I admit to being hazy about what you choose to call "forward power" and
"reflected power". So that's probably why I don't understand the meaning
of "the reflected power can be greater than the forward power into a
passive load." Does this mean that both "reflected power" and "forward
power" flow into a load? Then, does the "reflected power" flow back out,
to go back down the transmission line, or does it contribute to the load
dissipation?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Cecil Moore wrote:

I made it over to the Texas A&M library today and read Chipman. What
seems to
have been left out of the discussion are the following quotes from Chipman:

"The conclusion is somewhat surprising, though inescapable, that a
transmission
line can be terminated with a reflection coefficient whose magnitude is
as great
as 2.41 without there being any implication that the power level of the
reflected
wave is greater than that of the incident wave."

Chipman never said the reflected power can be greater than the forward
power
into a passive load. In fact, he says if X0/R0 is less than or equal to
one,
it is impossible for the reflected power to exceed the forward power.