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Tarmo Tammaru October 16th 03 01:06 AM

Richard,

Yes, I took a course from Chipman, but before he published his book. He used
Adler, Chu, and Fano in his class. Reason I mentioned pulses is that most of
what we did in class with reflections involved pulses. You may remember me
giving Roy a hard time a few months ago, because I wasn't used to his way of
thinking. He was right and I was wrong. I don't have the Chipman book.

Tam/WB2TT
"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 17:18:06 -0400, "Tarmo Tammaru"
wrote:

Richard,

I hope you are not mixing up analog steady state signals and reflections

of
pulses. The re reflection of a signal at a source depends not only on the
impedance, but also on the voltage at the source.

Tam/WB2TT


Hi Tam,

Found within the body of what I posted:

Then of course there is more in Chapter 8
Chapter 8. Section 8.8 "Multiple Reflections."
This material shows the transient analysis and sets up the steady
state analysis already anticipated above in Chapter 9.


Didn't you say you studied under Chipman? This is HIS material, not
my derivations. Again, if I were wrong, there are enough copy holders
here to correct me. That has not come to pass in lo' these several
months.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC




Richard Clark October 16th 03 02:27 AM

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 19:53:46 -0400, "Tarmo Tammaru"
wrote:

Richard,

I went to a Bob Pease seminar a few years ago, great guy.

You are missing one of the points of the simulation. I am not trying to
market an SWR meter. I simulated it with ideal parts so that the instrument
is not affecting the reading. How are you going to measure an SWR of 65:1
with a real meter?


Hi Tam,

A very good question. The Metrologist wouldn't, there are better
techniques that are more accurate.

I did change the source impedance, and it did not change the SWR within the
limits of what I could resolve. In addition, as I told Slick a couple of
months ago, I used a real meter (Kenwood SW2000) to measure the SWR with two
different source impedances and two different load impedances, and the
source impedance made no difference.


That too is unremarkable. The difference is not resolved at one point
as I have demonstrated.

I don't know that the Harris transmitter is the same as what was described
in Circuit Cellar. The Harris has no modulators and no linear amplifiers;
just a bank of 65 CW power modules that get switched on and off and
synthesize the desired envelope power at something like a 20 KHz rate. Sort
of a D/A converter that runs at a power level of 50 KW.

No, this misses the mark considerably. The lowest bit rate is half
the Fo of the transmit frequency (typically the bit rate is equal to
the Fo). It is accomplished with a ROM lookup table to achieve the
modulation (much like the Circuit Cellar Ink articles by Don Lancaster
but with significant differences too as his discussion was strictly
CW).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Cecil Moore October 16th 03 04:19 AM

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
There are models for both lossy and non lossy transmission line. I have not
used them, so it might take some learning. I can tell you though that given
a load and transmission line, if you find the Z at the meter with an HP
vector impedance meter, and then put a lumped impedance of that same value
at the meter, you will get the same results.


Not in reality, you won't. Any TV ghosting that exists because of reflections will
disappear when you go to a lumped impedance. And the noise across the lumped
impedance will not be identical to the noise associated with a long transmission line.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Jim Kelley October 16th 03 06:00 PM



Cecil Moore wrote:

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
There are models for both lossy and non lossy transmission line. I have not
used them, so it might take some learning. I can tell you though that given
a load and transmission line, if you find the Z at the meter with an HP
vector impedance meter, and then put a lumped impedance of that same value
at the meter, you will get the same results.


Not in reality, you won't. Any TV ghosting that exists because of reflections will
disappear when you go to a lumped impedance. And the noise across the lumped
impedance will not be identical to the noise associated with a long transmission line.


Isn't the point just to test SWR dependency on source impedance?

73, ac6xg

Cecil Moore October 16th 03 06:33 PM

Jim Kelley wrote:

Cecil Moore wrote:

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
There are models for both lossy and non lossy transmission line. I have not
used them, so it might take some learning. I can tell you though that given
a load and transmission line, if you find the Z at the meter with an HP
vector impedance meter, and then put a lumped impedance of that same value
at the meter, you will get the same results.


Not in reality, you won't. Any TV ghosting that exists because of reflections will
disappear when you go to a lumped impedance. And the noise across the lumped
impedance will not be identical to the noise associated with a long transmission line.


Isn't the point just to test SWR dependency on source impedance?


