Bowtie reflector

[sid3]

I want to setup a bowtie panel antenna to receive UHF Terrestrial TV transmissions in my area. I live between two stations approximately 180 degrees from each other.
Is it practical to build and setup a Bow-tie Panel Antenna and leave off the reflector to cause the antenna to receive signals front and back ?
How much does the reflector add to the gain ? -or- is the reflector primarily there to prevent the antenna from receiving signal reflected off large buildings/mountains from being received by the back of the antenna ?

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[BradtheRad]

Often additional elements serve the purpose of increasing gain in a particular direction. Reception improves in the sense that multi-path is rejected.

If you wish to receive two different frequencies from opposite directions, try to find which antenna type receives a symmetric pattern in the shape of two lobes opposite each other.
Make the bandwidth just wide enough to include both frequencies.

Or, there may be a way you can join two antennas, each built to be directional, tuned to pick up one station. Example, two yagi antennas.

Helpful link:

The Antenna Theory Website

An intuitive tutorial of antennas and antenna theory. This website is designed to present a comprehensive overview of antennas, from design, to measurement and theory. Unnecessarily complicated math is avoided throughout.

www.antenna-theory.com

 

[PlanarMetamaterials]

I want to setup a bowtie panel antenna to receive UHF Terrestrial TV transmissions in my area. I live between two stations approximately 180 degrees from each other.
Is it practical to build and setup a Bow-tie Panel Antenna and leave off the reflector to cause the antenna to receive signals front and back ?
How much does the reflector add to the gain ? -or- is the reflector primarily there to prevent the antenna from receiving signal reflected off large buildings/mountains from being received by the back of the antenna ?

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

A broadside bowtie array without any reflector could have a symmetric pattern in the two directions normal to the plane of the array, yes -- depending on how the feed network is integrated. This might be a bit tricky to do, but could be practical, yes.

An ideal reflector would add 3dB to the gain; a realistic one probably less so, depending on the configuration. Yes, they often are used to help do pattern shaping as well.

 

[Azulykit]

Hi sid3,

You can certainly leave the ground plane off and the bow tie will now be receptive to signals 180 degrees apart. Just do not point the ends toward the sources if the bowtie is horizontal. A bowtie by itself is essentially a broadband dipole.

The ground plane creates an image that appears as a second antenna. Spacing and frequency come into play but this can be modeled as two antennas arrayed. Removing the ground plane reduces the gain by 3 dB but doubles the bandwidth. Kraus (Antennas) has a good discussion of what is going on.

I suspect that there are numerous useful posts here on the same subject. Poke around and you will probably find information on feeds and construction.