Reg Edwards wrote:

Perhaps this is a dumb question Reg, but if the transmission line

isn't

there, how does RF get from the transmitter to the antenna?

Thanks, ac6xg


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The 50-ohm line on which the SWR is supposed to be measured is between
the transmitter and the so-called SWR meter.

If the transmitter is connected directly to the meter, (as it usually
is, very often it is inside the transmitter on the front panel) there
is no line and no SWR on it which can be measured.

What you're saying is that there's a line connecting the transmitter to
the meter, but there isn't a line connecting the transmitter to the
meter. I'd have difficulty defending such a position.

Neverthess, the meter still provides a reading of SWR. Obviously it
is telling lies and causes confusion and misunderstanding to novices
about what is really happening within their equipment. In fact, just
as it has been doing since Joker, Richard Clark, entered the thread.

Some people force themselves to imagine a 1/4-wavelength transmission
inside the little box in a vain endeavor to explain how an SWR meter
works.

Actually the meter indicates whether or not the transmitter is loaded
with 50-ohms - and nothing else.

I don't think the meter really knows what impedance the transmitter is
loaded with. As far as I can tell, it only knows how many volts and
amps gozinta one port and/or compared with how many volts and amps
gozinta the other port.

But I agree that some people read an awful lot into the measurements
they make with one of these devices.

It is an HF resistance bridge to
which its circuit reduces.

True enough.

But, as I say, it is a very useful, almost indispensible instrument.
It is a TLI.

I like to think of it more as a reflectometer.

73 de ac6xg