View source for Cage aerial

{{Short description|Type of radio antenna}}
[[Image:Amateur T cage antenna 2BML 1922.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Historic Radio Engineers Club station, [[Riverhead, New York]], in 1922; a cage T-antenna 60&nbsp;ft high by 90&nbsp;ft long. The conductor is made of a "cage" of 6&nbsp;wires held apart by wooden spreaders; this increased capacitance and decreased [[electrical resistance|ohmic resistance]]. This antenna achieved transatlantic contacts on 1.5&nbsp;MHz, at a power of 440&nbsp;W.]]

A '''cage antenna''' ([[British English|British]] '''cage aerial''') is a [[radio antenna]] where a conventional design has been augmented by replacing a single long conductor with several parallel wires, connected at their ends, and held in position by ring spacers or support struts mounted on a central mast (if any). The "cage" is either mounted around a central mast (either conducting or non-conducting) or suspended from overhead wires.

==Examples ==
A few examples of areal made of cage sections are: 
[[File:Reusenantenne-Wertachtal-Bild2.jpg|left|thumb|Shortwave quadrant antenna made of two horizontal cage sections.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rundfunksender in Bayern |lang=de |trans-title=Radio station [antenna] in Bavaria |website=wabweb.net |url=http://www.wabweb.net/radio/sender/wertachtal.htm |access-date=2024-11-09 }}</ref>]]
; Quadrant antenna : A quadrant antenna is an omnidirectional shortwave transmitting antenna shaped like a [[rhombus]] or lozenge, made from two identical, opposing L-shaped cage dipoles {{nobr|("L⅂")}} lying in the same horizontal plane, aligned with their 'elbows' pointing in opposite directions {{nobr|("{{big|‹}}{{big|›}}")}}
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; Curtain antenna : A [[curtain array]] antenna is a directional shortwave transmitting antenna made of several parallel-aligned dipoles, each made of cage sections.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kurzwellensender Moosbrunn bei Wien |lang=de |trans-title=Moosbrunn shortwave transmitting [antenna] near Vienna  |website=www.wabweb.net |url=http://www.wabweb.net/radio/frames/moosbrunnf.htm |access-date=2024-11-09}}</ref>

==History==
In 1921, an [[amateur radio operator]] tried to win a $500.00 prize with his cage aerial.<ref>{{Citation |last=Gernsback |first=Hugo |title=Results of the $500.00 Prize Contest: Who Will Save the Radio Amateur? (1923) |date=2016 |work=The Perversity of Things |pages=256–268 |editor-last=Wythoff |editor-first=Grant |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt1jktpxr.48 |access-date=2024-11-09 |series=Hugo Gernsback on Media, Tinkering, and Scientifiction |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |doi=10.5749/j.ctt1jktpxr.48 |jstor=10.5749/j.ctt1jktpxr.48 |isbn=978-1-5179-0085-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== See also ==

* [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241149089_Design_and_Analysis_of_Cross_Cage_Dipole_Antenna (PDF) Design and Analysis of Cross Cage Dipole Antenna]
{{Antenna Types}}

[[Category:Radio frequency antenna types]]
[[Category:Antennas (radio)]]