Just pointing out that the "same results" statement above is a little
too broad. Any deviation in the waves from cycle to cycle due to
modulation and noise shows up as reflected energy.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Jim Kelley October 16th 03 07:01 PM

Cecil Moore wrote:

Jim Kelley wrote:

Cecil Moore wrote:

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
There are models for both lossy and non lossy transmission line. I have not
used them, so it might take some learning. I can tell you though that given
a load and transmission line, if you find the Z at the meter with an HP
vector impedance meter, and then put a lumped impedance of that same value
at the meter, you will get the same results.

Not in reality, you won't. Any TV ghosting that exists because of reflections will
disappear when you go to a lumped impedance. And the noise across the lumped
impedance will not be identical to the noise associated with a long transmission line.


Isn't the point just to test SWR dependency on source impedance?


Just pointing out that the "same results" statement above is a little
too broad. Any deviation in the waves from cycle to cycle due to
modulation and noise shows up as reflected energy.


Tarmo's simulation results seem to conflict with Richard's
interpretation of Chipman. Lately you've been leaning toward Richard's
point of view. How does the story end? ;-)

73, Jim AC6XG

Richard Clark October 16th 03 07:55 PM

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 10:00:38 -0700, Jim Kelley
wrote:
Cecil Moore wrote:
Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
There are models for both lossy and non lossy transmission line. I have not
used them, so it might take some learning. I can tell you though that given
a load and transmission line, if you find the Z at the meter with an HP
vector impedance meter, and then put a lumped impedance of that same value
at the meter, you will get the same results.


Not in reality, you won't. Any TV ghosting that exists because of reflections will
disappear when you go to a lumped impedance. And the noise across the lumped
impedance will not be identical to the noise associated with a long transmission line.


Isn't the point just to test SWR dependency on source impedance?

73, ac6xg


Hi Jim,

It "was" but through these twists and turns, the point has become a
amorphous blob.

Tam has shown an appreciation for my interpretation of Chipman's work
being focused on transient analysis (it has that in Chapter 8) and a
worry that my data is forced to that criteria - it is not, it is
strictly steady state results and also supported by Chipman's steady
state formulas (found in Chapter 9).

Chapter 8 reveals the obvious state of a transmission line being
mismatched at both ends supporting a bedlam of wave mixings - the
bedlam is simply the artifact of an unknown length in the path,
otherwise it is quite predictable and formulaic. The steady state
solutions presume you know this length (or in his terms, the position
along the line mismatched at both ends) to find the dependency of
measured voltage in terms of source AND load Z.

Cecil, as usual complains without adding anything:
On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 13:43:39 -0500, Cecil Moore
wrote:
Yes, my experiment seemed to support that assertion but you rejected it.

Where this "seeming" was rejected for good reason (or poor reason
depending upon the source ;-) as he had poorly bounded his example (it
did not include the necessary transmission line which evidences the
source Characteristic Z) and he was forever explaining minutia at the
expense of the topic. 600 posting marathons of that kind of
repetition is unnecessary. My data and sources can stand quite well
on their own without the need for rubber crutches.

Speaking of repetition, this is all covered in my new thread
"The Impact of Source characteristic Z upon SWR measurement - the
Galilean Defense re-revisited"
As such there is actually nothing new to add, and absolutely no
holders of Chipman's work have offered any rebuttal - elliptical
criticism notwithstanding. :-)

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Cecil Moore October 16th 03 08:19 PM

Jim Kelley wrote:
Tarmo's simulation results seem to conflict with Richard's
interpretation of Chipman. Lately you've been leaning toward Richard's
point of view. How does the story end? ;-)


I suspect it ends up with me being mistaken when I said that
instantaneous power is *as* useless as tits on a boar hog. If
the instantaneous power is screwing up the wattmeter readings,
instantaneous power is *more* useless than tits on a boar hog. :-)
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Jim Kelley October 16th 03 08:35 PM



Cecil Moore wrote:

Jim Kelley wrote:
Tarmo's simulation results seem to conflict with Richard's
interpretation of Chipman. Lately you've been leaning toward Richard's
point of view. How does the story end? ;-)


I suspect it ends up with me being mistaken when I said that
instantaneous power is *as* useless as tits on a boar hog. If
the instantaneous power is screwing up the wattmeter readings,
instantaneous power is *more* useless than tits on a boar hog. :-)


The story must be like a daytime serial. :-)

73, Jim AC6XG

Jim Kelley October 16th 03 10:48 PM

Richard Clark wrote:
My data and sources can stand quite well
on their own without the need for rubber crutches.


