c Forward waves, reflected waves, s.

w,,
characteristic impedance, electrical length, etc.
William Vissers tries his hand at an explanation.
Understanding The S.W.R.
Meter
BY WILLIAM VISSERS*, K4KI
since any meter which readings
voltage can be calibrated to measure
power, we now have a basic method of
measuring forward and reflected
voltages and powers, and calculating
s.w.r.
Now right ~ w a y there are going to
be questions. The first one probably is:
How can you call the measurements
forward and reflected power when we
don't have an antenna and transmis-
sion line connected, and instead are
just using a load connected right at
the transmitter. The answer to that
one is simple. The bridge doesn't have
eyes, and doesn't know that is isn't
connected to an antenna/transmis-
sion line system with impedance Z. All
it knows is that it is connected to an
unknown impedance Z and from two
voltages called Eref and Efwd we can
calculate some data called forward
and reflected power, and also
something called s.w.r. And these
measurements would be exactly the
same whether or not the connectors
were to an antenna system of Z im-
pedance or to a lumped impedance
load of constant Z connected directly
to the bridge output. Naturally the im-
pedance Z will have to be the same in
both cases to get the same results.
This brings us to a very important
point. If we visualize the anten-
na/transmission line just as an or-
dinary impedance connected to the
simple bridge, and realize that the
measurement are just indications of
an impedance mismatch, then we
don't have to worry about such things
as reflections on our line, or such
things as power travelling in two dif-
ferent directions. We could if we
wanted to call the two voltages by any
other name, but as long as convention
and practice have designed the two
voltages as Efwd and Eref, out of
deference to the ivory tower theoreti-
25H
Z
A
50n
}-----t)H
periment we will outline will act as if
we never heard of travelling waves. At
first we won't even mention antennas
or transmission lines. In other words
we will start with a clean mental
slate.
Let's look at the primitive bridge
circuit of fig. 1 connected to our
transmitter. And as we are going to
use 50 ohm coaxial cable for our
feedline, let's design our bridge so
that each known leg is 50 ohms. We
designed our bridge this way because
we all know that a s.w.r. meter or r.t,
wattmeter of that type is designed for
a specific feedline impedance. If you
try to usesas.wr. meter designed for
50 ohms line impedance with some
other line impedance you are going to
run into trouble right off. Your
readings will be incorrect. So I
designed it the way I did to avoid any
problems. No diodes and networks
that couple the meters to the bridge
have been shown, as they are com-
mon to all s.w.r. meters. I've only tried
to show the basic bridge elements to
keep this article as simple and yet as
comprehensive as possible.
The unknown load will be con-
nected from A to B as shown. And let's
pick a simple load to keep our calcula-
tions easy. 25ohms is a good figure so
we'll use that. This basic meter can
measure what we call Eref for E
reflected, and Efwd for Eforward. And
,..----y----------9:-----------)lG
c
50n
EREF
16.67v.
0
Transmitter
100v.
"'9
50n
50v.
NOTE:
SWR= 2:1
E
Fig. 1 - A "primitive" bridge circuit.
*1245 S. Orlando Ave., Cocoa Beach
FL 32931
Often one of the most difficult
things to do is to mentally visualize a
somewhat complex physical process.
And nowhere is this more true than in
trying to understand exactly what a
s.w.r. meter or r.f.wattmeter is doing
when it measures what is called for-
ward and reflected power, and the
subsequent calculation of s.w.r. It sort
of reminds me of my dad, an emigrant
from the Old Country, who when asked
by a local yokel as to how he could pro-
ve
that the world was round, thought a
bit, smiled and said, "Well, it's gotta
be round, because that's the way the
heels of my shoes wear out." And so
-to avoid believing the right thing for
the wrong reasons, I thought it might
be interesting to figure out exactly
what a s.w.r. meter actually measures.
Too often we are subjected to
erudite and learned dissertations on
power traveling both forward and
backward on our transmission lines.
That is about as incomprehensible to
me as trying to visualize water in a pipe
travelling in two directions at the
same time. If we could but visualize
and wanted to perform a simple, easi-
ly understood experiment, perhaps
we'd better understand what goes on
when we use our s.w.r. meter. The ex-
38 - CO -March, 1979

In
Out
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0 0-- Out In
2 3
5 6
0 0
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0 0--- Out
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In ) A(
1 2
350
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350
Out
and one can house it in a small, un-
shielded enclosure with two fix-
spaced banana plugs on the input side
to fit into the binding post matrix and
two terminal posts on the output side
for transmission line connection. Note
from fig. 2 that the balun can then be
plugged directly into the output of five
of the six matching networks shown.
That is, one banana plug going to the
"out" binding post and the other one
to the #6 (ground) binding post.

