Hi it was recently stated that the antenna and ground return current at the
feed point terminals (where let's assume the TX is located) must always be
equal. And this certainly makes sense to me if we treat the antenna/ground
system as a circuit (as it often is shown).
So I modeled a half wave dipole in free space and sure enough the wire segments
on each side of the feed point carried equal current. I then placed a resistive
load at the center of one half-element (to simulate? a lossy "return") and now
see that those segments no longer carry equal currents, with less current on
the side with the load. Can someone please explain this?
The Feb 1983 QST article by Doty has 2 tables where they list RF "antenna" and
"return" current measurements as they added radials to an elevated counterpoise
and ground screen. With 6 radials they measured 350 mA of "antenna" current
and 220 mA of "return" current. With 20 radials they measured 495/445 and with
48 radials 495/495. What were they measuring?
Thanks Bob
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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