Since it appears that the benefit of the cage is bandwidth I ran a few
scenario's with EZNEC and a 40 Meter vertical that is 33 feet tall.
note that I did not correct for resonance shifting and that I am
assuming that whatever the mesh is, it will not beat a solid.

http://www.dixienc.us/28FtVert/BandwithVsDia.htm

Given that most of us agree that trying to better a 2:1 SWR is into
diminishing returns I believe this illustrates the cage's loss of
popularity.

Defiantly an appealing sight though...

de W8CCW John


On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:06:06 -0700, Joe Bloe
wrote:

Hello,
My attention has been caught by the abilities of a "Fat Conductor"
for an antenna. I understand that this has been achieved by using
what is (little known about) a Caged Di-Pole. I have seen them before
in older photographs, mostly draped over an old steamship, stem to
stern.

The Caged Di-Pole is supposed to be very well suited for weak signal
reception. I know that a Yagi can do very well in this regard, but
its the art of it that I'm interested in, and as far as I can see,
it's almost an lost aspect of HAM radio nowadays.

Does anybody remember these things?

73's
Rob
John Ferrell W8CCW