Joe, I don't think those three panel antennas are combined at all. Most cellular and PCS providers are using 120-degree panel antennas to cover three 120-degree sectors, each with its own base station, effectively tripling their capacity. The older omnidirectional antenna cell sites- usually a cluster of fiberglass vertical pairs, one pointing up and one pointing down- are being retrofitted with panel antennas. Panel antennas are much easier to camouflage, and they can be physically tilted for better close-in coverage.
One solution to obtaining omnidirectional coverage around a water tank- assuming your site owner will allow you to put up three antennas- is to use a voter to select the best signal from three low-gain Yagi antennas, and switch the transmitter output to that antenna. I suppose combining would work, but I wonder if destructive cancellation will rear its ugly head. 73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 3:17 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Re: Antenna on the side of a water tower <snip> One of the carriers does something similar. They put panel antennas on each of the 3 faces, then combine them into one omni-directional antenna system. It does work. I know of several water tank installations that are just like this. Joe
