[TowerTalk] Stacking Opposite Polarity 2/440 Beams

[Jim Brown]

>I need one to be vertically polarized and the
>other horizontal.

An important quibble about the word "polarity" -- the correct 
meaning is describing the voltage reference for the signal in an 
electrical circuit -- what in the old days, before we knew better, 
we called phase. That is, we change the polarity by reversing the 
wires, or by passing the signal through an inverting gain stage. 
Polarity has two values -- normal and inverted. 

Polarization is what you're talking about -- that is, the physical 
orientation of the EM field produced by an antenna, which for most 
antennas is parallel to the radiating element. 

The third confused quantity is phase, it is measured in degrees, and 
it defines the relationship between two sine waves of the same 
frequency.  

The polarity of waves can be modified by reflection, depending on 
their polarization with respect to the reflecting surface. 

I'm pointing this out, not to be a PITA, but because MANY 
misunderstandings about how things work result from these words 
being incorrectly used. 

73,

Jim Brown K9YC