Cecil Moore wrote:
John Popelish wrote:

But from the concept of a standing wave producing a current
distribution along the center conductor, the shield performs the
function of ground.


But that is irrelevant. The relevant fact is that there is NO
third path to ground yet the standing waves exist anyway.

That seems to indicate that the displacement current path
to outside world ground is a secondary consideration compared
to the superposing of the forward and reflected waves.

To the center conductor, carrying the standing wave, the shield is the
outside world. If there is no shield, the outside world is the
outside world, as far as displacement current goes. Do you imagine
this current changes in some way other than magnitude and wave
velocity when you wrap a shield around a wire carrying a standing wave?

If you are prepared to reject the distributed network model,
are you also prepared to reject Maxwell's equations?

I am prepared to do no such thing. I am explaining distributed
network theory to you.

Please note that rejection of the distributed network
model leaves you with only a model known to fail under
certain conditions.

Just because I talk about current and voltage at points does not mean
I am limited to lumped (idealized) networks. Distributed networks are
made of points, too.

In any case, you haven't explained how the unchanging
phase in a standing wave current can be used to measure
phase shift through a wire or a coil. EZNEC says it
is not a valid approach at:

http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp/travstnd.GIF

And I have agreed with that. Why do you keep bringing it up?

You are sounding like someone with an obsession. Perhaps you need
some down time to let this rattle around in your subconscious.

Sometime I'll tell you the dream I had, in which I was a capacitor.
Woke up in a cold sweat with an understanding of something fundamental
about capacitors I had been stuck on.