Thanks Roy, that's a great summary.

If I started from the vantage point of wanting to design a flat panel-style
(patch-like) antenna for 2m (and let's assume narrow band is fine for the
moment), are there any obvious starting points besides a big patch that's
being operated well below resonance (let's assume I want my panel to be no
bigger than 6"x6")? Just meandered lines are probably as good (and can be
readily simulated in NEC :-) )? (I've read Randy Bancroft's book on patch
antennas and have a reasonably good feel for how they operate... although he
makes it clear there's often plenty of empirical design involved too,
particularly when you want to get fancy and achieve circular polarization by
exciting multiple modes at once.)

But you'll probably be able to make some QSOs with it and, with the help of
some mystical mumbling about equilibrium, photons, critical coupling, and
reflected power waves, you'd surely be able to collect a gaggle of true
believers.

It's a shame than Nathan Cohen has already largely cornered the market on
overselling the potential of fractal antennas. :-)

---Joel