[Antennas] "Random wire"

[wb8jkr@juno.com]

  Thanks Wes.  There was no way I was going to comment
on the posted comments knowing it would go nowhere. But
I'm glad to see that you didn't let it go.
 While I certainly agree there has been a great dumbing
down in ham radio (and most other things as well) that
is no excuse for not learning more even if its not required.
 The term "random wire" is as meaningless without context
as the term "longwire" is. And a "dipole" simply means two poles.


73,  Mark  WB8JKR


On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 15:04:54 "Wes (N7WS) and Linda"
<wesandlinda@triconet.org> writes:
> Folks, 
> 
> I had a carefully crafted reply ready to send when this @#$%&* 
> "super
> stable" Windows XP gave me the blue screen of death. I will be 
> briefer this
> time.
> 
> To all of my quick to jump to conclusions critics, let me clarify: 
> 
> I was first licensed in 1958.  I took my Amateur Extra exam in front 
> of the
> FCC Radio Inspector and passed a 20 wpm sending and receiving CW 
> test. 
> 
> I was employed for 33+ years in the aerospace business, primarily as 
> an
> rf/microwave design engineer.  Some of my duties included measuring
> antennas both in indoor anechoic test chambers and outdoor open-air 
> ranges.
> 
> I have personally designed and built dozens of antennas for my 
> station,
> including an array for 2 meter EME and the 20 meter beam pictured at 
> qrz.com
> 
> I repeat: a dipole is a length of wire split into two with a 
> transmission
> line attached at the split. Period.  
> 
> The two sides do not have to be the same length, nor do they 
> together have
> to be resonant.  If an arbitrary length of wire is configured such, 
> then it
> is a *dipole*, it is not a "random wire".  Too many people believe
> otherwise. For those who suggest that I hit the books and read up 
> about
> random wires, my ARRL Antenna Book does not even list "random wire" 
> in its
> index.
> 
> If you bring the end of a single wire into your shack and plug it 
> into the
> radio (or tuner) then it is an end-fed wire.  It may or may not be a 
> random
> length wire.  It might actually be resonant at the operating 
> frequency.
> 
> Obviously, my slightly tongue-in-cheek rhetorical question went over 
> the
> heads of the vast majority of readers.  Sorry I challenged your 
> fuzzy
> thinking and made your panties get all bunched up. I was just trying 
> to get
> you to think more precisely.  Clearly a wasted effort.
> 
> 
> 
> - - - 
> 
> Your moderator for this list is:
> Larry Wilson KE1HZ antennas-owner@mailman.qth.net
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> 


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