Dave wrote:
finally someone said something that makes sense in this thread... but no one
has addressed my original question directly... but i guess that is par for
the course in here when this group gets wound up, everyone goes off on their
own little tangent and starts attacking each other.

I tried to, but I see it did no good at all.

I have a Force 12 80 and 40 meter linear loaded Yagi.

The Q of the loading sections are terrible. They are thin aluminum wire
of some sort of alloy that makes them hard.

For the typical reactances produced by that loading system Q (reactance
over ESR) is well in the sub-100 range.

That's why you can take even a fairly poor loading coil, replace the
linear loading, and have the same perfromance. Or you can make a good
coil, like airdux or BW stock with number 12-14 wire, and make the
antenna work better (IF you can keep it from falling apart in the
wind).

The results of linear loading depends on where the linear loading is
installed and how it is constructed, but the general rule is if you
take the very same size and material conductors and wind a coil it will
work better.

Now I suppose we can talk about UHF antennas, 1/2 inch copper tubing
stubs, Cecil's imaginary reflected waves, quote Harrison's book
collection.....but that's how the Force 12 linear loaded 80 and 40
meter antennas I have work.

That's why they are laying in a pile with waddled out holes near the
rivets and all that lossy linear loading wire wrapped up in a ball,
waiting the be rebuilt into good antennas.

73 Tom