Telecommunications antenna

An antenna system comprising:

• a plurality of antenna units for duplex transmission and reception of signals;
• the antenna units each further comprised of at least one substantially flat active side having a plurality of antennas mounted thereon to provide for transmission or reception of radio communication signals in a desired coverage pattern;
• a primary splitter connected to the plurality of antenna units for splitting a signal to be transmitted between the antenna units, each of said antenna units connected to the primary splitter further comprising a secondary splitter, the secondary splitter connected to a first group of the plurality of antennas and to the primary splitter for further splitting energy of radio signals to be transmitted;
• a primary combiner connected to the plurality of antenna units for combining radio signals received therefrom, each of the plurality of antenna units connected to the primary combiner further comprising a secondary combiner, the secondary combiner being connected to a second group of the plurality of antennas and to the primary combiner for combining energy of radio signals received by the second group of antennas and for feeding the combined received radio signal to said primary combiner;
• wherein members from the first and second groups of the plurality of antennas are further grouped in pairs, and the antenna units further comprising, for each antenna pair, a polarization means connected to the antenna pair with which the polarization means is associated, and the polarization means substantially orthogonally polarizes a signal to be transmitted by the antenna pair with respect to a signal received by the antenna pair;
• a plan view of a surface of the active side of the antenna unit is substantially triangular is shape thereby allowing for a plurality of antenna units to be arranged in a manner so as to conform to a substantially spherical shape;
• and the antenna units operate together to form a single beam which is electronically steerable over a full hemisphere thereby providing a substantially hemispherical coverage pattern.