Baby_Beluga
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I have yet another total noob question that I can't seem to find the answer for online. Maybe it's because I'm not even sure how to phrase the question! 8-O As with all my noob questions, I'm not only looking for answers, but also for links to places where I can teach myself more about the topic, or even useful search terms.
As I understand it, when you make an antenna, not only the antenna but also the transmission line receive signals. I guess I've done a lot of playing around with antennas without even really thinking about it, but I'm not sure how... er... well, how the antenna works differently than the line.
Maybe an example will help: I found this site while researching my current project, which is the construction of a passive signal repeater to improve cell reception in a few places in my house. The simple version of that project I actually DO understand (more or less) and don't (yet) need any help with it from here, involves an external antenna, a transmission line, and another antenna inside.
Now, from everything that I understand, this passive repeater system would work a lot better than a simple line without antennas on it. But why? I am very new to electronics, with a background in history and philosophy... I can understand conceptual descriptions of physics, but honestly I have a pretty much middle-school level understanding of math. I'm working on that, but it's been slow going. That's a real impediment to understanding a lot of what I'm reading. So far in my tinkering I've relied as much on instinct as understanding. Instinct tells me, for example, that the antennas in my passive repeater system should emerge at a right angle to the transmission line, and in the case of the external antenna, perpendicular to the line of the signal... but I'm not sure I could explain why. And thinking about that, I realized that I had no idea why you need an antenna, and not just a line.
As I understand it, when you make an antenna, not only the antenna but also the transmission line receive signals. I guess I've done a lot of playing around with antennas without even really thinking about it, but I'm not sure how... er... well, how the antenna works differently than the line.
Maybe an example will help: I found this site while researching my current project, which is the construction of a passive signal repeater to improve cell reception in a few places in my house. The simple version of that project I actually DO understand (more or less) and don't (yet) need any help with it from here, involves an external antenna, a transmission line, and another antenna inside.
Now, from everything that I understand, this passive repeater system would work a lot better than a simple line without antennas on it. But why? I am very new to electronics, with a background in history and philosophy... I can understand conceptual descriptions of physics, but honestly I have a pretty much middle-school level understanding of math. I'm working on that, but it's been slow going. That's a real impediment to understanding a lot of what I'm reading. So far in my tinkering I've relied as much on instinct as understanding. Instinct tells me, for example, that the antennas in my passive repeater system should emerge at a right angle to the transmission line, and in the case of the external antenna, perpendicular to the line of the signal... but I'm not sure I could explain why. And thinking about that, I realized that I had no idea why you need an antenna, and not just a line.