On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 23:34:50 -0500, "Craig Buck" wrote:

Why doesn't the signal coming back down the line in the reflected portion
cancel out the signal going up the line?

This is what is called the standing wave.

And if the up and down part is
out of phase ( as I suspect it would be) why isn't there some kind of
interference resulting in distortion or reduced signal strength?

Because there is no load (except your meter when you discover it).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC