Cecil,
W5DXP wrote:
"Steven Best says that total re-reflection is a fallacy. Do you disagree
with Dr. Best?"

I`ll play along. On this issue, Dr. Best may be mistaken. Individual
testimonies may not be very reliable, but large numbers become a
preponderence of evidence. Numbers of operators claim to be able to
reach near 1:1 SWR at their transmitter outputs while having greater
SWR`s in other parts of their transmission systems. I believe them. It
agrees with my own experience. The 1:1 SWR at the transmitter means
reflections were stopped short of their return to the transmitter.
Re-reflection at the match point is therefore very near total.

I have similar practical experience that transmitter systems can be
adjusted to reject returnng reflections in many cases. Reg used to
explain such rejection by an assumed very high transmitter output
impedance, if my recollection is correct. If I misquoted Reg in any way
it is unintentional. I disagree with the common opinion that classical
plate resistance has much to do with transmitter output impedance. In my
opinion, output conductance is proportional to the switched-on time of
the final amplifier. Conduction angle controls impedance, which is much
lower than plate resistance.

So why doesn`t the transmitter take back reflected power? The impedance
bump is needed as a catalyst to cause a re-reflection. The re-reflection
is as my professors said over 50 years ago due to the fact that the
transmitter already has a surplus of energy. Energy always flows on a
line from a surplus to a dearth, and not vice versa.

A tapering charge battery charger undergoes an amperage subsidence as a
battery becomes charged. Even were the charger another battery as in the
case of a jump-start, energy doesn`t flow from a lower potential battery
to the higher potential battery.

A-C sources behave much the same. The greater-magnitude source
outsupplies the other and determines the direction of current flow when
the sources are facing-off against each other.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI