Please note that I'm NOT saying that unconventional antennas categorically "don't work," period.What I maintain is that none of them have ever 1) worked better than their conventional counterparts under test range conditions, 2) worked better than the maximum predicted by established, accepted theory, nor 3) exhibited any other anomalous behavior not readily explainable by current electromagnetic models. Not in 160 years has anyone--be he hopeless crackpot, Mensa genius, self-deluded iconoclast, well-meaning tinkerer, or any combination thereof--ever done so.
Experiment if that's what you enjoy. You may find non-self-evident ways to improve performance of antennas in specific difficult locations. You won't revolutionize physics that way, but you'll make life a little better for someone. That's what Dave WD4PLI did with his passive Low Noise Vertical design in The LOWDOWN a year or so ago. It's for receive only, but don't dismiss that area of study! It's every bit as important as transmit antennas are. "If you can't hear 'em..."
If anyone wishes to question or discuss this premise further, please do so by the reply window below, which is set up to branch off a new thread and keep this one on-topic. Thanks.
John H. Davis
