Cecil Moore wrote:
Tom Donaly wrote:

If it disappears, you've done something wrong.


There is no phase information in standing wave phase, Tom.
I can't find it, Gene fuller can't find it, Eugene Hecht
can't find it, and James Clerk Maxwell can't find it.

Any and all phase information in the standing wave phase
disappears during superposing.

Let me give you another example. Assume that we superpose
one amp of DC current flowing in one direction and one
amp of DC current flowing in the other direction. What
does the superposed amplitude tell us about the amplitudes
of the superposed currents? Nothing, except they were
equal.

Your idea of phase is to compare amplitudes at two separate
places on the same wave and noting the time difference in
behavior. You're right, you get the same "phase" if you
do that to a standing wave in a lossles medium. You're not
right, however, in thinking that the phase difference between
two waves travelling in different directions down a transmission
line can never be known. But as I wrote before, that isn't what
you should be after. You should want to know the Beta*l of
the coil on your antenna so you'll know its electrical length.
And you can know it if it is true that you can model a coil
as a simple transmission line. That's a big if, but it's something
you should have thought of before you shot off your mouth.
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH