Mounting a DF Antenna to the Side of a Tower

Over the years many of our customers have asked about mounting the DF antenna on the side of a tower or mast. Will it work? The short answer is not very well. We’ve posted the results of some extensive modeling we’ve done to predict the error associated with side mounting the DF array on a tower. To achieve a less than 5 degree peak error at 150 MHz the array must be mounted over 8 feet from the tower. To achieve less than 2 degree peak error the array must be 75 feet from the tower.

The conclusion is that for best performance the DF antenna array must be top mounted on the tower or mast and away from any significant RF transmitters.  Please contact us if you have any questions.