I’ve been working on improving performance and portability of my V-dipole for NOAA weather satellite reception.
Previously, I had the antenna mounted to a PVC pipe stuck in the dirt in my backyard at the appropriate 0.44~ish meters.
Today, I tried it in the front street with a new free standing mount. Despite being at the appropriate height, SNR was terrible unless I physically touched the antenna rod connected to the center conductor. Also, there’s already a ferrite choke on the cable close to the antenna.
I’m trying to work out how much could be different between my front road and backyard. Is it possible that the layer of asphalt is not acting like an appropriate ground plane mirror? Should I create a physical ground plane? For the record, grass was wet and asphalt was dry.
I’ve ordered a cheap NanoVNR to investigate, but in the meantime, I thought I’d ask since I only get so many chances to test the antenna.
I think the goal is to sacrifice signal for directionality. If you go a full wavelength, you introduce lobes in the radiation pattern that will kill your signal as the satellite passes overhead. The “rule of thumb” for NOAA V-dipoles is anywhere from 0.4 to 0.6m with 0.44m being best. Not sure where that exact number comes from, but it’s close to 1/4 wavelength.