Certainly true about your sources standing well on their own. You
should probably let them. ;-)

73 de ac6xg

Tarmo Tammaru October 17th 03 12:22 AM

Cecil,

I thought that we were considering steady state single frequency sine waves.
The whole thing becomes so much more straight forward when talking about
pulses.....

Tam/WB2TT
"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
There are models for both lossy and non lossy transmission line. I have

not
used them, so it might take some learning. I can tell you though that

given
a load and transmission line, if you find the Z at the meter with an HP
vector impedance meter, and then put a lumped impedance of that same

value
at the meter, you will get the same results.


Not in reality, you won't. Any TV ghosting that exists because of

reflections will
disappear when you go to a lumped impedance. And the noise across the

lumped
impedance will not be identical to the noise associated with a long

transmission line.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Tarmo Tammaru October 17th 03 12:46 AM


"Jim Kelley" wrote in message
...

Tarmo's simulation results seem to conflict with Richard's
interpretation of Chipman. Lately you've been leaning toward Richard's
point of view. How does the story end? ;-)

73, Jim AC6XG


Jim,
It probably can't be proven, unless somebody comes up with an alternative
definition for SWR. If you look at my simulator equations of a few listings
back, I proved that what my model (and the Bird wattmeter) call SWR is
RL/Z0. So, unless I screwed up, running any number of simulations is not
going to disprove that.

If you look at textbook examples where they transmit pulses, The source
impedance determines what V+ is, and whether there is a second reflection
from the source, but NOT what the reflection at the load end is. Lets delve
on this for a second. It seems fair to say that if the source impedance
determines V+, clearly it has an effect on V-. But, that does not mean it
has anything to do with rho.

Tam/WB2TT



Jim Kelley October 17th 03 01:39 AM

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
Jim,
It probably can't be proven, unless somebody comes up with an alternative
definition for SWR. If you look at my simulator equations of a few listings
back, I proved that what my model (and the Bird wattmeter) call SWR is
RL/Z0. So, unless I screwed up, running any number of simulations is not
going to disprove that.


It's hard to imagine how Rs (Zs) could have any effect on that ratio.

If you look at textbook examples where they transmit pulses, The source
impedance determines what V+ is, and whether there is a second reflection
from the source, but NOT what the reflection at the load end is.


Unless I = 0, source impedance should certainly have an effect on source
voltage. My car battery this morning comes to mind. Seemed to have
developed a high internal resistance. It's doing some serious current
limiting.

Chipmans explanation re-reflection was eloquent I thought.

Lets delve
on this for a second. It seems fair to say that if the source impedance
determines V+, clearly it has an effect on V-. But, that does not mean it
has anything to do with rho.


I don't know how else to look at it.

The question that comes to mind is whether the argument is about the
effect source impedance has on actual SWR, or the effect it has on
measured SWR - considering the real world limitations of metering
instruments. Perhaps people are talking about different things.

73, Jim AC6XG

Cecil Moore October 17th 03 03:47 AM

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
It seems fair to say that if the source impedance
determines V+, clearly it has an effect on V-. But, that does not mean it
has anything to do with rho.


Chipman seems to say that an SWR meter can be disturbed by a localized energy
exchange between reactive values with opposite signs. The impedance of the
source has an effect upon where in the transmission line those localized
energy exchanges occur.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Cecil Moore October 17th 03 03:51 AM

Jim Kelley wrote:
It's hard to imagine how Rs (Zs) could have any effect on that ratio.


Consider a reactive load where energy can be locally exchanged between
the load reactance and the impedance looking back into the feedline.
Zs can certainly affect the impedance looking back into the feedline.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Cecil Moore October 17th 03 04:37 AM

Jim Kelley wrote:
It's hard to imagine how Rs (Zs) could have any effect on that ratio.


Here's an interesting quote from _Transmission_Lines_, by Chipman, page 175:

"Equation (8.27) demonstrates explicitly that the shape of a standing wave
pattern representing |V(d)| as a function of d on a transmission line is in
no way affected by the quantities, Vs, Zs, and rho(s) at the source."
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Roy Lewallen October 17th 03 05:08 AM

Source impedance DOES affect the amount of energy moving in and sloshing
around in a transmission line. It DOESN'T affect the ratio of forward to
reflected waves, and therefore DOESN'T affect the SWR.

