Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!telecom-request Date: Wed, 8 May 91 17:44:26 GMT From: Operator Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Eighth-wave, or Quarter-wave? Message-ID: Organization: Cylink Corp. Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 344, Message 5 of 10 Lines: 21 > It's perhaps time to nip an incipient TELECOM-legend in the bud, and > suggest that the little antenna is more likely to be a helically-wound > 1/4-wave, than any kind of 1/8-wave. The antenna could be a 1/4 wave, but definitely not helically-wound. That would needlessly reduce the efficiency of the antenna. If it has that little coil in the middle, it could be one of several combinations. It could be a half wave stacked on top of a 1/4 wave, or 5/8 over 1/4. If there is also a lump at the base of the antenna, possibilities increase to 1/2 over 1/2, 5/8 over 5/8, 5/8 over 1/2. The best way to tell is to measure the antenna with a ruler. [Moderator's Note: The antenna is 1/2 inch in length. It got broke accidentally, so I opened it up to look inside. It appears to be many, many feet of wire wrapped around a core in the center. The company selling them referred to it as a '1/8 wave loaded antenna'. PAT]