Field Strength Measurement

By Surender Singh, Director(Engg.)

Staff Training Institute (Technical)
 Field Strength Measurement

Need for Field Strength Measurement

 To determine the coverage area of a transmitter

 To find out Co-channel interference

 To determine adjacent channel interference

 To determine spurious radiations from other

electronic devices causing interference
 Meaning of Field strength
It means measurement of electric field strength in
dB uV/m or Volt/ meter
Electric field is given by

Where E= rms value of electric field in Volt/meter

P= Power density
120π = Impedance of free space
 Meaning of Field strength
Power density

P = PT 4π R2

where PT = Total power transmitted ( Watts)

R= distance of measurement
PT = gain of antenna (Gt) *Transmitter output power (Pt)
 Field strength

For half wave dipole, gain of antenna = 1.64

E= 7 (Sq root of Pt) R

E (bBuV/m)= 106.9+10 log Pt- 20 log R

This relationship applies to free space condition

and does not take in to account loses
 Frequency Planning for TV Transmitters

Line of Sight Propagation

LOS Range:
LOS= √2a (√h1 + √h2) m
a= earth radious;
h1 and h2 are heights of transmitting and receiving antenna
respectively.
taking a= 6370 kms
LOS= 3.57[√h1 (m)+ √h2(m)] km

6/3/2019
 Frequency Planning for TV Transmitters

Propogation Curves
• Calculation of field strength is very complex process
• It depends on so many statistical parameters such as clutter loss,
terrain effect, atmospheric effects
• Statistical methods are better choice
• ITU-R P.370 provided prediction curves
• Later, replaced by ITU-R P.1546

6/3/2019
 Frequency Planning for TV Transmitters

Atmospheric effect on LOS

•Due to variation of refractive index in the atmosphere, a ray

suffers gradual bending. Hence wave path is curved.
•This increases LOS distance by a factor k:

LOS= 3.57k[√h1 (m)+ √h2(m)] km

6/3/2019
 Frequency Planning for TV Transmitters

Propogation Curves
• Calculation of field strength is very complex process
• It depends on so many statistical parameters such as clutter loss,
terrain effect, atmospheric effects
• Statistical methods are better choice
• ITU-R P.370 provided prediction curves
• Later, replaced by ITU-R P.1546

6/3/2019
 Frequency range 30-300MHz

6/3/2019
 Antenna Factor
It is ratio of the incident electromagnetic
field strength to the voltage V (units: V or µV) at
the input of receiver with 50 Ohm input impedence
E= KV
Where K= Antenna factor

E(dB uV/m)= K (dB/ meter)+ V (uV/m)

Relation between Antenna gain and antenna
factor

K(dB/m)= log f – Gr (dB)– 29.8

f= frequency at which the measurement is being

made (in MHz)
 A calibrated antenna for converting electric filed strength
to voltage.

 A tuned receiver for measuring voltage.

 Spectrum analyzer is a swept tuned receiver which shows

voltage on horizontal axis. Since spectrum analyzer is a
broadband equipment, it can be used to make the
measurement at several frequencies simultaneously.
 A calibrated antenna for converting electric filed strength
to voltage.

 A tuned receiver for measuring voltage.

 Spectrum analyzer is a swept tuned receiver which shows

voltage on horizontal axis. Since spectrum analyzer is a
broadband equipment, it can be used to make the
measurement at several frequencies simultaneously.
Minimum usable field strength for planning a TV
service for 625 line system
Field Strength
Band I 48 dBuV/m
Band III 55 dBuV/m

Band IV 65 dBuV/m

Band V 70 dBuV/m
Boundaries of TV service area in rural district having
low population denisty

Field Strength Field Strength in absence of

any co channel interference

Band I 46 dBuV/m 40 dBuV/m

Band III 49 dBuV/m 43 dBuV/m

 Reflection from Earth surface.

 Overhead power lines.

 Buildings can cause reflection

 Effect of vegetation, rainfall and forest. Radio wave

propagation over multiple path cause crest and null points
at unpredictable locations within and near forested
environments. Rain also cause attenuation.
 Receiving Antenna should be mounted at height of 10 meter
from ground

 A fixed input signal to transmitter is perferaable.

 The measurement should be made at sufficient number of

suitably chosen locations and number of times where
environment is unpredictable type and fringe areas and the
median value should be calculated.

 Sufficiently large number of spot points must be chosen.

Number of observation points should much more in urban
areas as compared to rural areas
 Detector in field strength meter should have small charge
time constant and very large discharge time constant so
that output of the detector correspond to peak
instantaneous voltage of signal.

 Field strength contour should be plotted on terrain map to

find out the coverage area of transmitter