Once again, here's a way to see why. I'll restrict the discussion to a
lossless line for simplicity. When you first turn the source on, a
forward wave (voltage and current) travels toward the load. The source
impedance does play a role in determining the size of this wave; it can
be determined by analysis of a simple voltage divider circuit, with the
source voltage dividing between the source impedance and the line Z0. A
portion of the forward wave is reflected from the load unless the line
is perfectly matched. The fraction which is reflected has nothing to do
with the source impedance, and in fact it can easily be calculated from
only the line and load impedances. That fraction (magnitude and angle)
is known as the reflection coefficient -- you can find the formula in
any transmission line text, or derive it yourself very easily.

Take a look at the system just before the reflected wave returns to the
source. At each point along the line we have a forward wave and a
reflected wave, which vectorially add. These create standing waves and,
if the line is long enough, we can calculate the SWR directly as the
ratio of maximum to minimum voltage along the line. A little bit of
algebra will show that the SWR is determined entirely by the ratio of
forward to reflected waves -- their absolute values don't matter
(except, of course, as it affects their ratio). Given a reflection
coefficient, you can calculate the SWR.

Ok, now suppose that some fraction of the returning wave reflects from
the source and heads back toward the load. Say, X percent of it. When it
reaches the load, exactly the same fraction of it is reflected as was
the case for the original forward wave. That is, if the new forward wave
is X percent of the original, then the new reflected wave is also X
percent of the original reflected wave. If we add the new forward and
reflected waves to the original ones, and take the ratio of forward to
reverse, we find that the ratio of the new, combined forward wave to the
new, combined reflected wave is exactly the same as it was for the first
forward and reflected waves. It doesn't matter what X is -- no matter
what fraction of the reflected wave bounces off the source, the same
fraction of that new forward wave is reflected from the load. The SWR is
the same as it was for the original pair of waves. Eventually, we build
up a large number of pairs of forward and reflected waves. And the ratio
of each forward wave to its corresponding reflected wave is always the
same -- it's the reflection coefficient of the load. So when we add all
the forward waves into a single forward wave and all the reflected waves
into a single reflected wave, we get the same ratio. And that ratio
doesn't depend in any way on the source impedance or what fraction of
each returning wave is re-reflected from the source.

One of the nice things about this way of looking at it is that it's
entirely supported by the theory and equations describing transmission
line operation which engineers have used to design working systems for
the past hundred years or so.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Cecil Moore wrote:
Jim Kelley wrote:

It's hard to imagine how Rs (Zs) could have any effect on that ratio.



Consider a reactive load where energy can be locally exchanged between
the load reactance and the impedance looking back into the feedline.
Zs can certainly affect the impedance looking back into the feedline.



Roy Lewallen October 17th 03 05:37 AM

Holy mackrel, Mr. Science!

But gee, you can see that from even a casual glance at the equations
you'll find in virtually any transmission line text. It's kind of like
saying that wow, Terman concludes that resistance is voltage divided by
current, so now we can believe it too.

People who believe that SWR is affected by source impedance have either
rejected established theory, or don't have the background or interest to
read and understand what we consider to be very simple equations. So I'd
hardly expect them to be impressed by someone pointing out what the
equations and established theory say clearly and unambigously. You can't
fight Ouija boards with math.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Cecil Moore wrote:
Jim Kelley wrote:

It's hard to imagine how Rs (Zs) could have any effect on that ratio.



Here's an interesting quote from _Transmission_Lines_, by Chipman, page
175:

"Equation (8.27) demonstrates explicitly that the shape of a standing wave
pattern representing |V(d)| as a function of d on a transmission line is in
no way affected by the quantities, Vs, Zs, and rho(s) at the source."



Reg Edwards October 17th 03 10:11 AM

Source impedance DOES affect the amount of energy moving in and sloshing
around in a transmission line. It DOESN'T affect the ratio of forward to
reflected waves, and therefore DOESN'T affect the SWR.

===========================

But it DOES affect the indicated SWR and so the indicated SWR is incorrect.

It is the meter which is at fault ! It is designed to indicate correctly
only when the source is 50 ohms.

Here's the proof - Rho = (50-Zt) / (50+Zt) - which you may have seen
before.

SWR, of course, is calculated from Rho and the meter scale is calibrated
accordingly.

If the source is not what the meter expects then it gives the wrong answers.
And its faithful worshippers believe it!
---
Reg, G4FGQ



Cecil Moore October 17th 03 03:14 PM

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
I thought that we were considering steady state single frequency sine waves.
The whole thing becomes so much more straight forward when talking about
pulses.....


