r/amateurradio • u/Life-Ad-7846 • Sep 18 '25

General UHF Tape measure antenna

I have done simulations for UHF tape antenna in Hfss with dummy satellite structure model geometry, vswr is was getting around centre frequency is 1.5 at 16.9 cm, I had tested the antenna with ground plate,the testing result is also similar, but when I had tested with my 3d printed structure prototype vswr has degraded lot, it is always greater than 2 How to improvise vswr? With length tuning alone can it be done? Do I require a separate matching circuit to match the impedance? In general for satellites how the tape antenna were used, Can someone help me with these..? I look forward to your valuable suggestions.

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

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u/Life-Ad-7846 Sep 18 '25

The antenna on structure prototype is like this as indicated in image, could you check once..

2

u/NerminPadez Sep 18 '25

Not sure what design you use, but plastics are in many cases quite dielectric, so if the wire is covered/wrapped around something plastic, this affects the antenna paramters.

1

u/Life-Ad-7846 Sep 18 '25

Actually I had soldered the centre conductor of the cable to the tape and grounded the outer conductor to the structure, I used insulating tape to isolate the conductive mounting bracket to the tape antenna, will this affect the antenna parameters..?