the length itself relative to the driven element length is not sufficient to
apply any particular label to an element of a parasitic antenna. it should
be noted that the terms 'director' and 'reflector' are not necessarily
scientific terms, they are more of a vague word description of how an
element apparently works based on the observation of the antenna pattern.
the real effect of each element of an antenna must be described by
describing the current magnitudes and phases and the physical location of
each element. a good example of this is a 2 element parasitic array, at one
frequency the parasitic element may be a 'director' and at another
frequency it could be described as a 'reflector'... without changing the
length of either the driven or parasitic element.

" wrote in message
news:u85ge.72716$c24.9252@attbi_s72...
When modelling close spaced element antenma
assemblies it is possible that some elements are
physically longer than the "driven" element.
Is the length of a element sufficient enough to
declare that element a " reflector" or are there
other caveates involved.( i.e. phase)
As background to this question I would point
out that that it is possible to have two closed
spaced (positioned) elements one of which is
shorter and one of which is longer than
the "driven " element, this combination being
placed either forward or to the rear of the
"driven " element.
Regards
Art