It is still straight forward when we take reality into account. :-)
Pure steady state single frequency sine waves, sans noise and/or
jitter, exist only in the human mind.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Cecil Moore October 17th 03 03:23 PM

Roy Lewallen wrote:
Source impedance DOES affect the amount of energy moving in and sloshing
around in a transmission line. It DOESN'T affect the ratio of forward to
reflected waves, and therefore DOESN'T affect the SWR.


That's not the question. The question is: Does it affect the SWR meter?
Does the localized energy exchange between two reactances (your own "third
power" term), as alluded to by Chipman, cause erroneous SWR readings from
a directional wattmeter?
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Cecil Moore October 17th 03 03:44 PM

Roy Lewallen wrote:
People who believe that SWR is affected by source impedance have either
rejected established theory, or don't have the background or interest to
read and understand what we consider to be very simple equations. So I'd
hardly expect them to be impressed by someone pointing out what the
equations and established theory say clearly and unambigously. You can't
fight Ouija boards with math.


The question remains: Does the localized exchange of energy between
reactances, as presented by Chipman and by you as a third power term,
cause a directional coupler error?

Source---w---(-j500)---x---(+j500)---y---50 ohm load
| |
+---braid---------braid--------braid------+

Given the phasor addition that happens in a directional coupler,
does it handle all cases of voltage and current properly? In the
above example, the measured SWR is 1:1 at 'w' and 'y' but not
at 'x'.

I remember someone saying that an SWR meter reading is correct only
when the SWR is 1:1.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Ian White, G3SEK October 17th 03 03:49 PM

Reg Edwards wrote:
Source impedance DOES affect the amount of energy moving in and sloshing
around in a transmission line. It DOESN'T affect the ratio of forward to
reflected waves, and therefore DOESN'T affect the SWR.

===========================

But it DOES affect the indicated SWR and so the indicated SWR is incorrect.

It is the meter which is at fault ! It is designed to indicate correctly
only when the source is 50 ohms.

Here's the proof - Rho = (50-Zt) / (50+Zt) - which you may have seen
before.

SWR, of course, is calculated from Rho and the meter scale is calibrated
accordingly.

If the source is not what the meter expects then it gives the wrong answers.
And its faithful worshippers believe it!


Sorry, Reg, for the last few weeks I'd believed you'd been trying to
make some profound point about this. But it's rather the opposite: all
you're saying is that the indication on the "SWR" scale of the meter
depends on the actual power level... which is obvious.

That's why the SWR result *always* has to be based on some kind of ratio
between forward and reflected readings on the meter, to allow for
varying power levels.

1. For a Bird-43 type of meter, you have to read the forward *and* the
reflected indicated "power" levels, and plug *both* of those numbers
into the little formula to calculate SWR... which involves the ratio of
those two numbers.

2. With an ordinary manual SWR meter, you avoid taking a ratio by
*always* tweaking the knob to adjust the forward reading to full-scale
as the first step. That compensates for whatever power level you happen
to be using. Then the SWR indication will read correctly on the reverse
setting.

If you omit that first step, then you're not using the instrument
correctly. Don't blame the SWR meter for that.

3. With an MFJ-259 or similar, the RF output is electronically levelled
to a constant value, so instead of the front-panel pot in (2) above
there is an internal set-and-forget trimpot.

4. A computing SWR meter does the calculation for you, at whatever power
level you happen to be using, so it displays an SWR reading that should
not vary with power (within the design limitations of the meter).

If you RTFM and use the SWR meter correctly, either you or the meter
will *always* compensate for whatever power level you happen to be
using.

As others have said - again and again, and correctly - the source
impedance of the transmitter affects only the power level; it does not
in any way affect the steady-state rho or SWR.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Cecil Moore October 17th 03 04:42 PM

Reg Edwards wrote:
If the source is not what the meter expects then it gives the wrong answers.
And its faithful worshippers believe it!


If reflections are not allowed to reach the source (typical of
most ham installations) the source impedance cannot have any
effect on the SWR meter readings. Most ham installations are
Z0-matched to 50 ohms thus eliminating reflections between the
Z0-match point and the source.

You are describing systems where reflections are allowed
to reach the source which is atypical of ham installations.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Wes Stewart October 17th 03 05:16 PM

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 09:11:42 +0000 (UTC), "Reg Edwards"
wrote:

| Source impedance DOES affect the amount of energy moving in and sloshing
| around in a transmission line. It DOESN'T affect the ratio of forward to
| reflected waves, and therefore DOESN'T affect the SWR.
|
|===========================
|
|But it DOES affect the indicated SWR and so the indicated SWR is incorrect.
|
|It is the meter which is at fault ! It is designed to indicate correctly
|only when the source is 50 ohms.
|
|Here's the proof - Rho = (50-Zt) / (50+Zt) - which you may have seen
|before.
|
|SWR, of course, is calculated from Rho and the meter scale is calibrated
|accordingly.
|
|If the source is not what the meter expects then it gives the wrong answers.
|And its faithful worshippers believe it!

