Reg Edwards wrote:

Standing wave ratios on ordinary 1/2-wave dipoles can soar as high as
10-to-1.


With all the fuss made about excessive SWR everywhere else, why is it the
guru's never mention it, let alone show anxiety about it? What are they
trying to cover up?




It's a communist plot! ;-) Actually, if your feedline is low loss,
and is
able to handle the higher voltages you'd get with high SWRs, and you're
using a narrowband mode like voice SSB, and your rig can tune load
into it, high SWR is not a problem.

BTW, if you're using coax to feed a dipole, be sure to make a coil of
the coax feedline of several turns at the antenna feedpoint. The object
of this is to keep RF currents from traveling down the *OUTSIDE*
of the coax shield. Otherwise your antenna's radiation pattern will
be goofed up, and also the SWR will get even worse. This also
keeps stray RF out of the shack.