WorldwideDX Amateur Radio Forums

OK. My confusion was between ominidirectional and isotropic. Omindirectional is focusing on horizontal dispersion/reception; isotropic is equal dispersion in all directions, horizontal, vertical and everything inbetween.

An omnidirectional antenna attempts to flatten the isotropic theoretical (as in the "ball" example.) The energy that would have gone up and down with an isotropic antenna is directed to goe out "fairly" uniformly in all horizontal directions. So the gain of an antenna is the degree to which it can redirect the energy from being wasted going "up" or "down" and focusing it outward horizontally (if that is the desired direction of the signal.)

A directional or beam antenna focuses the signal even more compactly in a specific direction thereby achieving a higher db in the focused directions than what an omni could achieve.

I need to recall some of Mr. Wizard's experiments.

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