I hope you meant to say that the meter "expects" to see the correct
line Zo.

Rho, SWR, RL, etc. are figures of merit for how well the load matches
the transmission line impedance (Zo), thus to derive this figure of
merit the meter's internal reference should be the same as Zo not Zs.

Your "50" in the equation above is simply a special case. Let Zs, Zo
and Zl(Zt) all equal 75. The line is perfectly matched, but plug 75
into your formula and see what happens.

This brings up an interesting paradox: all real lines have some loss,
thus Zo = Ro-jX. Unless Zl = Zo = Ro-jX the line is mismatched.

Likewise, the meter reference should also equal Ro-jX if the actual
line condition is to be measured.

As far as the source Z having any influence on SWR, Roy is (as usual)
exactly correct.

Wes N7WS

Tarmo Tammaru October 17th 03 06:53 PM


"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Consider a reactive load where energy can be locally exchanged between
the load reactance and the impedance looking back into the feedline.
Zs can certainly affect the impedance looking back into the feedline.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Cecil,

I did that, and the SWR did not change. But, then you could say this was by
definition because the meter measured RL/Z0.

Tam/WB2TT



Cecil Moore October 17th 03 07:06 PM

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:

"Cecil Moore" wrote:
Consider a reactive load where energy can be locally exchanged between
the load reactance and the impedance looking back into the feedline.
Zs can certainly affect the impedance looking back into the feedline.


I did that, and the SWR did not change. But, then you could say this was by
definition because the meter measured RL/Z0.


Chipman alludes to the problem not occurring with a resistive load
or with lossless lines. If the load is 50+j500 and the impedance
looking back into the lossy line is 50-j500, this seems to be
the correct conditions to cause the localized resonant energy
transfer problem.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Tarmo Tammaru October 17th 03 07:09 PM

Cecil,

You saw my simulations of your example. I got an SWR of 66.3 for ZS=0 and
69.1 for ZS= j400. That is as close as I can resolve. I had thought that if
it was going to change, I would get an SWR of 1:1 for the conjugate matched
case. What I had neglected, and maybe you also, is the fact that when you
connect an SWR meter into the middle of a resonant series tuned circuit, the
current is 90 degrees out of phase with the voltage.

Tam/WB2TT
"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Tarmo Tammaru wrote:
It seems fair to say that if the source impedance
determines V+, clearly it has an effect on V-. But, that does not mean

it
has anything to do with rho.


Chipman seems to say that an SWR meter can be disturbed by a localized

energy
exchange between reactive values with opposite signs. The impedance of the
source has an effect upon where in the transmission line those localized
energy exchanges occur.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Roy Lewallen October 17th 03 07:13 PM

Huh?

Humor me, in what way does that equation constitute proof? Where is the
source impedance in that equation?

An SWR meter will correctly indicate the SWR on a transmission line if
the transmission line connected to its output equals the design
impedance of the meter, regardless of the source impedance. If the
transmission line connected to its output doesn't equal the design
impedance of the meter, the meter won't correctly indicate the SWR on
the the transmission line, again regardless of the source impedance.

Why does this seem so complicated?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Reg Edwards wrote:
Source impedance DOES affect the amount of energy moving in and sloshing
around in a transmission line. It DOESN'T affect the ratio of forward to
reflected waves, and therefore DOESN'T affect the SWR.


===========================

But it DOES affect the indicated SWR and so the indicated SWR is incorrect.

It is the meter which is at fault ! It is designed to indicate correctly
only when the source is 50 ohms.

Here's the proof - Rho = (50-Zt) / (50+Zt) - which you may have seen
before.

SWR, of course, is calculated from Rho and the meter scale is calibrated
accordingly.

If the source is not what the meter expects then it gives the wrong answers.
And its faithful worshippers believe it!
---
Reg, G4FGQ




Roy Lewallen October 17th 03 07:15 PM

Huh?

Reflections reach the source at my station any time the SWR isn't 1:1.
But source reflections have no effect on SWR. I explained why in a
recent posting.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Cecil Moore wrote:
Reg Edwards wrote:

If the source is not what the meter expects then it gives the wrong
answers.
And its faithful worshippers believe it!



