Antenna Pattern Plot Differences
Q: Why doesn’t the antenna pattern I imported from a manufacturer's file look like the published pattern?
A: The “look” of an antenna pattern plot can be dramatically affected by the scale, especially when the units are in dB.
Note that all values in this example are for demonstration purposes only. You should determine appropriate settings for your application.
For example, suppose you have a pattern from the manufacturer with an elevation (vertical plane) pattern that looks like this:
When you import the pattern, the thumbnail preview appears different. For example, the nulls between the lobes are not as deep as the manufacturer’s plot.
You can plot the antenna:
The default scale in the plot (like the default scale in the preview) assigns a scale value based on the values in the manufacturer’s file:
To make a better comparison, click the Scale item in the Antenna Plot menu of the TAP HDGraphics form:
Set the scale minimum (in dB) to match the manufacturer’s plot.
With the same scale settings, the antenna patterns should be recognizably the same:
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