On 9/29/2015 5:05 PM, Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , John S
writes
On 9/27/2015 1:42 PM, John S wrote:
On 9/27/2015 1:20 PM, Wayne wrote:


"rickman" wrote in message ...

On 9/27/2015 10:41 AM, kg7fu wrote:

Matching the antenna won't make the Return Loss go away but it will
make
the transmitter happy.

Can you explain this? I thought matching the antenna would *exactly*
make the return loss go away because it would eliminate the mismatch.

Not wanting to put words in his mouth....
I read that to mean that the high SWR between the ATU and the antenna
would remain, but the transmitter would be happy with the SWR on the
transmitter/ATU coax.


Rick is correct. If the antenna (load) is matched to the line, there is
no return loss, hence no SWR. The ATU will be adjusted (hopefully) to
make the transmitter operate properly with the impedance as seen at the
transmitter end of the line.

I apologize. My statement that "there is no return loss" above is
technically incorrect. The return loss with matched conditions is
maximum. It will peg your meter.

Are you both getting this right?

With a perfect match, the return loss is infinite (ie there is
absolutely no reflection). Your SWR meter will read 1:1.

With a total mismatch, the return loss is zero (ie the reflection is as
strong as the forward signal). Your SWR meter will be pegged hard over
at FSD.

You are correct, of course. I was thinking of a dB meter that reads from
0 to some large value (say, 100) full scale. It is not an SWR meter. I
have probably just confused the whole thing. Sorry.