The radio‐frequency excited helium discharge is modeled as an equivalent circuit in order to account for the electrode‐sheath coupling, which includes an electrode and a sheath capacitance. The results obtained from the solution for the sheath thickness and reactance are used in conjunction with the known uniform plasma column characteristics to obtain the required voltage needed to sustain the current flow through the discharge. The calculations give that the value of the electron density at the sheath edgensvaries between 12%–16% of the centerline electron densityne0, whereas the root mean square of the sheath thicknesssˆ assumes values between 6% and 11% of the pipe radiusa. Both curves are increasing with increasing current flow through the discharge. The order of magnitude of the electrical conductivity achieved by the 11‐MHz radio frequency for the pressure range of 405.33–506.67 Torr, temperature range of 483–510 K, velocity range of 449–485 m/s, in a pipe of radius 0.011 m, is varying from 0.01 to 0.07 mho/m, which is comparable to the lower limits of the ionization achieved under thermal equilibrium for a gas seeded with a few percent of a low ionization potential substance. The comparison of the theoretical estimates for the applied voltage‐current curve with the experimental measurements show general agreement and are within±10%, and support the theory that the major loss of the applied voltage occurs in the electrode‐sheath region, especially at the higher values of the current flow through the discharge.