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E9A08

ANTENNAS AND TRANSMISSION LINES · Basic antenna parameters: radiation resistance, gain, beamwidth, efficiency; effective radiated power (ERP) and effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)

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Which frequency band has the smallest first Fresnel zone?

  1. A5.8 GHz
  2. B3.4 GHz
  3. C2.4 GHz
  4. D900 MHz
Why The first Fresnel zone is the ellipsoid around the line-of-sight path where the bulk of the signal energy travels, and its radius grows with wavelength: r1 = 17.31 * sqrt(D / (4f)) meters, with D in km and f in GHz. Radius varies as 1/sqrt(f), so the highest frequency listed has the smallest zone. At 5.8 GHz the wavelength is only about 5 cm, so the zone is narrower than at any of the lower bands and clears obstacles more easily for a given path.
Watch out 900 MHz is the tempting pick if you reason that a lower frequency 'bends around' obstacles better, but that is diffraction, not zone size; its long wavelength actually makes the Fresnel zone the largest of the group.
Fresnel zone size follows wavelength: highest frequency, smallest zone. Pick the biggest GHz number.
HamSandwich explanation, first draft. The question and answers are the NCVEC text.
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The rest of E9A

  1. E9A01 What is an isotropic radiator?
  2. E9A02 What is the effective radiated power (ERP) of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 d…
  3. E9A03 What term describing total radiated power takes into account all gains and losses?
  4. E9A04 Which of the following factors affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?
  5. E9A05 What does the term "ground gain" mean?
  6. E9A06 What is the effective radiated power (ERP) of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 d…
  7. E9A07 What is the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power …
  8. E9A08 Which frequency band has the smallest first Fresnel zone?
  9. E9A09 What is antenna efficiency?
  10. E9A10 Which of the following improves the efficiency of a ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical antenna?
  11. E9A11 Which of the following determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating on HF?
  12. E9A12 How much gain does an antenna have compared to a half-wavelength dipole if it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic…
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