Does skin effect force the RF to flow up and down
the hills and valleys thus increasing the VF of
the threaded rod?
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73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

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Yes it does.

Skin depth in metals at HF is only a very few thousandths of an inch,
and less. The current has nowhere else to go except up, over, and
down the humps of the screw threads.

But in practice, the RF resistance is not increased very much because
the diameter of a screw is usually very much greater than the diameter
of, say, an antenna wire, and so its resistance is already quite low
before it is threaded.
----
Reg.