On Mar 12, 1:08 am, "billcalley" wrote:
We are all told that VSWR doesn't matter when using low loss
transmission lines,

No, we are not all told that.

since the RF energy will travel from the
transmitter up to the mismatched antenna, where a certain amount of
this RF energy will reflect back towards the transmitter; after which
the RF will then reflect back up to the antenna -- where the energy is
eventually radiated after bouncing back and forth between the
transmitter and antenna. I understand the concept, but what I don't
quite understand is why the reflected RF energy isn't simply absorbed
by the 50 ohm output of the transmitter after the first reflection?

The active part of the transmitter output isn't 50 ohm.
That would cause half the power to be lost as heat in
the output stage. It's only 50ohm once it becomes a moving
wave in the transmission line.

Bob9