David G. Nagel wrote:

Cecil Moore wrote:
If we have one amp of forward RF current and one amp of
reflected RF current, which direction is the sum of those
currents flowing?

I was taught that under these circumstances DC and RF work differently.
Yes your DC net current is zero. Your new RF current is one amp in each
direction.

Yes, that is true, but EZNEC doesn't report the two separate
currents. EZNEC reports the phasor sum of those two currents
in magnitude and phase. So the question still remains: In
which direction is the total current reported by EZNEC
flowing? What does the unchanging phase really mean?

EZNEC says that, referenced to the source phase, the phase
of the phasor sum of the forward and reflected currents is
UNCHANGING. It makes no sense to pick a direction of flow
for the sum of two equal currents flowing in opposite
directions.

Standing wave current doesn't flow in the commonly accepted
meaning of "flow". Standing wave current just stands there.

I received the following email from a physics professor:

"As for the standing waves, they really aren't independent
creatures. They're an artifact - a construct which happens
to look like the superposition of fields which surround the
antenna. But the fields which superpose look like the traveling
waves. The traveling waves really tell the story."
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp