Standing Wave and SWR
Standing Wave and SWR Standing Wave and SWR SWR or Standing Wave Ratio is one of the most misunderstood terms in amateur radio. Even though every antenna and transmission line book that I have seen, is quick to point that out, it still is the source of many misconceptions. To most hams with an SWR meter, SWR is whatever the meter reads and if the meter says there's no problem, (SWR is low enough) then the antenna is well. That simply isn't true. So, I will once again explain what exactly SWR is and isn't. First of all, SWR is not an antenna property or a characteristic. SWR is a measure of an antenna system. An antenna system consists at least of two parts: the antenna itself and the feedline from the antenna to the transceiver. Additionally, the antenna system may include, transformers, baluns, matching devices such as an Antenna Tuning Unit, (ATU) etc. When a wave traveling along a transmission line (with characteristic impedance Zo) from the transmitter to the antenna (incident wave) encounters an impedance (Za = Ra ±jXa), that is not the same as Zo then some of the wave energy is reflected (reflected wave) back toward the transmitter. Whenever two waves of the same frequency propagate in opposite directions along the same transmission line, as occurs in any system exhibiting reflections, a static interference pattern (standing wave) is formed along the line. In the best circumstances, we would use a 50-Ohm transmission line to connect a 50-Ohm impedance antenna to a transmitter rated at 50-Ohm output impedance.
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