DOUGLAS SNOWDEN wrote:
If you were to use aluminum for the verticals rather than wire, what
would the shortening factor be?


If it is end-fed, as Hasan recommends[*] then the exact height of the
vertical parts wouldn't matter much.

The main difference would be in the high-angle radiation from the
horizontal part. That radiation is roughly canceled, but in a
half-square the cancellation is never complete... which means any
differences would be very hard to hear.

But be aware that the voltage at the bottom of the far end is very high
indeed. This is no place to use a metal ground post and a thin sleeve of
plastic pipe! I've drilled holes through thick PVC support blocks by
voltage-feeding a half-wave vertical, and this open end is worse.


--
73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek