Wes:
The current guru of antenna theory is Balanis. His book "Antenna Theory"
is available at Amazon.com There are many other books on antenna theory.
Your local university engineering library would have many.
Another seminal work is by Stutzman. Again, available at Amazon.com.
Though not strictly antennas, Sadiku's book, Elements of Electromagnetics,
(any edition) has a chapter on antennas, and there are many used copies
of it around.
As these books point out, ideal antennas are linear devices and can be
"built" by adding together (by superposition) infinitesimal current
elements. For such an current element, the electric field [Volts/meter],
far from the antenna (many wavelengths), depends on the angle from the
vertical axis, and the inverse of the radial distance from the origin.
There are many computer programs (some by hams) that provide graphical
results: MultiNEC, EZNEC, NEC-Win.
For what it is worth, ideal antenna theory is a beautiful example of the
direct application of Maxwell's equations to a problem in
electromagnetics: antennas. And supposedly, what will not work in theory,
will not work in reality. Yet, what works in theory is often confounded by
reality.
This all said, I always had more fun making "em" then trying to understand
"em".
r.
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