A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are

mast radiator A mast radiator (or radiating tower) is a radio mast or tower in which the metal structure itself is energized and functions as an antenna. This design, first used widely in the 1930s, is commonly used for transmitting antennas operating at l ...

s in a

phased array In antenna (radio), antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled Antenna array, array of antennas which creates a radio beam, beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point ...

. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

s. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower arrays are used to constitute a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

of a

mediumwave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM broadcasting, AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. Duri ...

longwave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, dati ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

. The number of towers in a tower array can vary. In many arrays all towers have the same height, but there are also arrays of towers of different height. The arrangement can vary. For directional antennas with fixed

radiation pattern In the field of antenna design the term radiation pattern (or antenna pattern or far-field pattern) refers to the ''directional'' (angular) dependence of the strength of the radio waves from the antenna or other source.Constantine A. Balanis: " ...

, linear arrangements are preferred, while for switchable directional patterns (usually for daytime

groundwave Ground wave is a mode of radio propagation that consists of currents traveling through the earth. Ground waves propagate parallel to and adjacent to the surface of the Earth, and are capable of covering long distances by diffracting around the ...

versus nighttime

skywave In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere. Since it is not limited by the curvatur ...

), square arrangements are chosen.

Examples

Tower arrays with guyed masts

* Longwave transmitter Europe 1 * Transmitter Weisskirchen * Beidweiler Longwave Transmitter * Transmitter Wachenbrunn * Transmitter Ismaning (VoA-Station)

Tower arrays with free-standing towers

* Junglinster Longwave Transmitter * Orfordness transmitting station

References

Broadcast engineering Telecommunications equipment Telecommunications infrastructure Communication towers Radio frequency antenna types Antennas (radio) {{Mast-stub

Examples

Tower arrays with guyed masts

Tower arrays with free-standing towers

See also

References