# T-antenna

A T-antenna, T-aerial, flat-top antenna, or top-hat antenna is a capacitively loaded monopole wire radio antenna[1] used in the VLF, LF, MF and shortwave bands.[2][3][4] T-antennas are widely used as transmitting antennas for amateur radio stations,[5] long wave and medium wave broadcasting stations. They are also used as receiving antennas for shortwave listening.

The antenna consists of one or more horizontal wires suspended between two supporting radio masts or buildings and insulated from them at the ends.[1][4] A vertical wire is connected to the center of the horizontal wires and hangs down close to the ground, connected to the transmitter or receiver. Combined, the two sections form a "T" shape, hence the name. The transmitter power is applied, or the receiver is connected, between the bottom of the vertical wire and a ground connection.

The T-antenna functions as a monopole antenna with capacitive top-loading; other antennas in this category include the inverted-L, umbrella, and triatic antennas. It was invented during the first decades of radio, in the wireless telegraphy era, before 1920.

## How it works

However, the antenna is still typically not as efficient as a full-height λ/4 vertical monopole,[5] and has a higher Q and thus a narrower bandwidth. T-antennas are typically used at low frequencies where it is not practical to build a quarter-wave vertical antenna because of its height,[4][8] and the vertical radiating wire is often very electrically short: only a small fraction of a wavelength long, 0.1 λ or less. An electrically short antenna has a base reactance that is capacitive, and in transmitting antennas this must be tuned-out by an added loading coil to make the antenna resonant so it can be fed power efficiently.

To increase the top-load capacitance, several parallel horizontal wires are often used, connected together at the center where the vertical wire attaches.[5] The capacitance does not increase proportionally with the number of wires, however, because each wire’s electric field is partially shielded from the ground by its adjacent wires.[5]

Since the vertical wire is the actual radiating element, the antenna radiates vertically polarized radio waves in an omnidirectional radiation pattern, with equal power in all azimuthal directions.[9] The axis of the horizontal wire makes little difference. The power is maximum in a horizontal direction or at a shallow elevation angle, decreasing to zero at the zenith. This makes it a good antenna at LF or MF frequencies, which propagate as ground waves with vertical polarization, but it also radiates enough power at higher elevation angles to be useful for sky wave ("skip") communication. The effect of poor ground conductivity is generally to tilt the pattern up, with the maximum signal strength at a higher elevation angle.

## Transmitting antennas

If it is shorter than λ/4 any monopole antenna has a capacitive reactance; the shorter it is, the higher the reactance. The horizontal top section of a T-antenna reduces the capacitive reactance, substituting for a vertical section whose height would be about 23 its length[10]; if it is long enough, it completely eliminates reactance. In transmitting antennas, to make the antenna resonant so it can be driven efficiently the capacitance must be canceled out by inserting a loading coil the antenna, if the top-section is not long enough to do so. Usually the loading coil is at the base of the antenna, connected between the antenna and its feedline.

At medium and low frequencies, the high antenna capacitance and the high inductance of the loading coil compared to its low radiation resistance makes the loaded antenna behave like a high Q tuned circuit, with a narrow bandwidth over which it will remain well matched to the transmission line, when compared to a λ/4 monopole.

To operate over a large frequency range the loading coil often must be adjustable, and adjusted when the frequency is changed to keep the SWR low. The high Q also causes a high voltage on the antenna, which is maximum at the current nodes at the ends of the horizontal wire, roughly Q times the driving-point voltage. The insulators at the ends must be designed to withstand these voltages. In high power transmitters the output power is often limited by the onset of corona discharge on the wires.[11]

Radiation resistance is the equivalent resistance of an antenna due to its radiation of radio waves; for a full-length quarter-wave monopole the radiation resistance is around 25 ohms. An antenna short compared to a wavelength has a lower radiation resistance; thus at low frequencies the T-antenna can have very low radiation resistance, often less than 1 ohm,[5][12] so the efficiency is limited by other resistances in the antenna and the ground system. The input power is divided between the radiation resistance and the "ohmic" resistances of the antenna-ground circuit, chiefly the coil and the ground. The resistance in the coil and particularly the ground system must be kept very low to minimize the power dissipated in them.

It can be seen that at low frequencies the design of the loading coil can be challenging:[5] it must have high inductance but very low losses at the transmitting frequency (high Q), must carry high currents, withstand high voltages at its ungrounded end, and be adjustable.[8] It is often made of litz wire.[8]

At low frequencies the antenna requires a good low resistance ground to be efficient. The RF ground is typically constructed of a "star" of many radial copper cables buried about 1 ft. in the earth, extending out from the base of the vertical wire, and connected together at the center. The radials should ideally be long enough to extend beyond the displacement current region near the antenna. At VLF frequencies the resistance of the soil becomes a problem, and the radial ground system is usually raised and mounted a few feet above ground, insulated from it, to form a counterpoise.

