"Goofball_star_dot_etal" wrote in message
...

It only means you can add things up, in this case vectors, provided
there is no interaction eg. impedance change. It breaks down "closer"
because impedance changes.

You can add vectors even if the impedance changes.

1. Solve the field for all space with just the source.
2. Replace reradiators with equivalent sources based upon the incident field
from (1).
3. Using superposition, sum all the fields from (1) and (2) for the total
field.



and at 2.4 Ghz your Antenna would need to be a lot closer to the
Conducting Groundplane than Wilbur's Sailboat Handrail, for this to
have any effect.......

The additional signal in Wilbur's antenna comes from reflections from the
water.



See above.

More to the point, the sea is very rough in terms of wavelength @ 2.4
GHz (in Wales, at least, Boyo) and not a mirror. One thing at a
time.:-)


Yes, the rougher it gets the more reflections you see, just like a ship's
radar. The reflections are in Fresnel zone 1 which add to the signal
strength. The biggest time variations one would see in signal strength would
be due to a slow, rolling sea surface.