billcalley wrote:
Now my head *really* hurts! This is a VERY confusing subject, to
say the least. (And I also thought antenna tuners actually had a
*loss* due to their limited Q...I think I'm going to change careers
now and just become a pet groomer; or perhaps simply give up
completely and work at Radio Shack).

Real-world antenna tuners do have a loss but we previously
specified a lossless system. Of course, real world tuners
and transmission lines suffer losses but we all just live
with those losses while striving to minimize them. The point
is that an antenna tuner reflects most of the reflected
energy back toward the load thus accomplishing a mismatch
gain that offsets some, if not most, of the mismatch loss.
High SWR transmission lines are indeed lossier than flat
matched transmission lines of the same material.
--
73, Cecil, w5dxp.com