On 7/11/2015 5:38 AM, Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , Jeff writes



A load in isolation without any transmission line connected cannot
have a standing wave, but it is still common to quote the mismatch as
a VSWR which is plain wrong, but still very common.

But as I've said (nitpickingly), any length of connection (no matter how
short) where the load is not a perfect match for its characteristic
impedance, will have a very tiny portion of a standing wave on it.

And as I've also said, the normal SWR meter DOESN'T measure (respond) to
SWR. It is a reflectometer, and it responds independently to the
forward-going signal and the reverse-going signal. It's really telling
you what the return loss ratio (RLR) is - but it's still perfectly
legitimate for it to be scaled in terms of SWR. It's a darned sight
easier way of finding out what the equivalent SWR would be than to try
and measure the Vmax and Vmin 'for real' along a long line.

Why don't we use the RLR in all these measurements instead of SWR?
Isn't that what we are really after?

--

Rick