Beam squint in a linearly polarised offset reflector antenna

A beam squint has been found to occur in the field radiated by an offset paraboloid antenna illuminated by a feed with linear polarisation in the plane of offset. The squint, whose existence has been confirmed by computed and measured radiation patterns, occurs in the offset plane, and is typically 0.03 of a beamwidth for a reflector of 6-wavelengths diameter. An assessment is given of the likely effect of the squint on the performance of an offset reflector radiating a circularly polarised field