[Antennas] Fat rugged dipole?

[Ron Youvan]

>> You're not going to change the rules of physics, one half wave is always
>> going to be the same size.

> Well, my physics book says that very fat dipole elements are shorter than very
thin dipole elements to be resonant at the same frequency.  How much 
shorter
depends on how fat is fat.  I am pretty sure you will not get more than 
a 10%
length reduction no matter how fat the element gets.

> The same holds true for verticals.  Maybe you can go up instead of out?

   There you are correct, a wire about 33 feet high is a 1/4 wl at
~7.030 MHz, while a 3" in diameter aluminum tube 30.0 feet high is a
1/4 wl on ~7.030 MHz.  And that is the extremes of the situation.
   (frequency approximated)  I believe that has something to do with
the "end effect."  The high end of a vertical is tiny capacitor and
the nature of that capacitor is effected by the size of the end.
-- 
   Ron  KA4INM - Youvan's corollary:
                 Every action results in unwanted side effects.