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The term "Marconi antenna" usually refers to a two part antenna consisting of a vertical portion and a "reflective" or "ground" portion. When constructed properly, it is very similar to a vertically oriented dipole, in that one element is "up" and the other "down".

The reflective portion is not always a physical element, but often either natural earth ground (where the soil conductivity is sufficient) or ground "radials" - a set of wires along or just beneath the ground that act as the reflective portion.

A Marconi antenna is an omni-directional (same transmit/receive in all directions) antenna that has good long distance characteristics on HF (high frequency) and MW (medium wave, or AM) frequencies.

A Marconi is typically built with a 1/4 wavelength vertical element, and similar length radial(s). For example, the full wavelength for 7MHz is about 133ft. A 1/4 wavelength vertical element (and each radial) would therefore be about 33.5ft.

Most AM broadcast stations use some variation of a Marconi antenna. Since an AM station at 1050 on an AM dial is equal to 1.050MHz and therefore a wavelength of over 990ft, a 1/4 wavelength vertical element would be almost 223ft for that station!

The antenna was originally made using telescopic fiber glass tubes and then covered with a copper film to make them look electrically like a huge copper tube. The antenna was made by a company located in London called Bantex Antennas. This company shut down and the team of engineer was take over and built a new company called Renair Antennae Ltd, they carried manufacturing these antennas for some years.

These antennas were ordered from Marconi to be mount overseas mainly. They were real big monsters!

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14y ago

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