"dykesc" wrote in message
...
1. Does achieving a conjugate match via a transmatch between the
transmitter and line do anything to reduce or eliminate mismatch loss
in the line? In other words, if a line is 8:1 swr into a complex
impedance load are the 8:1 "mismatch" losses still occurring even
after achieving low swr with a transmatch?

yes


2. (Unrelated to first question) After installation of a choke at the
antenna input, swr on my off center fed dipole is surprisingly flat
across the amateur bands, never rising much above 8:1 and this only on
the high end of 80 meters. Reading Maxwell's "Reflections" series, it
seems that this may be due to saturation of the choke at higher
frequencies and I may have introduced non negligible loss into my
antenna system. The choke was made by winding my RG-58 coax through a
3" toroid of unknown permeability (14 turns). Other than the toroid
being solid black, I can't tell you anymore about it. I am using an
MFJ-259B for measurements. It would seem to me the 259B would not be
capable of delivering enough power to saturate the large toroid so
maybe my "too flat" readings are occurring due to something else.

i wouldn't call 8:1 'flat', i aim for 2:1 across the 6 hf contest bands,
excluding the high end of 80m. an important consideration is the length of
that rg-58 and what kind of condition it is in. with only 1db of loss in
the cable you could get 8:1 with almost an open or short circuit at the
antenna end... that would be about 50' at 28MHz.



Any advice on the above much appreciated. Please include a comment on
the ability of the 259B to be affected by toroid saturation.

no, the 259b won't saturate your toroid, but a very lossy toroid could be
contributing to the 'flatness'.