Abstract :
Coil aerials are coming to replace the large antennas in radio work. The advantage of the coil aerial as a direction finder, interference preventer, reducer of strays and submarine aerial, make it important to know how effective such an aerial is as a transmitting and receiving device in comparison with the ordinary antenna. In this article the mathematical theory is presented and, as a result, the answer to this question is obtained. Experiments have verified the conclusions reached, and the formulas which are obtained are a valuable aid in the design of an aerial to fit any kind of radio station. A great many questions and hazy ideas on the behavior of radio waves are cleared up by the study which was made and here presented. It is found that the coil aerial is particularly desirable for communication on short wave lengths. A coil aerial is as powerful as an antenna only when its dimensions approach those of the antenna. For other reasons, however, a small coil aerial is in many cases as effective as a large antenna. It is shown that an advantageous type of radio aerial is a condenser consisting of two large metal plates. This type of aerial has many of the advantages of the coil aerial. The fundamental principles of design of aerials are given in this paper. On the basis of this work the actual functioning of any type of radio aerial can be determined either from measurements made upon the aerials or from actual transmission experiments. The investigation has opened up a large and most interesting field for further research and progress in the utilization of radio waves.
