Fractal Antenna

[24kilo]

Has any one tried this for scanning?

Fractal antenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fractal Antennas Offer Benefits - Size can be shrunk from two to four times

Fractal antenna constructions - Scientific, embedded, biomedical, electronics contents.

http://www.fractenna.com/images/comm_quaterly_article_3.jpg

Fractal antennas

 

[HancockCountyHal]

Good Question

Is anyone up to take a stab at this old post? I find the concept of fractal antennas very interesting.

Thanks
HCH

 

[davidmc36]

Wouldn't they be very directional which would be a minus for most "scanning", but good if you had it dedicated to one direction? Like if most of what you want to listen to is from one nearby town.

The science of it is very interesting to learn about though.

 

[ab3a]

The concept of a fractal antenna is intriguing. However, in practice it is still nothing more than a way to shrink antennas. It uses what amounts to capacitative loading. As such, it will cover very well defined bandwidths, but it will suffer from the same problems that one gets with any short antenna.

When an antenna, including a counterpoise, is shrunk to anything smaller than 1/2 wavelength, we no longer discuss gain, we discuss efficiency. In other words, it will never outperform a full sized antenna. That said, the performance drop may not be that significant --or it could turn out to be a dummy load.

Damned few people really understand antennas any more. I would tread with care on this one. I've seen fractal chip antennas for 2.4 GHz, and they're nothing to brag about. If you can afford to install a full sized discone, I think you'll be happier.

 

[HancockCountyHal]

Thanks Guys

I appreciate your reply.
Even as a novice, I agree that a good outdoor antenna like a discone would be a good choice. However I was hoping for something inexpensive and DIY for indoor use. As you pointed out, there are not many people that understand antennas and I'm one of them.

Just talking out loud, there are some fractal tv antennas available as well as plans for them. While I'll continue my research, I believe that I read where fractal antennas were wide band and the tv uhf and vhf frequencies fall near to the public service bands.

Rather than a shrunk down version that would fit in a cell phone for example, I was envisioning a copper foil pattern pasted on a sheet of 11"X14" or larger foam board hanging on the wall with a poster on the front and the antenna hidden on the back.

I’ll try to pursue this in the future. Again, any positive or negative input is appreciated

HCH