Maybe this should go under "Engineering" - but the questions are more historical than technical, so here it is under "Classic" - which you have to go through "Formats" ??
Anyway, here's the question:
Almost all the pics I've seen of AM antennas back in the '20s show them to be a wire (or three wires) strung between two towers with a feed line from the transmitter building. (I even saw them years ago at the old VOA complex north of Cincinnati for SW broadcast.) I think these were called "dipole" antennas.
These evolved in the 30s into vertical sticks - either stand-alone or guyed.
The question is: why the change? (I'm assuming the "dipoles" didn't have a ground system, or the vertical sticks just worked better (?).
Also, because of the nature of their construction, did the dipoles have a directional signal?
And finally, what was the first station to change to a vertical tower/antenna?
(Please help before my grandson asks another question I can't fully answer.) Thanx.
Anyway, here's the question:
Almost all the pics I've seen of AM antennas back in the '20s show them to be a wire (or three wires) strung between two towers with a feed line from the transmitter building. (I even saw them years ago at the old VOA complex north of Cincinnati for SW broadcast.) I think these were called "dipole" antennas.
These evolved in the 30s into vertical sticks - either stand-alone or guyed.
The question is: why the change? (I'm assuming the "dipoles" didn't have a ground system, or the vertical sticks just worked better (?).
Also, because of the nature of their construction, did the dipoles have a directional signal?
And finally, what was the first station to change to a vertical tower/antenna?
(Please help before my grandson asks another question I can't fully answer.) Thanx.