Richard Clark wrote:
"This may displace WHERE the dissipation occurs, but it does not render
reflected power an inert concept."

No it doesn`t, but it doesn`t require its acceptance back in the
transmitter either.

I`ll repost my earlier posting as near as I can reconstruct it. It seems
to be lost in cyberspace.

Walter Maxwell, W2DU wrote:
"Consequently, the reflected power reaching the network output is not
absorbed, but instead adds to the power delivered by the generator."

My explanation for the above, which is my observation too, is that an
energy wave experiences a phase reversal between the volts and amps
which it will generate after reflection. That fact makes Bird`s
directional coupler in its wattmeter work.

The transmitter`s output isn`t receptive and won`t absorb a wave that
produces out-of-phase volts and amps, so the reflected wave is
re-reflected from the transmitter, placing its amps and volts back
in-phase.

The newly minted RF and the twice reflected RF are similar, both having
their volts and amps in-phase. So, the similar RF constituents merge to
have a go at the reflection point.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI