"Reg Edwards" wrote in message ...

I didn't say they were unimportant. I said they served only to add to the
confusion when considering operation of the usual amateur installation when
the generator internal resistance is unknown.

Indeed, and not only that, the generator (ham transmitter) is commonly
neither a linear system nor time invariant. Also, maximum power
(conjugate-matched load) from a linear generator is generally not the
most efficient case. A great many generators and amplifiers are
distincly NOT designed to deliver power to a matched load, but rather
to deliver power efficiently to a specific load which is mismatched
with respect to the output impedance of the generator/amplifier.

There are times when knowing that a generator is a linear 50 ohm
source (within some small tolerance) is important--I deal with them
all the time in the work I do--but in a typical ham transmitter
application, that's very seldom if ever the case.

Cheers,
Tom