LPDA

Communication technology made it possible to develop ways of transmitting data without the need of any wires, by simply beaming different high or low frequencies between antennas and receivers. Different such types of receptors are used to better catch the signal. They are made out of various metals, and applications like LPDA want to help you out if you plan to build an antenna yourself.

The application comes in an incredibly light package and doesn't even require an installation to properly run. All you need to do is launch it after the download is finished and you can even keep it stored on a USB Flash drive to use on the go, especially because the target PC's registries are not affected in any way.

With the compact main window up, all that's left is to fill in a few fields with values for several technical details. The application is in fact a simple calculator that lets you know how many elements your new log-periodic dipole array/antenna (LPDA) must have for proper signal transmission and receiving, as well as thickness and diameter of each pole.

Minimum and maximum operating frequency values need to be specified in MHz. Another field requires you to write down the input gain which needs to be between 6 and 10.5, as well as the DBI level. Hitting the “Compute” button fills in the rest of the fields, which represent the number of elements and their length, diameter and spacing. The lower the frequency gap, the less elements you need on your antenna.

There's a feeder calculator for better handling of antenna elements. This, on the other hand, only requires you to specify the largest diameter you wish to use, as well as picking from several values for wire size. Diameters of other elements are displayed as result, as well as impedance and spacing, in Ohms and respectively inches.

Sadly, export options are a little shallow and if you want to export values you need to keep a text editor at hand and manually copy each field. However, there's also the print function which can also generate a single document on your computer if used with a virtual printer.

LPDA might not look like much, but manages to provide accurate info regarding elements you need and their size specifications in order to build a fully functional log-periodic dipole array. It feels a little rough around the edges and could do with more work. However, its simplicity makes it intuitive and easy to use by anyone, with the result provided at the press of a button.