Knowledge Base

Simply stated, highly directional antennas are best for longer distances or for rejecting signals outside its beamwidth and have the highest raw gain (gain of just the antenna without amplification). As the size or design of the antenna gets smaller, it provides less gain, but the directivity also decreases and the beamwidth increases. A less directional antenna will receive in a larger east to west window but with less distance. A less directional antenna with more beamwidth could be used if TV broadcast transmitters are located closer in distance in one general direction but spread out and not all clumped together.