"Reg Edwards" wrote in message ...

You don't need a lab. All you need is a pencil and the back of a cigarette
packet.

Theoretical Max possible value = 1+Sqrt(2) exactly = 2.4142136 . . . . .

Can't imagine where you get 5 from.

It occurs when line Zo = Ro - jXo has an angle of -45 degrees, ie., when Xo
= -Ro, and when the line is terminated in an inductive reactance of +jXo.

----
Reg.


Actually, my first posting was right all along, if Zo is always real.

From Les Besser's Applied RF Techniques:

"For passive circuits, 0=[rho]=1,

And strictly speaking: Reflection Coefficient =
(Zl-Zo*)/(Zl-Zo)

Where * indicates
conjugate.

But most of the literature assumes that Zo is real, therefore
Zo*=Zo."


And then i looked at the trusty ARRL handbook, 1993, page 16-2,
and lo and behold, the reflection coefficient equation doesn't have a
term for line reactance, so both this book and Pozar have indeed
assumed that the Zo will be purely real.

That doesn't mean Zl cannot have reactance (be complex).

Try your calculation again, and you will see that you can never
have a [rho] (magnitude of R.C.)greater than 1 for a passive network.

How could you get more power reflected than what you put in? If
you guys can tell us, we could fix our power problems in CA!

But thanks for checking my work, and this is a subtle detail that
is good to know.


Slick