LF: Re: Ae!

["Alan Melia" <alan.melia@btinternet.com>]

Hi Stefan in the early (Marconi) days the were two parts to the radiation 
inducing section of the wireless communication system.......one was a wire 
connected to earth, the other was an elevated or aerial ( literally "in the 
air" ) wire. These rapidly became the "Earth" and the "Aerial" the latter 
whether it was a wire or not. The term antennae comes from the "touchy 
feely" thing insects have protruding from their heads. In the UK antenna and 
antennas (yes that is the correct plural!) only became to be used by techs 
who had come into contact with US radar techs though the term filtered over 
in QST before 1940. We still errect "TV aerials" in the UK, and that 
includes the dishes!.We love having multiple words for the same thing or 
nearly the same thing, and we gleefully "steal" other people's words and 
incorporate them into our language. We delight in the absurdity of terms 
like "underground aerials" but we know what it means!
Best Wishes
Alan G3NYK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stefan Schäfer" <Stefan.Schaefer@iup.uni-heidelberg.de>
To: <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 9:00 PM
Subject: LF: Ae!


> Hmm, maybe someone from the UK can explain the difference between aerial 
> and antenna? Is there a difference?
> 73, Stefan/DK7FC