Michael Coslo wrote:

But if the major radiation is from the feedline, that will mean the
antenna won't work as it is supposed to.

Since this is voodoo antennaland stuff, the antenna needs to be tested
as Art would suggest, not as we might like. And since most of the chaps
here are a lot smarter than me, I suspect everyone knows that his
antenna just might need that feedline radiation in order to work
"properly".

Now after the initial tests in whatever manner Art dictates, *then* the
feedline should be isolated to determine where the major radiation is
coming from.

At that point, your source at the antenna method is the ticket. That
would remove feedline effects altogether.
. . .

Fair enough. But only the naive will be impressed by an antenna system
that has to be electrically large (including the feedline) in order to
be efficient, unless it also has some property that's significantly
different than the radiating feedline alone. For example, it would be
interesting if it's highly directional when fed with a vertical
feedline, but not if it just looks like another vertical.

If the feedline is radiating, you can expect the antenna performance to
be quite sensitive to the conductive path from the transmitter to the
Earth, as well as the feedline length and orientation. Consequently,
different people will likely get considerably different results, even
with identical antennas and feedlines. So the entire path from the
transmitter to the Earth will have to be specified and carefully
duplicated in order to get meaningful and repeatable results if the
feedline is a critical part of the system.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL