A Lumped Circuit for Wideband Impedance Matching of a Non-Resonant, Short Dipole or Monopole Antenna

A new technique is proposed for wideband impedance matching of short dipole- or monopole-like antennas in the VHF-UHF bands. Instead of constructing the network topology for every particular antenna, we propose a simple network of one fixed topology. This network is an inductive L-section cascaded with a high-pass T-section. The network includes five discrete components-three inductors and two capacitors. Although the approach is not general, the paper proves that matching with the present network is close to the theoretical limit impedance matching confirmed by Bode-Fano theory. The matching performance also approaches the performance of the Carlin's equalizer for short dipoles and monopoles. The dipoles and monopoles may have different shape and different matching bandwidths. By using the matching circuit of fixed topology we avoid greater difficulties related to the practical realization of the Carlin's equalizer. The key point is to minimize the antenna's matching network complexity (and loss) so that the circuit can be designed and constructed in a straightforward manner.