An improved small antenna radiation-efficiency measurement method

Abstract

An examination of the available literature shows that the accurate measurement of antenna efficiency is a difficult task, and that the available methods have potential for a substantial amount of error. This paper refines a method already presented, and gives detailed results with some newly defined reference antennas. Two methods of determining antenna efficiency are presented. One method may be considered to be a generalization of the "Wheeler cap method." The two methods presented show excellent agreement with each other, and show excellent agreement with the reference antennas. The reflection method appears to give the better results of the two methods, except under special circumstances.