On Friday, October 10, 2014 3:06:36 PM UTC-5, Lostgallifreyan wrote:
"J.B. Wood" wrote in

:



The E and H far-field formulas I previously provided give magnitude and

direction of these vectors using spherical coordinates (r, theta, phi)

relative to a Cartesian system. If you don't understand coordinate

systems and vectors then I can see why you might be confused.





I'll admit to that. All I knew was that this loop I saw was a helix,

pointed so the axis of the 'cylinder' would point to the stantion wanted, and

was laid with an open coil on a frame rather than wound like wire on a pully

or other former that would bunch the windings as close as possible. I

imagined that if ether form were pointed not-so-accurately at the right spot,

the helical form might 'blur' the response, weakening it, allowing it to be

more selective of something it WAS accurately pointed at. Other than this, I

don't know why it would be built with this extra spacing per turn, because it

limits easy portability. I assume there is a good reason, I just don't know

it..

I don't think it's really too critical. Solenoid or pancake wound, I
doubt you would notice enough difference to worry about.
Also the wire spacing is not very critical either. Some I've built
with insulated wire, I had the wire tightly wound with no real
spacing.
The insulation adds some spacing, and the wires can't short against
each other due to it.
If I use uninsulated wire, I'll usually have a bit of spacing to
make sure the wires won't touch due to movement, etc. I wind those
pretty taut, so it's not a problem as long as you have a slight space
between the wires even with the bigger loops.
Anyway, do it whatever way you want.. There won't be enough difference
to worry about as long as it's tuned.