measuring cable loss
BTW, directional wattmeters for the ham market are often not capable of
reasonable accuracy on loads other than the nominal 50 ohm load. There
are a range of tests that such an instrument should satisfy, but for
hams, it is usually considered sufficient if the "reflected" reading is
approximately zero on a 50 ohm load.
I should think, though, that one could calibrate such a
reflectometer/directional wattmeter. That is, you could test it with a
suitable variety of source and load impedances and develop a fairly
simple arithmetic correction that would be accurate.
The interesting question might be whether you could unambiguously take a
particular fwd and rev reading and turn that into a true fwd and true
rev, essentially solving for the mismatch.
Down in the lab here at work we have a whole rack of precision
misterminations (1.1:1, 1.2:1, 1.5:1, etc.) that some talented engineer
built and calibrated some decades ago. They're built on the Maury
bluedot N terminations.
Owen
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