Winding the coil at the feedpoint creates a choke, known also as a
"current balun". It serves the primary function of a balun which, for
coax, is to prevent current flow on the outside of the coax.

As I mentioned in another posting, the most effective choke is one
that's self-resonant at the frequency of operation. A typical choke make
by winding the wire in a flat coil like a coil of rope is very effective
over about three ham bands, if it's resonant at the center of the range.

Increasing the number of turns could make your choke more of less
effective, depending on where its self resonance now is compared to your
operating frequency.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ken Bessler wrote:

The dipole resonates (or at least has a 1:1 match) at 2.31 mhz. Without
the coil, I had problems with RF in the shack. A nice fellow changed my
mind from buying a balun to simply winding the coil at the feedpoint.
It seems to have worked. I suppose I could wind more turns to get a
higher inductance - what amount would you advise?

Thanks for your insight as to the differance between my coil and a trap!

Ya learn something new everyday..... :-)

72's de Ken KG0WX