"Ken" wrote in message
...
I have seen commercial wire antennas where the insulated wire is tied
to the center insulator with a clinch knot having three turns and then
the end of the wire (protruding from the knot) is stripped and
connected to the feedline.

Does forcing the RF current though a knot at the feedpoint have a
significant affect on propagation?

it has absolutely NO effect on propagation. it might have a tiny effect on
the feedpoint impedance at uhf, but then again you most likely won't use an
antenna like that at those frequencies. i have always thought that buying
wire antennas was the worst possible thing to do, they are expensive
relative to the material that goes into them, they are no better than
something you can build from stuff found around the house, and they are full
of excuses... they are too long for your property: if you built from
scratch you would cut it off and use it anyway, if you buy it you don't want
to cut it. it doesn't present a good swr: if you build it you trim and
adjust until it works or just put a tuner on it and forget it, if you bought
it then the problem must be the balun or a trap so send in to get a
replacement instead of getting on the air. etc, etc, etc.