Ian Jackson wrote:
The question is, what are the consequences of having such a high SWR? It
all depends on how much attenuation the coax has. If the coax was
lossless, there would be no signal loss, regardless of the SWR.

True, but the value of Z0 of the transmission line has a
large effect. Let's say we are feeding one of those 5000
ohm antennas. The SWR on 50 ohm coax would be 100:1. The
SWR on 450 ohm ladder-line would be 11:1. Even if the coax
had the same matched-line loss as the ladder-line, it would
still be much lossier than the ladder-line - and much more
expensive.
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73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com