Yuri wrote,

" I and "my camp" say that we are seeing somewhere 40 to 60 % less
current at
the top of the coil, than at the bottom, in other words, significant or
noticeable drop.
W8JI and "his camp" are claiming it can't be so, current through the
coil
has to be the same or almost the same, with no significant drop across
the
loading coil. "

I'm not sure who all you put in W8JI's "camp," but I'm absolutely sure
that I've read recent postings by W8JI himself that affirm that there
can be significant difference in current between the ends of the
loading coil. What I DO see him posting is that if the difference is
large, the antenna design is almost certainly suboptimal.

If you want to understand how a loading coil with zero capacitance to
the outside world can actually work, I suggest you read the Joseph
Boyer article from "Ham Radio" magazine some 28 years ago. Ian White
gave a more complete reference to that article in one of his postings
in the interminable thread. I'm always happy to ship out a copy of
that article for the cost of postage.

Cheers,
Tom