Antennas and Transmission Lines

The transmitter that generates the RF¹⁾ power to drive the antenna is usually located at some distance from the antenna terminals. The connecting link between the two is the RF transmission line. Its purpose is to carry RF power from one place to another, and to do this as efficiently as possible. From the receiver side, the antenna is responsible for picking up any radio signals in the air and passing them to the receiver with the minimum amount of distortion, so that the radio has its best chance to decode the signal. For these reasons, the RF cable has a very important role in radio systems: it must maintain the integrity of the signals in both directions.

There are two main categories of transmission lines: cables and waveguides. Both types work well for efficiently carrying RF power at 2.4GHz.

1	Radio Frequency. See chapter two for discussion of electromagnetic waves.