This article by columnist Ian Austin appeared in yesterday's (June 10)
New York Times. I sent Mr. Vincent an email concerning some past posts
regarding antenna designs and tests.


_
it was love that ultimately led Rob Vincent to develop what he says is a
way to make antennas significantly smaller but still efficient.
"About 1995 I had met a sweetheart and we fell in love," Mr. Vincent,
now 60, recalled. "I went to live with her, but the only problem was
that she lived on this postage stamp of a yard in a congested
neighborhood."
The real estate owned by Carolyn Hardie, the woman Mr. Vincent later
married, was an issue because his amateur radio interests had turned
toward frequencies in the 160-meter band. That band is close to
broadcast AM radio. And, like an AM station, operating on it requires a
tall antenna - in Mr. Vincent's case, one that is 140 feet high.
Aesthetic and zoning questions aside, the 50-by-100 foot lot was not big
enough to accommodate the guy wires needed to stabilize a tower that
high.
So Mr. Vincent, a technician with the University of Rhode Island's
physics department, began thinking about ways to make antennas smaller.
The end result is a system that he claims can produce antennas that are
one-third to one-ninth as high as normally required. He has spoken to
other ham operators in over 80 countries on the 160-meter band through
his relatively new, self-supported backyard tower, which is one-third of
the conventional minimum size.
Mr. Vincent said his improvements were not just applicable to ham radio
towers. They could be used to either further shrink the tiny antennas in
cellphones, he said, or boost their efficiency.
Small yet efficient antennas have long been a goal for radio
researchers, said R. Dean Straw, the senior assistant technical editor
for the American Radio Relay League, an association of amateur
operators. "The holy grail is an antenna the size of a grain of salt
that produces big signals," he said.
Generally the size of antennas increases with the wavelength of the
frequencies they are transmitting or receiving. While there are several
formulas for determining optimum height, the height of most antennas is
one-quarter to one-half the wavelength. At 140 feet, for instance, Mr.
Vincent's ham tower would have been slightly higher than one-quarter of
the wavelength of 160 meters, which is equal to 525 feet.
Smaller antennas can be used, but with a trade-off. "When you get below
a quarter-wavelength, efficiency drops off dramatically," Mr. Vincent
said.
Before arriving at the university in the early 1990's in a
still-unfulfilled quest to complete his undergraduate degree, Mr.
Vincent spent about 30 years in radio-related engineering jobs, mostly
with a radar division of Raytheon. But his tinkering with antennas dates
back to when he obtained his first amateur radio license at the age of
14.
"I've always had a natural understanding of radio - maybe it's from a
prior life," Mr. Vincent said. "But in those early days I could not
fathom how an antenna worked."
The relationship between antenna height and efficiency was so well
established that he initially kept his antenna-shrinking work a secret.
Mr. Vincent also acknowledged that he had relatively little idea of what
might work when he began the project.
"When I started out to do this it was 10 percent theory and 90 percent
black magic," he said. After reviewing much of the literature, Mr.
Vincent started designing antennas with special simulation software on a
personal computer.
From the most promising of those virtual designs, he ran tests using
antennas that were about 18 inches high and fashioned from
copper-covered Plexiglas rods. One model seemed particularly successful
until it lost its signal during a high-powered broadcast test. When Mr.
Vincent went outside, he found only a lump of molten metal and plastic.
Gradually, he said, potential areas of improvement became apparent. He
began confiding in some friends from the ham radio world and faculty
members in the physics department. One friend allowed Mr. Vincent to
build a 46-foot-high experimental antenna at his country home, which
includes a salt marsh.
Sal****er is an antenna builder's dream. By providing a highly
conductive base for the antenna, the water improves reception.
The big prototype improved upon conventional designs in many ways. But
one crucial one involved the placement of devices known as load coils
along its length. Load coils are commonly used in cellphone antennas to
alter their current patterns.
Conventional broadcast antennas, Mr. Vincent said, generally have a lot
of current at the bottom and very little if any at the top. With his
design, current is more evenly distributed.
To avoid suggestions that sal****er, not his design, was the magic,
another 46-foot prototype followed, built on rock. It offered 80 to 100
percent of the efficiency of an antenna three times its size.
About three years ago, the University of Rhode Island became interested
enough in Mr. Vincent's work that it gave him office space. After a
review by engineering and physics professors, it began the process of
patenting and selling the technology. Mr. Vincent has turned over all
his rights to the university.
"We've seen test data from Rob Vincent and it sure is attractive," said
Quentin Turtle, the director of industry research and technology
transfer for the university.
Mr. Straw of the radio relay league said he was impressed with Mr.
Vincent's work ethic. "But I remain somewhat skeptical,'' he said. "I'd
like to see some validated field test measurements."
Mr. Vincent said he was aware that would-be buyers of his technology
would demand better test results, although measuring the efficiency of
antennas is difficult. But given the scrutiny his project has received
to date, he said he was confident that his antennas would pass muster.
"I'm part of the technical staff to a whole bunch of Ph.D's," he said.
"You can't fool these people."