Wes Stewart wrote:
for the extremely short antennas that were (are) the subject of the
"shootout" business, the current actually increases between the ends
of the inductor.

Heh, heh, the helix feature in EZNEC shows the same thing. So here's
a question for all the "constant current" gurus. How can the current
in the middle of the loading coil be a greater magnitude than the
current at either end?

Hint: it happens all the time in distributed networks. I can design
an antenna with a loading coil that has one amp at one end and zero
amps at the other end. The forward current and reflected current
are simply 180 degrees out of phase at the end where the net current
is zero and thus a current node (minimum) is developed.

A naive person would say one amp is flowing into one end and zero
amps is flowing out the other end. But standing wave current doesn't
flow. This is W8JI's basic mistake in his explanation on his web page.
The standing wave current is an artifact caused by the superposition
of two traveling waves, traveling in opposite directions at the speed
of light. For a 1/4WL antenna, there is a standing wave current antinode
at the feedpoint and a standing wave current node at the tip of the antenna.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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