## Equivalent circuit

The power radiated (or received) by an electrically short vertical antenna like the T-antenna is proportional to the square of the "effective height" of the antenna,[5] so the antenna should be made as high as possible. Without the horizontal wire, the RF current distribution in the vertical wire would decrease linearly to zero at the top (see drawing a above), giving an effective height of half the physical height of the antenna. With an ideal "infinite capacitance" top load wire, the current in the vertical would be constant along its length, giving an effective height equal to the physical height, therefore increasing the power radiated fourfold. So the power radiated (or received) by a T antenna is up to four times that of a vertical monopole of the same height.

The radiation resistance of an ideal T antenna with very large top load capacitance is[6]

${\displaystyle R_{R}=80\pi ^{2}\left({\frac {h}{\lambda }}\right)^{2}\,}$

${\displaystyle P=80\pi ^{2}\left({\frac {hI_{0}}{\lambda }}\right)^{2}\,}$

where h is the height of the antenna, λ is the wavelength, and I0 is the RMS input current in amperes. This formula shows that the radiated power depends on the product of the base current and the effective height, and is used to determine how many 'metre-amps' are required for a given amount of radiated power.

The equivalent circuit of the antenna (including loading coil) is the series combination of the capacitive reactance of the antenna, the inductive reactance of the loading coil, and the radiation resistance and the other resistances of the antenna-ground circuit. So the input impedance is

${\displaystyle z=R_{C}+R_{D}+R_{L}+R_{G}+R_{R}+j\omega L-{\frac {1}{j\omega C}}\,}$

At resonance the capacitive reactance of the antenna is cancelled by the loading coil so the input impedance at resonance z0 is just the sum of the resistances in the antenna circuit[13]

${\displaystyle z_{0}=R_{C}+R_{D}+R_{L}+R_{G}+R_{R}\,}$

So the efficiency η of the antenna, the ratio of radiated power to input power from the feedline, is

${\displaystyle \eta ={\frac {R_{R}}{R_{C}+R_{D}+R_{L}+R_{G}+R_{R}}}\,}$

where

RC is the ohmic resistance of the antenna conductors (copper losses)
RD is the equivalent series dielectric losses
RG is the resistance of the ground system
C is the capacitance of the antenna at the input terminals

It can be seen that, since the radiation resistance is usually very low, the major design problem is to keep the other resistances in the antenna-ground system low to obtain the highest efficiency.[13]

## References

1. Graf, Rudolf F. (1999). Modern dictionary of electronics, 7th Ed. USA: Newnes. p. 761. ISBN 0-7506-9866-7.
2. Chatterjee, Rajeswari (2006). Antenna theory and practice, 2nd Ed. New Delhi: New Age International. pp. 243–244. ISBN 81-224-0881-8.
3. Rudge, Alan W. (1983). The Handbook of Antenna Design, Vol. 2. IET. pp. 578–579. ISBN 0-906048-87-7.
4. Edwards, R.J.Edwards G4FGQ (August 1, 2005). "The Simple Tee Antenna". Antenna design library. S meter website. Retrieved 2012-02-23. External link in |publisher= (help)
5. Straw, R. Dean, Ed. (2000). The ARRL Antenna Book, 19th Ed. USA: American Radio Relay League. p. 6.36. ISBN 0-87259-817-9.
6. Huang, Yi; Kevin Boyle (2008). Antennas: from theory to practice. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 299–301. ISBN 0-470-51028-5.
7. Rudge, 1983, p.554
8. Griffith, B. Whitfield (2000). Radio-Electronic Transmission Fundamentals, 2nd Ed. USA: SciTech Publishing. pp. 389–391. ISBN 1-884932-13-4.
9. Barclay, Leslie W. (2000). Propagation of radiowaves. Institution of Electrical Engineers. pp. 379–380. ISBN 0-85296-102-2.
10. Moxon, Les (1994). "12 HF Antennas". In Biddulph, Dick (ed.). Radio Communication Handbook (6th ed.). Radio Society of Great Britain.
11. LaPorte, Edmund A. (2010). "Antenna Reactance". Radio Antenna Engineering. Virtual Institute of Applied Science. Retrieved 2012-02-24. External link in |publisher= (help)
12. Balanis, Constantine A. (2011). Modern Antenna Handbook. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 2.8–2.9 (Sec. 2.2.2). ISBN 1-118-20975-3.
13. LaPorte, Edmund A. (2010). "Radiation Efficiency". Radio Antenna Engineering. Virtual Institute of Applied Science. Retrieved 2012-02-24. External link in |publisher= (help)