Actually, my first posting was right all along, if Zo is always real.

From Les Besser's Applied RF Techniques:

"For passive circuits, 0=[rho]=1,

And strictly speaking: Reflection Coefficient =
(Zload-Zo*)/(Zload-Zo)

Where * indicates
conjugate.

But most of the literature assumes that Zo is real, therefore
Zo*=Zo."


And then i looked at the trusty ARRL handbook, 1993, page 16-2,
and lo and behold, the reflection coefficient equation doesn't have a
term for line reactance, so both this book and Pozar have indeed
assumed that the Zo will be purely real.

That doesn't mean Zload cannot have reactance (be complex).

Try your calculation again, and you will see that you can never
have a [rho] (magnitude of R.C.)greater than 1 for a passive network.

How could you get more power reflected than what you put in (do
you believe in conservation of energy, or do you think you can make
energy out of nothing)? If you guys can tell us, we could fix our
power problems in CA!

But thanks for checking my work, and this is a subtle detail that
is good to know.


Slick