0124-433

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PCB Dipole antenna for 433MHz

Designed with Diptrace

The antenna is attached to the VNA with a 22.5cm length of RG174. On 433MHz this is a half-wavelength (VF=0.65).


The following graph shows the resulting VNA plot for this antenna:

VNA-433-PCB-dipole.jpg


The above plot is for the dipole tuned for 433MHz. The blue line is SWR and shows a dip around 434.8MHz. Close enough for using it on 433MHz. The SWR (top left, in blue) shows a value of 1.11:1 for this frequency. The red line shows an impedance at this frequency of 45.62 Ohms, reasonably close to matching it with the radio which expects 50 ohms. The bandwidth of the antenna with an SWR of 1.5:1 or less is about 15MHz (from 427 to 442MHz). More than sufficient to cater for any variations in operating frequency.

  • fed with one half wavelength (22.5cm) RG-174
  • bandwith below 1.5:1 SWR = 15MHz
  • each dipole leg is 13.3cm



PCB dipole prototype testing

During testing (915MHz dipole shown in picture), the antenna was simply were left hanging down, away from any nearby metallic or organic objects.


Some general things to keep in mind about these designs:

  • This is a half-wave dipole and therefore it does not have a 50 ohm feedpoint impedance. You will have some rf coming back to the radio on transmit but due to the rigid and balanced PCB based design and the accurate calibration of the length of the dipole legs using the VNA this will be minimal.
  • coax feedline losses are siginificant at these frequencies, use the lowest number of half-wave multiple lengths possible.
  • I tested these dipoles on 1.6mm thick FR4 substrate PCBs with 1 ounce copper from OSH Park. Feel free to use these designs to manufacture elsewhere but it is not guaranteed that the results will be the same. Heck, even OSH Park could end up supplying you with different materials, but this is what worked for me.


The PCB design for this antenna can be ordered directly from OSH Park: https://oshpark.com/profiles/captcha


Alternatively, if you wish to make any modifications, you may download the zip file with the gerbers or the Diptrace design files from this site.