antenna thickness

[slidder]

yes i am new to this and i am curious as to how much the diameter of the wire of the antenna will reflect on receiving transmission? i have ea very simple balun setup where the top wire is shorter than the bottom.

 

[rescuecomm]

As a rule of thumb, the larger the diameter of the element, the wider the antennas bandwidth. The diameter must be a good part of the wavelength to have any effect. Other words, going from a 1/8 diameter whip to a 3/16 diameter whip will have no noticeable effect. Going from a 1/8 diameter rod to a 3/4 tube at UHF would be noticeable. On HF, there is no difference between #14 and #12 wire other than #12 will last a little longer in a storm.

Bob

 

[slidder]

thank you

 

[kb2vxa]

"On HF, there is no difference between #14 and #12 wire other than #12 will last a little longer in a storm."

Ah, but then there are very old designs, the cage dipole, Marconi T, (not shown but self explanatory) and an end fed version similar to the inverted L. When you run parallel conductors connected together they effectively increase the diameter and bandwidth.