Sal M. Onella wrote:
"NM5K" wrote in message ...
Art Unwin wrote:

if it was possible they would
already have done it.
And he is right. They have only had about 100 years to work
on it.

Yes. In the 1950's the USAF studied small antennas for the "new" Boeing
707's that they were buying as C-135/KC-135. I remember reading about it in
one of the magazines of the time. They apparently were not entirely happy
with the antenna that projected forward from the top of the stabilizer.
They continued to employ a belly-mount trailing wire on some aircraft at
least into the 1980's. (Good info hard to find.)

If all the money the Air Force could throw at a problem didn't come up with
some magic, do we have a lot of hope???

Hope for what? Magic? The tradeoffs inherent in electrically small
antennas are well known, and each design requires intelligent
application of that knowledge to come up with an antenna that's
acceptable in size, form factor, and performance for that particular
use. Many, many antennas now being designed and ones in common use are
electrically small -- the ones in your car's remote control key fob,
your Bluetooth USB dongle or cell phone earpiece, and embedded in RFID
tags are just a very few examples. With the increasing use of wireless
devices, the need for electrically small antennas has grown rapidly, and
there are a number of good texts devoted to that specific topic. These
texts contain a good treatment of the tradeoffs involved and useful
ideas for designs using currently available technology and materials,
but no new fundamental theory.

Advancements in the art will continue to come with intelligent and
clever application of established theory by people who understand the
theory and how to apply it, not from tinkerers who lack this knowledge
and conjure their miracles by vague hand-waving and bad measurement.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL