"Telamon" wrote in message
...


At RF frequencies the coils are shorted electrically because there is a
lot of capacitance between them. It won't work much better than a piece
of metal the same size. Coils can be useful as part of an antenna if the
turns are farther apart but as an element to pick up RF energy from the
air medium it will work poorly.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

I have a little trouble with this statement.

If there is so much capacitance between turns that you have an effective
short, then things like IF transformers and AM loopstick antennas can't
possibly work. A loading coil at the base of a whip antenna is no more
useful than a chunk of metal? It just doesn't make sense.

Coils are added to antennas to increase their effective length. If they just
acted like a solid piece of metal they couldn't do that.

craigm