wrote in message
...
On Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 5:27:41 AM UTC-5, gareth wrote:
What is the nature of free space such that it requires antennae to be at
least 1/4 wave
before accepting radiation efficiently?

Ding, ding, ding. Totally false statement.
Don't pass go, don't collect $200.

Convince yourself by calculating the retarded potential from a far field
when
the same field strength comes from a dipole and when it comes from a short
antenna.
You find that there has to be more power fed into the short antenna
(irrespective of
feed impedances and ohmic resistances) to achieve that same field strength.