Jerry Martes wrote:

I'd submit that, in a practical situation, the mismatch of an antenna for
receiving can be as high as 2:1 or even 3:1 without degrading the strength
of the received signal when the transmission line losses are low. I
thought that, if the receiver is tuneable, the actual impedance the
transmission line presents to the receiver can be 'accounted for. I
thought that, for a given antenna and transmission line, the effects of VSWR
are less important that for delivering power by a transmitter.
Am I wrong when I consider VSWR to be less important for receivers than
for transmitters?

Jerry

It sounds like you (and some other posters) might be confusing the
transmission line SWR with the impedance seen by the
transmitter/receiver, which is often indicated with an SWR meter. The
two aren't the same.

Consider, for example, a 50 ohm antenna and 50 ohm tx/rx, with a 300 ohm
half wavelength transmission line connecting the two. The antenna sees a
perfect match (50 ohms) when receiving, and the transmitter sees a
perfect match (50 ohms) when transmitting. The transmission line SWR is
6:1 when transmitting and receiving. On the other hand, if the antenna
and transmission line are both 300 ohms (+ j0), the line SWR will be 1:1
when transmitting, 6:1 when receiving. And so forth.

The effects of impedance mismatch seen by the transmitter when
transmitting, the impedance mismatch seen by the antenna when receiving,
and the transmission line SWR are three separate issues. Each has its
own effect on system performance, and each needs to be treated
separately. The importance of one or the other depends on the individual
situation.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL