User's Manual

302395 User’s Guide and Repeater Network Design Guide
14 February 2004
3.2 Antenna Types
Antennas are also classified by their characteristic horizontal pattern. The system uses three
classifications of antennas:
• omnidirectional (“omni”) antennas
• sector antennas
• parabolic antennas
Figure 3 shows general horizontal beamwidth patterns for these antenna types.
Figure 3 Typical Horizontal Patterns
Omnidirectional antennas transmit and receive signals equally well in all directions horizontally.
Sector antennas direct and receive most of their signals in one sector horizontally.
Parabolic antennas focus most of their transmission and reception signal in a small horizontal region.
You can visualize an antenna’s pattern as being similar to light emitted from a light bulb:
Antenna Type pattern similar to pattern description
omnidirectional bare light bulb light shines in all directions
sector floodlight light floods an area
parabolic spotlight light focused into narrow beam