What is a Lollipop Antenna?

Couple of days back, I read a post on Twitter mentioning lollipop supercompromized 160 m antenna. My Google search on Lollipop antenna did not bring me to an HF antenna. Instead it brought me to 5.8 GHz Lollipop antenna used by FPV Drone Racers! FPV means First Person View, meaning that the drone pilots only see what the drone sees. A camera mounted on the nose of the drone streams live video on 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz or even 1.3 GHz for distant transmission. It is viewed by the pilot on FPV goggles. Although analog video was being used earlier, digital video systems with better image quality is now becoming popular.

High gain 5.8 GHz Lollipop antennas are used to provide good connectivity between the drone and the pilot. They are omnidirectional and have circular polarization, like the antennas used by amateur radio LEO satellite operators. This reduces the chances of signal loss during fast drone maneurvers. It has an SMA male plug connector and the antenna has a length of only about 6 cm.

It is similar to what happens in low earth orbit satellites, which tumble and spin in orbit so that the polarization of signal received by the amateur radio operator varies. A linearly polarized antenna with horizontal or vertical polarization may not be able to continuously receive the signals from the LEO amateur radio satellites. That is why circularly polarized antennas like cross Yagi are better for LEO satellite operations, though it is possible to work with linear polarization also, to a lesser extent.

In case I hear more about the Lollipop antenna for 160 m, I shall post an update as that is what I am more interested in. Curently 160 m band will not be very good as we are moving towards the maximum of Solar Cycle 25. At present I am enjoying good DX on 28 MHz because of that. Later, when sunspot activity comes down beyond the maxima of Solar Cycle 25, higher bands will go down and I will have to plan for 80 m and 160 m. In that situation, a supercompromised 160 m antenna looks attractive for me as I am struggling to host even a 40 m inverted V due to space constraints.