ANTENNA CLEARANCE ANGLE - EXPLANATION

Height
above
Terrace or
Structure
to bottom
of Antenna

4 degrees ( Vertical Beam width)

= min
68 degrees
18 degrees (Mechanical and
Electrical Down Tilt)

Distance

In the drawing above it can be seen that an angle of a minimum 68 degrees is required to give clearance to the propagation of the
antenna. This is calculated from the vertical propagation of the centre of the main lobe less Vertical Beam width
The calculation does includes the 6 degrees electrical down tilt built into the antenna but in practice it would be unreasonable to
expect an antenna is Down tilted to 18 degrees (6 electrical and 12 mechanical) as this is an extremely rare case except in very
high sites and dense area with sites in very close proximity. However 6 degrees electrical and 6 degrees mechanical is to be
expected in many sites
Shadowing as it is called, occurs when the antennas do not have the required clearance.
The solution to avoid the problem of shadowing is to position the antennas near to the edge of the roof or structure.
The clearance of a minimum 68 degrees may not be required at the time the site is initially put On-air but is necessary for future
optimisation of the network.