Trees and reception

[tspainiv]

Just a thought, do trees in front, behind, beside an antenna hamper reception?? My boss is a ham and he has his antennas "hidden" in a tree in his yard. I would think it would cut down reception a little but not enough to notice. But hey, I have been known to be wrong.

 

[Al42]

Depends on the frequency. As the longest dimension of the leaf gets to be around 1/4 wavelength, it begins to absorb signal. On 800-900 MHz, trees or tin cans have about the same effect - greatly cutting into the signal.

But if he's on the low bands the loss may be measurable but insignificant, or it may be less than measurable, again depending on frequency (more loss on 10 meters than on 160 meters).

 

[tspainiv]

I kinda figured that it would have some loss. What about with just a regular antenna for a scanner. I have an antennacraft st2 on my roof and there is a biiiiig oak tree about 10-15 feet away. Im getting great reception of everything so I don't guess its bothering it.

 

[palo1]

Increases the capacitance

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[Al42]

Increases the capacitance

Depends on the frequency, but at 40-60 wavelengths away I doubt the atofarad or so it adds does anything. And at VHF-lo, where it's only 2-3 wavelengths away, the leaves are too small to have much effect.

So, no, if it has a measurable effect (and that's doubtful), it's only measurable on very sensitive equipment. A light drizzle will have much more effect.