If reflections are not allowed to reach the source (typical of
most ham installations) the source impedance cannot have any
effect on the SWR meter readings. Most ham installations are
Z0-matched to 50 ohms thus eliminating reflections between the
Z0-match point and the source.

You are describing systems where reflections are allowed
to reach the source which is atypical of ham installations.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP



Richard Harrison October 17th 03 07:24 PM

Ian, G3SEK wrote:
"1. For a Bird-43 type of meter, you have to read the forward "and" the
reflected indicated "power" levels, and plug "both" of these numbers
into the little formula to calculate SWR...which involves the ratio of
those two numbers."

Yes. Bird gives:
"VSWR = 1+sqrt Pref/Pfwd / 1-sq rt Pref/Pfwd

To eliminate calculations, the Model 43 instruction book includes charts
which give VSWR when Pref and Pfwd intersect on a chart.

A VSWR slide-rule has been produced by Bird which does the same as the
charts, and more.

Bird has published a useful series of technical papers, "Watts New From
Bird" Revisited. One paper, "The Directional Wattmeter", says:
"What is the effect of load impedance on the accuracy of the THRULINE?
The design formulas show that the only imopedance influeincing the
output voltage is Zo, the characteristic impedannce of the line at the
point of measurement. Since each THRULINE wattmeter is supplied with a
section of 50-ohm line, this Zo is accurately known. The load impedance
only affects the forward and reflected power levels which the THRULINE
measures.

Where should the weattmeter be inserted? Again referring to the
formulas, we see that the elements extract a voltage proportional to
either Ef or Er. While the total E varies along an improperly terminated
50-ohm line, the component voltages do not. This is simply another way
of saying that the energy contained in the forward wave remains the same
from the source to the load where some or all of it is reflected (unless
the load is 50 ohms) and the reflected energy remains the same from the
load back to the source. Our directional power meter can, therefore, be
placed anywhere between the source and the load.

Reg`s statement:
"But it DOES affect the indicated SWR and so the indicated SWR is
incorrect." does not apply to the Bird Model 43 wattmeter.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI


Cecil Moore October 17th 03 07:26 PM

Tarmo Tammaru wrote:

Cecil,
You saw my simulations of your example. I got an SWR of 66.3 for ZS=0 and
69.1 for ZS= j400. That is as close as I can resolve. I had thought that if
it was going to change, I would get an SWR of 1:1 for the conjugate matched
case. What I had neglected, and maybe you also, is the fact that when you
connect an SWR meter into the middle of a resonant series tuned circuit, the
current is 90 degrees out of phase with the voltage.


Well, almost 90 degrees. V*I*cos(theta) still has to equal the forward
power minus reflected power even at that point. A quick and dirty phasor
diagram seems to indicate that the SWR meter bridge circuitry would get
pretty screwed up at point 'x' in the following:

Source---w---(-j500)---x---(+j500)---y---50 ohm load
| |
+----------------braid---------------------+

The SWR meter would indicate close to 1:1 at points 'w' and 'y' but
would detect a forward and reflected power of approximately five times
the delivered power at point 'x', offscale on both needles, which is
what happened when I installed my SWR meter at that point.

The SWR bridge circuit phasor adds the two phasors. Even when they are
90 degrees out of phase, they add up to a large magnitude that gets
rectified and routed to the meter.

You may be correctly predicting the actual SWR but I doubt that you
are correctly predicting the response of the bridge circuitry in the
SWR meter.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Cecil Moore October 17th 03 07:39 PM

Roy Lewallen wrote:
Why does this seem so complicated?


The SWR bridge circuitry may not correctly display the
actual SWR. Please see my latest response to Tarmo.

The SWR bridge samples the current and voltage and
performs a phasor addition and subtraction to get
voltages proportional to the forward and reflected
powers. If there is a high voltage caused by reactive
components, it will be close to 90 degrees away from
the current. But phasor adding these two values gives
something slightly greater in magnitude than the high
reactive voltage. That high voltage gets rectified and
displayed as the forward power when it is not actually
the forward power but reactive power flowing from one
reactance to another.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


Cecil Moore October 17th 03 07:51 PM

Roy Lewallen wrote:
Huh?


Huh, indeed. The scope of my statement is less than yours and my
statement is a sub-set of yours. If my statement is wrong, then
so is yours. However, it is within the bounds of logical possibility
that my statement might be correct and yours might be wrong. I'm not
asserting that is the case, just that it is within the bounds of
logical possibilities.

