Richard Clark wrote:
"In a reality of 359 other possible phase angles, how does a transmitter
happen to always be in-phase to any reflection?"

Connect any generator to any resistor, and current in the resistor is
in-phase with the applied voltage. The Zo of the common transmission
line is a reasonably good resistance. At radio frequencies, Zo is
independent of frequency.

The current in the incident wave is always in-phase with the voltage
applied to a transmission line. The current in the reflected wave is
always 180-degrees out-of-phase with the reflected voltage. It makes no
difference which was inverted by reflection, the volts or tha amps, one,
and only one, of them was flipped upside down. The transmission line can
and does handle the reflected wave.

Standing waves display interference between incident and reflected waves
whiich ideally have in-phase and out-of-phase constituents.

The fact that the Bird wattmeter works is evidence that the theory is
correct at least until a better theory replaces existing theory.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI