43 Ω inductive reactance it has when exactly 21 λ . For the same
reason, antennas with thicker conductors have a wider operating bandwidth over which they attain a practical standing
wave ratio which is degraded by any remaining reactance.

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For a typical k of about 0.95, the above formula for the corrected antenna
143
length can be written, for a length in metres as f , or a length in feet as
468
f where f is the frequency in megahertz.[18]

Dipole antennas of lengths approximately equal to any odd multiple of 21 λ

are also resonant, presenting little or no reactance (which can be removed
by making a small length adjustment). However these are rarely used.
One size that is a much more efficient radiator both in terms of Watts out
and in direction radiated is a dipole with a length of 45 wave. Not being
3
Length reduction factor for a half-wave dipole to
close to 2 wave, this antenna's impedance has a large (negative) reactance achieve electrical resonance (purely resistive
and can only be used with an inductive impedance matching network (a feedpoint impedance). Calculated using the
tapped loading coil or a so-called antenna tuner). It is a desirable length induced EMF method, an approximation that
breaks down at larger conductor diameters
because such an antenna has the highest gain for any dipole which isn't a
(dashed portion of graph).
great deal longer.

Radiation pattern and gain

A dipole is omnidirectional in the plane perpendicular to the wire axis, with the
radiation falling to zero on the axis (off the ends of the antenna). In a half-wave dipole
the radiation is maximum perpendicular to the antenna, declining as to zero
on the axis. Its radiation pattern in three dimensions (see figure) would be plotted
approximately as a toroid (doughnut shape) symmetric about the conductor. When
mounted vertically this results in maximum radiation in horizontal directions. When
mounted horizontally, the radiation peaks at right angles (90°) to the conductor, with
nulls in the direction of the dipole. Three dimensional radiation
pattern of a vertical half-wave
Neglecting electrical inefficiency, the antenna gain is equal to the directive gain, which dipole antenna.
is 1.5 dBd (1.76 dBi) for a short dipole, increasing to 1.64 dBd (2.15 dBi) for a half-wave
dipole. For a 45 wave dipole the gain further increases to about 5.2 dBi, making this
length desirable for that reason even though the antenna is then off-resonance. Longer
dipoles than that have radiation patterns that are multi-lobed, with poorer gain (unless
they are much longer) even along the strongest lobe. Other enhancements to the dipole
(such as including a corner reflector or an array of dipoles) can be considered when
more substantial directivity is desired. Such antenna designs, although based on the
half-wave dipole, generally acquire their own names.

Feeding a dipole antenna

Ideally, a half-wave dipole should be fed using a balanced transmission line matching
its typical 65–70 Ω input impedance. Twin lead with a similar impedance is available
but seldom used and does not match the balanced antenna terminals of most radio and
television receivers. Much more common is the use of common 300 Ω twin lead in
conjunction with a folded dipole. The driving point impedance of a half-wave folded
dipole is 4 times that of a simple half-wave dipole, thus closely matching that 300 Ω
characteristic impedance.[19] Most FM broadcast band tuners and older analog
televisions include balanced 300 Ω antenna input terminals. However twin lead has the Radiation pattern of vertical half-
drawback that it is electrically disturbed by any other nearby conductor (including wave dipole; vertical section.
earth); when used for transmitting, care must be taken not to place it near other (top) In linear scale
conductors. (bottom) In decibels isotropic
(dBi)
Many types of coaxial cable (or "coax") have a characteristic impedance of 75 Ω, which
would otherwise be a good match for a half-wave dipole. However coax is a single-
ended line whereas a center-fed dipole expects a balanced line (such as twin lead). By symmetry, one can see that the
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dipole's terminals have an equal but opposite voltage, whereas coax has one conductor grounded. Using coax regardless
results in an unbalanced line, in which the currents along the two conductors of the transmission line are no longer equal
and opposite. Since you then have a net current along the transmission line, the transmission line becomes an antenna
itself, with unpredictable results (since it depends on the path of the transmission line).[20] This will generally alter the
antenna's intended radiation pattern, and change the impedance seen at the transmitter or receiver.

A balun is required to use coaxial cable with a dipole antenna. The balun transfers power between the single-ended coax
and the balanced antenna, sometimes with an additional change in impedance. A balun can be implemented as a
transformer which also allows for an impedance transformation. This is usually wound on a ferrite toroidal core. The
toroid core material must be suitable for the frequency of use, and in a transmitting antenna it must be of sufficient size
to avoid saturation.[21] Other balun designs are mentioned below.[22][23]

Feeding a dipole antenna with coax cable

Coax and antenna both Dipole with a current A folded dipole (300 Ω) Dipole using a sleeve
acting as radiators balun to coax (75 Ω) 4:1 balun
instead of only the halfwave balun
antenna

Current balun
A current balun uses a transformer wound on a toroid or rod of magnetic material such as ferrite. All of the current seen
at the input goes into one terminal of the balanced antenna. It forms a balun by choking common-mode current. The
material isn't critical for 1:1 because there is no transformer action applied to the desired differential current.[24][25] A
related design involves two transformers and includes a 1:4 impedance transformation.[20][24]

Coax balun
A coax balun is a cost-effective method of eliminating feeder radiation, but is limited to a narrow set of operating
frequencies.

One easy way to make a balun is to use a length of coaxial cable equal to half a wavelength. The inner core of the cable is
linked at each end to one of the balanced connections for a feeder or dipole. One of these terminals should be connected
to the inner core of the coaxial feeder. All three braids should be connected together. This then forms a 4:1 balun, which
works correctly at only a narrow band of frequencies.

Sleeve balun
At VHF frequencies, a sleeve balun can also be built to remove feeder radiation.[26]
1
Another narrow-band design is to use a 4
λ length of metal pipe. The coaxial cable is placed inside the pipe; at one end
the braid is wired to the pipe while at the other end no connection is made to the pipe. The balanced end of this balun is
at the end where no connection is made to the pipe. The 41 λ conductor acts as a transformer, converting the zero
impedance at the short to the braid into an infinite impedance at the open end. This infinite impedance at the open end

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