On Jan 9, 3:33 pm, Gene Fuller wrote:
When you get back to the wilds of Texas go check out some rural power
lines. Count the number of power factor correcting capacitors you see. I
bet it is a lot less than the equivalent of one per city block. Power
factor correcting capacitors are intended to correct for reactive loads,
such as motors, not for reflections or standing waves on open ended
power transmission lines.

Within the city limits of my home town of Madisonville, TX, there is
approximately one capacitor every city block. I had one in my front
yard. But the exact number and distances do not matter one iota. Those
capacitors exist to neutralize the inductive reactance in the system
at the load. I use exactly the same method to twist the feedpoint
impedance of my 75m Bugcatcher to 50 ohms.

You said: "Power factor correcting capacitors are intended to correct
for reactive loads,"

:-) Reactive loads cause reflections. The opposite reactance reduces
reflections. Does that scheme of matching a transmission line to a
load sound familiar? :-) My Bugcatcher antenna has about 25=j25 ohm
feedpoint impedance on 40m. I install a -j50 cap from antenna to
ground to achieve 50+j0 at the feedpoint. That's exactly what the
power company capacitors do.

Reflections *ARE* power factor problems. When the power company brings
the power factor to unity, they have eliminated reflections and turned
the system into a traveling wave energy delivery system. That you do
not recognize the similarity between VARS and standing waves is really
strange indeed. Standing waves contain nothing except VARS.
--
73, Cecil, w5dxp.com