TopBand: re: Topband some antenna help ... etc

[Wes Attaway]

Gad, what a long string of personal attacks mixed with a little bit of
antenna and SWR information.  The comments about "lieing SWR meters" are
especially interesting.  If you get a high reading when you expect a low
one is the meter "lieing" or telling the truth .... or vice versa?  One of
the great misconceptions about SWR is the belief that you can achieve the
magical 1:1 with a reactive load of 50-ohms impedance .... if a meter says
otherwise (maybe 1.2:1 or worse) then it must be faulty.  Actually, the
meter may be correct.  The mathematics show that if reactance (any
reactance) is present in the load, you will not ever achieve a 1:1 SWR ....
the load impedance may be 50-ohms, but the SWR will not be 1:1 with a true
50-ohm line.  The other side of the coin is that many meters "lie" in the
other direction .... they give lower SWR readings than what they should. 
Hams are lulled to sleep with these things ... life is good ... SWR is low
.... even if strange things are going on with the matching situation.  Get
something like the Autek RF Analyzer if you want to be jolted into reality
.... at the very least it will cause you to learn more about whether you
should even worry about SWR.  Countless DXers actually spend money and time
worrying about matching 75-ohm low-loss CATV line to 50-ohm antennas.
Remember the hallmark rule of SWR ..... the ONLY thing that affects it is
the load at the end of the feedline.  If the load is even slightly
reactive, then the SWR will never be 1:1, regardless of what any meter
might say. The other question is .... is it worth worrying about?  That is
the question to actually think about.
  ------------ Wes Attaway  (N5WA) ------------
2048 Pepper Ridge, Shreveport, LA 71115
  Tel: 318-7973012 --- Fax: 318-7974972 
  ----------- e-mail: wes@prysm.net ------------



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