Radiation Field of a Square, Helical Beam Antenna

Rigorous formulas have been derived for the field from a square, helical antenna with a uniformly progressing current wave of constant amplitude. These formulas that have the advantage of great simplicity are of direct use for helical antennas in the meter band, where for practical reasons only square helices are used. Further, in connection with corresponding rigorous formulas for the field from a circular, helical antenna with a uniformly progressing current wave of constant amplitude the present formulas may be used for an investigation of the magnitude of the error introduced in Kraus' approximate calculation of the field from a circular, helical antenna by replacing this antenna with an ``equivalent'' square helix. This investigation is carried out by means of a numerical example. The investigation shows that Kraus' approximate method of calculation yields results in fair agreement with the results obtained from the rigorous formulas. A statement to the contrary made recently in the literature is shown to rest on a trivial error. Journal of Applied Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.