Impedance and radiation pattern of antennas above flat discs

Antenna imaging by a perfectly conducting finite flat disc is investigated analytically and numerically as a function of the radius of the disc. A conical monopole of variable length is considered above the screen and the normalized terminal admittance of the antenna is plotted versus the disc radius. The radiation pattern is also plotted and the current distribution above and below the screen is evaluated. The results provide a quantitative measure of the effectiveness of finite screens in imaging antennas and bring to light the persistent distortion of the pattern caused by the finite size of the screen in contrast to the behavior of the impedance.