On Fri, 28 Sep 2001, Brian wrote: > First of all, I recommend anyone doing any sort of wireless to get your > ham license or at least browse the material. Start at www.qrz.com for > good info. Lots of EE's hang out on the bulletin boards and stuff too. I actually studied up for my ham license years ago, but never actually bothered getting it. :) > > I mean, I know that yagi's generally have a wider beam than parabolics, > > etc, but that's all gleaned from product specifications, not actual > > information about the antenna. > > Yagi has a wider beam and generally higher gain. Good for hams, bad for > keeping your wireless net private. Most Yagi's I see have a generally lower gain than Parabolic Grid's.. but the wider angle can come in very handy. :) > > But, for a specific question: what's the difference between vertical and > > horizontal polarity on a parabolic? > > With a parbolic your antenna (I don't know your exact design) is is either > a dish or a curved piece of rectangular material. The driven element (the > thingie in the center) is usually a piece of metal that's > oblong (copper pipe works well). Vertical polarization is if the driven > element is higher than it is wide, horizontal is if it's wider than it is > high. There is also circular polarization, which you can use if you have > a round coil as the driven element. Basically for max performance, all > your antennas should be polarized identically. The most common is > vertical since it takes up less "real estate". I've got a 19dBi parabolic grid that I use for testing.. 'twas cheap. That's what I figured polarity meant; just thought I'd make sure. :) Thanks! -- Nate Carlson <natecars at real-time.com> | Phone : (952)943-8700 http://www.real-time.com | Fax : (952)943-8500