On 9/17/2010 10:59 PM, Rockinghorse Winner wrote:

Looking at charts of cable loss due to SWR I note that any swr less than 8
or 9 to 1 results in hardly more than 1 dB of loss due to SWR using even
1/4" coax. So, really, why the FUD on this subject?

"FUD" isn't what I would choose to call the things other hams say about
SWR, since _that_ term refers to deliberate deception in pursuit of
commercial profit, and is usually applied to the marketing tactics used
by a well known software company in order to dissuade corporate
purchasing managers from buying competing products.

Let's use "folklore". Most SWR folklore comes from people who have
learned the hard way that SWR can bite: either from finding a hole
punched in their coaxial cable, or watching a pair of finals clearing
the trees on their way to electronic heaven.

There's nothing "wrong" with a high SWR when the system is designed to
account for the high voltages that accompany it. However, hams who have
seen what high SWR can do to consumer-grade components and cables have a
right to be leery, and their advice to others is simply a reflection
(pun intended) of their past losses.

It's not about signal loss: it's about money and time lost.

73,

Bill, W1AC
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