Richard Harrison wrote:
Wim, PA3DJS wrote:
"The zig/zag pieces do, however, not contribute to the far field
radiation."

My take is slightly different. The complete antenna can be considered as
made up of infinitely small pieces, each of which contributes to a
wector sum at a distant point in the far field depending on the current
in the tiny segment and its position.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI

And that's exactly how antenna modeling programs calculate the field --
except that the antenna is broken into a finite number of pieces rather
than an infinite number. As long as the current doesn't change much over
the length of one piece (or "segment" as called in antenna modeling),
the result is very accurate.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL