ON7YD -- [Radio] Antennas for 136kHz

Source: http://www.strobbe.eu/on7yd/136ant/
2.14. Helical antenna
In the helical antenna the loading coil (or a part of it) is incorporated in the vertical
section of the antenna. So with this antenna both capacitance and inductance are
distributed over the entire antenna. As the antenna voltage builds up over the loading
coil, the antenna voltage increases with the height. This voltage increase results in an
improved current distribution, as in the lower part of the antenna (where the voltage is
low) less current will 'disappear'. Without capacitive top loading the radiation resistance
of a helical antenna will be 1.54 times larger as for a 'straight' vertical of the same height,
this is a gain of 1.9dB. When capacitive top loading is added the advantage of a helical
antenna will be less, for 2 reasons:

As the antenna has more capacitive top loading the importance (and thus the gain)
of the distributed inductance decreases.
As the capacitance of the vertical part of a helical antenna is rather large
compared to a 'straight' vertical (because of the larger diameter of the vertical
part) the effect (and thus the gain) of the capacitive top- loading decreases.

An additional problem is that it is not so easy to build a mechanical stable helical

antenna. The only amateur who, to my knowledge, used a helical antenna with success
was Toni Baertschi (HB9ASB), until the antenna was destroyed in a storm (December
1999).