On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:52:00 -0500, "Robert11"
wrote:

Hello,

Have just started reading about, and studying antennas.

Simple question regarding the classic dipole for receiving (although I
imagine it's exactly the same for transmitting):

Hope I can explain my question clearly:

I understand that If the dipole is fed with coax, one leg is tied to the
outer coax shield.

The coax shield does not *have* to be tied to one leg of the dipole, a
balun could be used to connect the unbalanced transmission line to the
approximately balanced load. A balun is a device which accomodates the
transition from balanced to unbalanced or vice versa, without
significantly disturbing either environment.

If the coax shield is directly connected to one leg of the dipole (and
that is often done), the coax doesn't just provide a means for
transferring energy from the feed point to the receiver (using the
outside of the inner conductor and the inside of the outer conductor),
but the outside of the outer conductor is now connected at one end to
the dipole leg, and it and everything connected to it forms part of
the receiving antenna itself.

The ins and outs of it!

Owen
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