Hello, Len

I won't even go into the MARS is amateur radio since you won't find their
signals inside of any amateur band (at least I don't think so, but I am not
very familiar with Military Affiliate Radio Station).

The gentleman in question with the antenna may well have been professional;
my point is that most inventors are doing something they enjoy. Come to
think of it, how many folks are continually involved in something they
*don't* like?

As far as small antennas, we know that magnetic monopoles (loops) are quite
efficient. If very small, the conductor must be quite large as there will
be large circulating currents (and this also puts demands on the capacitor).
Generally, it has been difficult to make a *very* small loop efficient
simply due to IR losses; however, loops can be quite small compared to a
half-wave dipole and still run at 90% efficiency.

What with the crossed-field antenna, e-h antenna, fractal antenna, and more,
I'm interested in finding out what this guy has. What I'd love is a 6 inch
antenna that is 90% efficient with a 1.1 SWR on 160 meters on up. LOL,
wouldn't we all? Of course, even if we had such a beast, we must remember
that where the thing is mounted (height, in terms of wavelength) will likely
affect its' performance considerably. The ground type also comes into play.
Come to think of it, there were some arguements over the published
"efficiency" of the cross-field antennas at one point too.

Of course, this particular newsgroup is not really the place to discuss
antennas; I'd just like something beyond the code vs no code arguements and
the flame wars.

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA



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