Topband: 160 metre vertical with 'top loading'

[Tom Boucher]

On the eternally recurring argument about current into and out of a loading coil, here is the way my simple mind has always understood it:

W8JI is correct in that the current into a perfect inductor must equal the current out of it. It's a piece of coiled wire so where else can the current go? Tom's assumption here is a 'perfect' inductor with no distributed capacitance.

K3BU is also correct because he is assuming a practical inductor, with a finite length and distributed capacitance to ground. That's where the missing current is going, through the distributed capacitance to ground and hence lower output current from the top of the inductor into the antenna.

Both right, so why the disagreement?

73
Tom G3OLB