Reflections reach the source at my station any time the SWR isn't 1:1.
But source reflections have no effect on SWR. I explained why in a
recent posting.


Yes, but you didn't prove that source reflections have no effect
on an SWR meter.

If reflections are not allowed to reach the source (typical of
most ham installations) the source impedance cannot have any
effect on the SWR meter readings.


You say source reflections have no effect on SWR. I say if reflections
are not allowed to reach the source, the source impedance cannot have
any effect on the SWR meter readings.

My statement is a sub-set of yours and of lessor scope than yours. If
my statement is wrong, yours must also, by the rules of classical logic,
be wrong. :-)
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP



Jim Kelley October 17th 03 07:54 PM



Cecil Moore wrote:
The SWR bridge samples the current and voltage and
performs a phasor addition and subtraction to get
voltages proportional to the forward and reflected
powers. If there is a high voltage caused by reactive
components, it will be close to 90 degrees away from
the current. But phasor adding these two values gives
something slightly greater in magnitude than the high
reactive voltage. That high voltage gets rectified and
displayed as the forward power when it is not actually
the forward power but reactive power flowing from one
reactance to another.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


The power flow fairy sure has a lot of warts. :-)

73, jk ac6xg

Richard Harrison October 17th 03 08:04 PM

Roy, W7EL wrote:
"But source reflections have no effect on SWR."

That`s right. The load is going to take a fixed percentage of energy
imposed on it and reflect the rest regardless of the actual magnitudes.

All the source impedance can do is to affect the magnitude imposed on
the load.

SWR is based only upon percentage of energy reflected regardless of its
actual magnitude, not how big or small the energy making the ratio. 1/2,
2/4, and 4/8 are all the same ratio.

Cecil has a valid point. If Roy had a properly tuned tuner between his
transmitter and his feedline, the SWR seen by the transmitter would be
1:1, and that means no reflected energy reaching the transmitter.
Reflections reaching the tuner are either wasted in the tuner or
re-reflected by it if the tuner is properly adjusted and no reflections
make it to the transmitter.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI


Ian White, G3SEK October 17th 03 09:22 PM

Cecil Moore wrote:
Roy Lewallen wrote:
Why does this seem so complicated?


The SWR bridge circuitry may not correctly display the
actual SWR. Please see my latest response to Tarmo.

The SWR bridge samples the current and voltage and
performs a phasor addition and subtraction to get
voltages proportional to the forward and reflected
powers. If there is a high voltage caused by reactive
components, it will be close to 90 degrees away from
the current. But phasor adding these two values gives
something slightly greater in magnitude than the high
reactive voltage. That high voltage gets rectified and
displayed as the forward power when it is not actually
the forward power but reactive power flowing from one
reactance to another.


Even in this unusual situation, the behavior of the meter is completely
predictable, including the incorrect power indication.

Remember that the meter doesn't actually measure power - it is only
*calibrated* to *indicate* power. When placed in a situation where its
calibration is not valid, then of course it won't indicate power
correctly. But even its wrong indication can be predicted if you know
the detailed values to plug into a circuit model.

There's really no mystery about it.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Cecil Moore October 17th 03 09:57 PM

Ian White, G3SEK wrote:
Even in this unusual situation, the behavior of the meter is completely
predictable, including the incorrect power indication.

There's really no mystery about it.


My point exactly! So, in the same vein, can the source impedance
adversely affect the SWR meter reading?
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Ian White, G3SEK October 17th 03 10:51 PM

Cecil Moore wrote:
Ian White, G3SEK wrote:
Even in this unusual situation, the behavior of the meter is
completely predictable, including the incorrect power indication.
There's really no mystery about it.


My point exactly! So, in the same vein, can the source impedance
adversely affect the SWR meter reading?


It will affect both the forward and reverse readings, but in equal
proportion, so it won't affect the indicated or calculated SWR (unless
there are nonlinearities in the meter, or the meter is not being used
correctly).


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Cecil Moore October 18th 03 05:53 AM

Ian White, G3SEK wrote:

Cecil Moore wrote:
My point exactly! So, in the same vein, can the source impedance
adversely affect the SWR meter reading?


It will affect both the forward and reverse readings, but in equal
proportion, so it won't affect the indicated or calculated SWR (unless
there are nonlinearities in the meter, or the meter is not being used
correctly).


How about what Chipman says?
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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