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<p>Hello Warin,</p>
<p>I'm afraid we're opening a can of worms here, but you're right:
something needs to be fixed, and here below I'm trying to
contribute with some considerations...</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>The Wiki [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dantenna">1</a>]
gives a very good definition of what an antenna is: an "<i>interface
between radio waves and electrical signals in a transmission
line</i>". <br>
</p>
<p>That interface can work in either or both directions:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>receiving </b>(<i>RX, radio waves to electrical signal</i>),
like the TV antenna on the roof of an house or a
radio-telescope.</li>
<li><b>transmitting </b>(<i>TX, electrical signal to radio waves</i>),
like the broadcasting antenna of a commercial TV or the
transmitting antenna of a VOR radio direction navigation system.<br>
</li>
<li><b>receiving/transmitting</b> (RX/TX, <i>both directions</i>),
like those on the tower of a mobile telephone cell or a radar.<br>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Not all antennas are <b>communication antennas</b>:
communication antennas are for conveying information ("meaning")
from one party to another (<i>and I would add "in a bidirectional
way" or we should call it a "<b>broadcasting antenna</b>", but
I'm not totally sure about this latter specification</i>). Some
other kind of non-communication antenna: the radio-telescope, the
VOR, the radar.<br>
</p>
<p>For the above I think an <b>antenna:usage=*</b> tag could be a
correct tag, with values like: communication, broadcasting,
radio-telescope, navigation, radar, measurement, ham_radio (<i>there
is not such a thing as an "ham radio" antenna type, per se: hams
make uses of a lot of different antenna types</i>).<br>
</p>
<p>As for the "type" of antennas, <b>there are </b><b>a lot</b>:
monopole, dipole, mast radiator, whip, Yagi, Log-periodic, random
wire, loop, quad, rhombic, helical, beverage, ground plane,
collinear, traveling wave, curtain, horn, dish, etc., etc. <br>
</p>
Furthermore there are some inaccuracies in the above (<i>a "dish"
antenna is actually </i><i>a system</i><i> built from two
components: a reflector, the dish, and the true antenna located in
the focus of the dish reflector</i>) and possible complications (<i>you
can have an array of antennas, like the array of four helical
antennas pictured in the wiki page</i>).
<p>I'm really unsure if it is worth to specify antenna types.
Beside, I think most mappers will be unable to correctly identify
antenna types.<br>
</p>
<p>A radom<u><b>e</b></u> <b>is not an antenna</b>, but the
weatherproof enclosure that protect an antenna.<br>
</p>
<p>In the wiki there is a lot of talking (<i>and some proposed tags</i>)
about "transponders", but the term is used in an absolutely
inaccurate and wrong meaning: a transponder is "<i>is a device
that, upon receiving a signal, emits </i><u><i>a different
signal in response</i></u>" [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder">2</a>]. What in
the wiki is called a transponder can probably be more accurately
described as a "repeater" [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeater">3</a>]. Unhappily
man_made=communications_transponder is already in use for
absolutely wrong features, as in [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2199511457#map=19/44.98542/9.01678">4</a>]
where it it is used to tag a cell tower.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Enough, for now, but of course I'm open to the discussion and I'm
ready to contribute for what I can (<i>I'm not an expert in the
field but</i> <i>I am a former radio amateur and a former
telephone company's CTO</i>).</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>Sergio<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>[1] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dantenna">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dantenna</a><br>
[2] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder</a><br>
[3] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeater">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeater</a><br>
[4]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2199511457#map=19/44.98542/9.01678">https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2199511457#map=19/44.98542/9.01678</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2018-11-24 02:47, Warin wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:7e2d2d60-144f-9e2e-376c-0aef86c2760b@gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<p><tt>Hi,</tt></p>
<p><tt>I was looking at the wiki for antennas <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dantenna"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dantenna</a></tt></p>
<p><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>I made some additions to the definition and added some
photos etc. <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>It is still rather sparse. I'd like to be able to further
define what the antenna is.</tt></p>
<p><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>Unfortunately on the German wiki there is the use of
antenna:type .. with a confusing set of values. <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt> (eg communication, special, </tt><tt dir="ltr"
class="mw-content-ltr"
style="background:#EEF;font-size:1em;line-height:1.6">parabolic_satellit,
</tt><tt><tt dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"
style="background:#EEF;font-size:1em;line-height:1.6">parabolic_satellit_uplink</tt>,
radar) <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>These appear to be the use of the antenna. <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>Perhaps this could be
antenna:use=radio/TV/radar/wifi/cell_phone</tt></p>
<p><tt>I don't think 'communication' is a good tag - any antenna
performs the function of communication. <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>Similar for satellite (note last 'e' for British English),
that might be all you can tell from the configuration and
direction of the antenna but does not define its use. <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>Then the 'type' of antenna .. better described as
antenna:configuration ?</tt></p>
<p><tt>Values could be monopole, dipole, yagi, dish ... yes dish
will have sub tags for the feed system etc. <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>Broad thoughts? <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>Not after detail at this stage but antenna:type to others
such as;</tt></p>
<p><tt> antenna:use? <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>antenna:configuration? <br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt>antenna:mode=tx/rx/2way for the direction of communication?
<br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
Tagging mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Tagging@openstreetmap.org">Tagging@openstreetmap.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
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