ORIGINAL: kenru
The formula is 2952/Freq (in MHz) = 1/4 wave antenna in inches. The wire size doesn't matter because there is immeasurable current flow in the wire. The antenna may be wound around a non-conductive form or left straight with the only change in characteristics being a slight reduction in range for the wound configuration.
This is interesting. I've often wondered about base/mid/top load antennae and how the length is calculated.
So on the common "big stick" CB antennae, are those actually 1/2-wave loads coiled onto the 48" stick?
If so, then we should be able to double the length of our RX whips, then coil them into a compact whip, and get performance pretty close to stock.