The plot below shows the gain on the complex plane as a blue cross. As the antenna moves through the welter of scattered signals, the gain changes with a trajectory shown as a red trail. Click on the plot to start the action.
You should be noting a few points: * The quasi-periodicity shows up as a looping, or Lissajous-like, behaviour. * Most of the time, the amplitude is reasonably good, but sometimes the gain speeds right past the origin, which corrsponds to a deep fade. * When the gain goes past the origin, the phase changes very, very quickly. In fact, the closer it gets to the origin, the faster the phase changes. The receiver then has double trouble, with a phase hit just at the point of poorest SNR. This means big problems for phase locked loops and for detection methods that rely on phase or its derivative, such as a discriminator circuit.
You should be noting a few points:
* The quasi-periodicity shows up as a looping, or Lissajous-like, behaviour.
* Most of the time, the amplitude is reasonably good, but sometimes the gain speeds right past the origin, which corrsponds to a deep fade.
* When the gain goes past the origin, the phase changes very, very quickly. In fact, the closer it gets to the origin, the faster the phase changes. The receiver then has double trouble, with a phase hit just at the point of poorest SNR. This means big problems for phase locked loops and for detection methods that rely on phase or its derivative, such as a discriminator circuit.