416 



BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



It is unwise to attempt any critical conclusions from these curves 

 as long as the standing wave pattern of the direct and earth reflected 

 wave interference is not known. But two facts seem clear, viz.: 

 a closely spaced rod pair gives a marked current step up over that 

 of a single rod, and the natural period of a rod pair approaches the 

 value X = //2 as the spacing decreases. It is obvious that the currents 



Fig. 4 



in the two rods, at close spacing, are nearly anti-phased and that 

 their vector sum must be nearly that current which an isolated rod 

 would carry. The analogy with an anti-resonant circuit is evident, 

 the "stepped up" current being limited only by the ohmic losses in 

 the rods. Actually the tune, at close spacings, was excessively sharp 

 and hard to set for with the generator condenser. The exigencies of 

 the mounting of the rods and the observing of the meter prevented 

 observations at close spacing for the "far," "top" and "bottom" 

 meter positions. 



