--- On Wed, 11/4/09, Steve Ellington <[email protected]> wrote:

The first statement is correct. Length of coax will transform impedance and 
cause SWR meters to read differently.

Absent loss, if the cable Zo matches the SWR bridge design impedance (or vice 
versa), then the SWR reading should be unaffected by the cable length.

I've seen this Smith Chart reference before and it makes no sense. 

Of course it does, it makes perfect sense.  If the chart is normalized to the 
line Zo, and the load Z is mapped accordingly, then changing line length moves 
the load Z around the chart.  Yes, the impedance changes, but the SWR does 
not.  A properly designed instrument, matched to the line Zo should read the 
same SWR regardless of line length.

These devices aren't impedance bridges, they are (supposedly) reflection 
coefficient measurement instruments.  As such, they haven't a clue what the 
impedance is, nor should they.

You can certainly use your feeder to "match" your antenna. Of course, if SWR 
meters didn't care what the impedance is then yes, it wouldn't matter where you 
put it along the line but such is not the case.

Well, as I said above, it should be the case.

Wes  N7WS

Steve
N4LQ
[email protected]
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil & Debbie Salas" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 5:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 SWR Accuracy - reprise


> "How long is the coax between the LP100 sensor and the K3? This can have
> a significant impedance transformation impact as you go to higher
> frequencies, leading to a different indicated SWR at each end."
>
> The impedance changes, but not the SWR.  Looking at this on a Smith Chart,
> you can see that you just rotate around a constant SWR circle.  Minus coax
> losses of course, which are negligable when we're talking a few feet at 
> HF.
>
> Phil - AD5X
>



      
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