How the Lualualei VLF Antenna was Designed : At the Dawn of the Computer Era

The beginning of the modern era of computer aided design is traced here in the design of the US Navy's high power VLF transmitting antenna at Lualualei, Hawaii. The roles played by the use of physical scale models and by computer simulation are reviewed and their relative merits are discussed. Rules derived from the fundamental limitations on electrically small antennas are shown to remain valid to guide the designer even with computer methods.