PCS Electronics US

Industry standard applied to measure "gain" is referenced against that of a half wave dipole located in free space. Sounds simple but in reality measuring the effectiveness of a single element is difficult, it becomes very complicated especially installing a 4 bay array for FM broadcast. The dipole exhibits it's best performance when mounted in an environment that is unobstructed by it's means of support, the correct matching network for impedance and matching to unbalanced coaxial cable, under ideal conditions we achieve a standard "unity gain" or 0 dbd, a four bay vertical dipole array for FM broadcast mounted on a 100 foot tower should deliver a gain of 6 dbd but in the real world this is not possible, many factors effect the performance of the 4 bay array including but not limited to how the array is spaced, how the antenna are mounted on the tower, the type and quality of inter bay connection cables, the type and quality of the power divider, the type and quality of the feedline, how each driven element is tuned, and the equal resonance in all bays.

 Installers must consider the metal tower directly in line with the bays as the tower leg will distort the radiation pattern, this causes and effects gain. Experienced RF engineers who have access to the right software can by placing the bays on a specific side of the tower achieve the desired coverage. The tower effects the RF in at least three major ways, first, it blocks radiated energy in the direction where the tower blocks the view of the antenna, second, it reflects some of this energy back in the opposite direction of the tower, third, the tower absorbs some energy because it is a non resonant, metallic object that is grounded. This is where the tower differs from a resonant, parasitic element that would be an efficient reflector such as the type used in "directional" antenna. The next factor that effects gain is the power divider. Two power dividers are used to drive four bays, most manufacturer's will not list the amount of "loss" experienced when using power dividers, in fact most claim they have no loss which is impossible. Also least we forget your bottom bay is 45 feet lower then the top of your tower. This is critical at the installation since that bottom bay is only able to make use of little more then half of your tower height which lowers the entire center of radiation and signal penetration. On paper it all looks and sounds great but in the real world a 4 bay single dipole antenna array will produce about 3 dbd not 6 dbd.

  When compared to the half wave dipole standard, the Dominator has a true gain of 3 dbd or 5.15 dbi. This is a power gain of two times the applied RF. So if you have a 100 watt ERP you need to feed the antenna with 50 watts (not calculating coax loss). When compared to the four bays side mounted on the tower with a claimed gain of 6 dbd, a single Dominator at the top of the tower provides the same coverage area as the four bays with a true omni directional radiation pattern. This is unheard of in all other Commercial FM broadcast antennas due to their required side mounting. The Dominator's .82 wavelength design emits an intense narrow beam of low angle radiation on the horizon. Combined with it's single radiation point being located at the top of the tower, gives it unmatched performance by any other antenna and is why we claim it performs as effective as the 6 dbd four bay system.

 For those of you who are really on the ball with your calculations and comparisons, the prior paragraph should have posed a question in your mind. What power levels are we feeding the four bay and the Dominator with when we make the comparisons? Because it should take about 25 watts into the 6 dbd four bay to reach 100 watt ERP and 50 watts into the 3 dbd Dominator to reach the same 100 watt ERP.....right? While this satisfies the FCC ERP requirements, the Dominator has key advantages that are profound when operated on shorter towers in the 100 foot range. Because the Dominator places your center of radiation above the tower, it rivals the gain of our 6 dbd competition in a 3 dbd package that technically allows you to feed it with twice the RF power. Under these conditions the Dominator will have improved coverage area over the four bay without any null on the back side of the tower. At equal TPO the average signal coverage of the two antenna types are virtually indistinguishable.

We put our money where our mouth is and stand behind the Dominator antenna 100%. Within 30 days of receiving your Dominator antenna, if for any reason you find it was not as advertised or did not live up to the claims we make here, simply send it back for a refund of your purchase price! Whether you're an LPFM operator needing a simple and powerful antenna, or running a 50 KW class B planning ahead for the time an effective backup antenna will save the day, the Dominator will exceed your expectations.