Stefan Wolfe wrote:

As part of the amateur license exams you will run into complex impedances
and perhaps even a few questions about what a smith chart is. My advice is,
once you learn how to graph complex impedances on a simply x-y plot, all
you need to realize is that a smith chart is a graph just like this except
but x AND Y DIMENSIONS ARE TURNED INTO THEMSELVES AS CIRCLEs OF FINITE
RADIUS rather than as circles of iinfinite radius. . .

Actually, a Smith chart is just an overlay on top of a simple polar
graph of reflection coefficient. (Mathematically, it's a mapping of
impedance values to a reflection coefficient graph.) If you plot the
value of a (complex) reflection coefficient on an ordinary polar graph
having radius = 1, then place a Smith chart over it, you can read from
the Smith chart the impedance that results in that reflection
coefficient (normalized to the transmission line Z0). That's why, for
example, a constant SWR locus is a circle on a Smith chart - it
corresponds to a single magnitude of reflection coefficient.

I second Stefan's comments about the value of a Smith chart. It's an
excellent tool for visualization once you learn how to use it. But first
you need a basic understanding of transmission line principles.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL