Paul wrote -
Well you're doin' a great job, Reg. Keep it up! What's the next
program you've got in mind to write? And which language to you
generally use for this purpose?

================================

Paul, what makes you think I do a great job? Nobody ever tells me. It's not
just idle curiosity. I'm not fishing. Feedback needed.

I always have several programs on the go at any point in time. Some have
lasted, on and off, for years. But little to do with complexity. More to
do with reliability and freedom from bugs.

I have an unfinished program which calculates the L and C values of a
parallel tuned circuit. It can be connected in an antenna wire to resonate
it to two frequencies. It is not a trap. The circuit's resonant frequency
doesn't matter very much. But on the low side of resonance it behaves as an
inductive loading coil and on the high side it behaves as a capacitance
load. The antenna becomes resonant at one frequency below the wire's natural
frequency, and at another frequency above the wire's natural frequency.

Unlike use of a trap, at both frequencies the wire radiates over the whole
of its length. Furthermore, at its lower resonant frequency, the wire is
shorter than a 1/4-wavelength.

I do not claim to have invented the arrangement. It has been previously
discussed on a newsgroup. But I doubt if the L and C values have been
explicitly calculated before.

I hesitate at making the program available to all and sundry for ever more,
because I am unable to erect an actual antenna to prove the calculations
correct. Although I am reasonably confident they are correct.

I use Pascal source code. Its an old language and you can't teach an old dog
new tricks. But programming languages have settled down. There's little
further room for improvement. I like Pascal because it is disciplined and
structured. There's no such thing as a "Go-to" command as with BASIC. The
compiler won't allow you to make logical mistakes. The quality of a program,
the finished working product, doesn't have much to do with the language
used. Chinese is just as good as English.
----
Reg, G4FGQ