Amateur radio antennas

[ai4kk]

So on a tapered cylinder like an antenna, would I just use the average diameter?

[Piotrsko]

How about a flat foil bow tie dipole? Or even better: inside the vehicle attached to the window?

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by ai4kk

So on a tapered cylinder like an antenna, would I just use the average diameter?

Correct. I'd just measure the middle if it looks like the taper is the same down the whole whip.

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

How about a flat foil bow tie dipole? Or even better: inside the vehicle attached to the window?

Dipoles tend to be a half a wavelenghth instead of a quarter like with a vertical monopole ground plane antenna. So an 8.5 ft antenna now becomes a 17ft antenna. You'd need a prettly long window to put that on.

[ai4kk]

A quarter wave on a vehicle actually has a half wave dipole, the vehicle is the other quarter wave. It's not perfect but that's the general idea.