Author Topic: Help me understand the cost of antennae  (Read 2340 times)

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Offline jeremyTopic starter

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Help me understand the cost of antennae
« on: July 19, 2017, 01:11:15 pm »
So it seems like a ballpark price for a 30MHz to >1G bilog antenna used for EMC testing is around $5-10k. Example: http://www.measurement.net.au/p/4410518/aaronia-hyperlog-20300-emi.html

I'm curious though, does anyone have any idea what fraction of this cost is the calibration? Assuming that you could go get it calibrated at a lab for free, would it be fairly straightforward and cheap for a decent ham radio person to make one of these? Or are there some expensive materials involved?
 

Offline Gribo

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Re: Help me understand the cost of antennae
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2017, 04:25:38 pm »
As far as I know, there are no special materials involved. Aluminum, Copper, Steel, and plastics.  The main contributors to the cost are characterization (pattern and antenna factor at certain frequencies), calibration against a known standard and reaching the required precision for such device (0.1dB tolerance in some cases). Also, it is a very low volume device, so no economies of scale to drive the cost down.
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Offline D3f1ant

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Re: Help me understand the cost of antennae
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2017, 08:16:21 pm »
I've wondered the same. With the likes of Rigol/Siglent low cost analysers having EMC filters, I don't get why they don't have a low cost antenna package to go with them. I don't believe  too many would be using a 6k antenna on a 2k spectrum analyser. Where are all the china clone antenna?
 
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Offline Lord of nothing

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Re: Help me understand the cost of antennae
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2017, 08:25:13 pm »
 ;D I got an cheaper DVB-T Antenna the work.
Made in Japan, destroyed in Sulz im Wienerwald.
 

Offline slurry

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Re: Help me understand the cost of antennae
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2017, 08:28:04 pm »
It's a small market even for someone that clone an ETS Lindgren bicolog, no professional lab would buy a clone anyway.
Aaronia makes some antennas in the lower price range that might fit the bill.

For the hobbyist or amateur i would say that something like a Create CLP-5130 would do for most part but its a bit large..although i guess you will never get any AF-plot from the manufacturer.
Buy two, set up an OATS and make your own plots  :-+

About USD1500 could get you something useable on ebay if you can wait long enough..
« Last Edit: July 20, 2017, 04:16:39 am by slurry »
 
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Offline jeremyTopic starter

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Re: Help me understand the cost of antennae
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2017, 07:03:20 am »
Thanks for the tip on Aaronia, looks like you can get a 30MHz-1GHz calibrated bilog directly for about 1600 EUR. It's still a lot of money, but certainly less than 10k! I guess its time to start saving my pocket money... ;)
 

Offline dkozel

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Re: Help me understand the cost of antennae
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2017, 10:47:27 am »
These are for different bands than you may be interested in, but if I needed a directional wide band antenna this would be my first stop.
http://www.rfspace.com/RFSPACE/Antennas.html
 


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