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Old October 27th 14, 08:23 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
gareth gareth is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,382
Default Reductio ad absurdum - short antennae do not radiate well

Consider 100W at 3.6MHz propagating along some 50 ohm
coax, which terminates suddenly but with 1/4 inch of the central
conductor protruding.

Now there's no difficulty in feeding all that power into that
1/4 inch because it is so short compared to a wavelength
that there is a uniformity of voltage and current along it,
and it will be essentially the same as that existing in the last
gnat's cock of the coax.

Attach a hi-impedance scope probe to the end of that
1/4 inch and all the power being delivered through the
coax will be detectable right at the tip of that 1/4 inch.

Now, will that 1/4 inch antenna radiate all the power that
is being successfully fed to it at 3.6MHz, or will the
configuration behave merely as an open-circuit with all
the power being reflected back down the coax?

A number of contributors to this NG claim that the 1/4 inch
stub antenna will radiate the full 100W at 3.6MHz, but
I fear that they are sadly mistaken and that their associated
infantile outbursts are because they are in denial either
about their error, or cannot face up to a challenge to
their seemingly-religious faith as to what is happening.