Is the Higher Antenna Gain Always the Better?

We often get customer's inquiry and ask if we can provide a high gain antenna, someone even says the higher gain the better. But is that true? Is really higher gain antenna result a better effect? In fact, this view is incorrect. Today I'll give you a simple explanation:

1.  What is the gain of the Antenna?

The gain refers to the ratio of the radiation power flux density of an antenna in a specified direction to the maximum radiation power flux density of a reference antenna (usually using an ideal point source) at the same input power.

2.  What is the relationship between gain, pattern and antenna size? 

The gain is a measure of the ability of an antenna to send and receive signals in a specific direction. It is one of the important parameters for selecting a base station antenna. The higher the antenna gain, the better the directionality; The more concentrated the energy, the narrower the lobe; The higher the gain, the longer the antenna height.

3.  Key points of antenna gain:

1) Antennas are passive devices and do not generate energy. Antenna gain is simply the ability to effectively concentrate energy to radiate or receive electromagnetic waves in a particular direction.

2) The gain of the antenna is generated by the superposition of the oscillators. The higher the gain, the longer the antenna length.

3) The higher the antenna gain, the better the directionality, the more concentrated the energy, and the narrower the lobe.

So, the gain does affect coverage distance index, we should select the gain reasonably!

Increasing the antenna gain will increase the coverage distance, but at the same time will narrow the beam width, resulting in less uniform coverage. The selection of antenna gain should be based on the matching of the beam and target area. It is not advisable to over-narrow the vertical plane beam width in order to improve the gain. 

The only correct way is: optimize the scheme to achieve fast level drop outside the service area; try to lower the side and back lobes, reduce cross-polarization level; use low loss, no surface wave parasitic radiation, low VSWR feeder network, etc.  

Simply to increase the gain, although the coverage distance is greater, the coverage will become narrower. We can't make an omelet without breaking eggs!