Can I mount an omni antenna on the side of a tower?
Ideally, an omni antenna should be placed on the tip of a mast above a tower. This will give a nice circular radiation pattern. If your tower is 300 feet high and you wish to place the omni at the 100 foot level, you will have to attach the omni to a stand-off bracket at some distance away from the tower leg. With a spacing of 6″ or even 12″, you will have many lobes and nulls created by the reflections from the tower. Also with close spacing, there is a greater chance that these reflections will produce an upwards or downwards beam tilt. The depth of these nulls can be reduced by a greater spacing, such as 5 feet. Make sure that your tower can handle the extra wind load of these stand-off brackets, and that the omni antenna is parallel to the tower legs at all times.
