Effects of a spacecraft on the performance of a UHF yagi array antenna

The performance of a
2 \times 2
array of UHF Yagi-Uda antennas mounted adjacent to a DSCS III spacecraft is investigated. RF measurements are made of the antenna peak (nadir) gain, edge-of-earth (EOE) gain, pattern and axial ratio characteristics for various locations of the array with respect to the spacecraft. The measured results are compared with those of an isolated array.