Sheet copper
link,
Tuning
The fact that the antenna tuner pro-
vides such a variety of interconnec-
tions had lead to a bit of confusion on
the part of some users. This can be
avoided if one first tries the first two
matching networks of fig. 2, notes
switch and capacitor positions and
then goes on to trying other circuits,
adding external fixed capacitrs, etc.
The criteria is to achieve a 1:1, or near-
ly 1:1, s.w.r. between the transmitter
and the tuner while simultaneously
achieving a match to the antenna which
wastes a minimum of power in the
tuner. Generally speaking, the match-
ing network that utilizes a minimum of
inductance and a maximum of
capacitance to achieve a clearly
tunable match to an antenna (as in-
dicated by the s.w.r. meter between the
transmitter and tuner) will be the best
one. Having a dummy load available is a
great convenience in this process since
one can first set up the transmitter
working only into the dummy load.
Then, when an antenna is being
matched, the transmitter output con-
trols are left alone and one can con-
centrate on adjustment of the antenna
tuner settings. 001
Out
:J
In )
q
4 5
0--- Out
(D)
Out
J
0
:] '"1
2
350
5
o--Out
lEI
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2
5
0
IFI
Fig. 2-Five matching networks that can be developed
by strapping together the binding posts with links or
just with wire.
2" x 3" perf board stock
51\2
Fig. 3-Arrangement of sixteen 820
ohm resistors to form a dummy load.
The two grounds shown should be close
together, or better yet, each ground lead
should go to the same ground point.
strument switches (both 1 pole, 12
position) were reported as providing
excellent service up to the 150 watt
transmitter output level as long as one
does not keep the transmitter keyed
while changing switch positions.
Balanced Line Output
Coupling into a balanced line is
possible, of course, by using a plug-in
balun on the binding post matrix. The
Amidon balun kit is readily available
points although spreading the tap
points to be a bit larger on one end and
smaller on the other end on the induc-
tor is preferred. The reason for leaving
the first switch position free is so the
variable capacitor (one side of which is
permanently tied to the switch arm on
binding post #2) can be used alone in
series with an antenna, if desired. The
dummy load is wired to the last switch
position. By putting the switch in this
position and strapping binding post #2
to #5 and #5 to #4, one can access the
dummy load alone. If none of these ex-
tra features is desired, all 12 switch
positions should be used for tapping
the inductor.
Switches
As was mentioned in the original ar-
ticle, steatite insulated switches are
preferred, if one can obtain them at a
reasonable cost. But the Mallory
#311112J or 32112J inexpensive in-
Ie)
Dummy Load
Although a single resistor dummy
load is preferred, it is sometimes dif-
ficult to find the proper non-inductive
resistor. A quite satisfactory dummy
. load can be fabricated by paralleling
16 820 ohm, 2 watt carbon composi-
tion resistors. The combination will
present about a 51 ohm impedance for
use with the usual 52 ohm transmitter
output impedance. The resistors
themselves total only 32 watts dissipa-
tion but they are suitable to handle the
output of any 100 watt class transmit-
ter, provided power is applied only for
short periods for tune-up purposes.
One should not construct the resistors
in one long, parallel chain but rather in
two eight resistor groupings as shown
in fig. 3. This is easily done on a small
2" - 3" piece of perforated board
stock. If the resistors are tightly
grouped together and the wiring kept
short, performance will be good down
to 10 meters.
March, 1979 CO 37
50'1 line
50'1 line
Fig. 4 - Bridge circuit with a 100 ohm load.
Fig. 2 - A half wave (electrical) length 50 ohm transmission line terminated in a
25 ohm load.
s.w.r. The aim of this explanation was
to go into some of the basics in a sim-
ple manner that will take all of the
mystery of how a s.w.r. meter works.
One last item. If you were either to
short points A and B or leave them
open you would find that in those two
extreme cases that the forward and
reflected voltages measured would be
both be 50 volts, and the forward
power would be equal to the reflected
power, the power output would be
zero, and the s.w.r. would be infinite.
True power under all conditions is
equal to forward power minus
reflected power.
Pfwd/Pref = (Efwd
/Eref)2
=
(50/16.67)2 = 9:1.
And as was mentioned, even though
we have shown the examples for
resistive loads, the same theory and
results will hold for complex loads
composed of resistance and react-
ance, more representative of a true
antenna system.
So we would see on the wattmeters
that the forward power would be nine
times the reflected power, which is the
power ratio for a s.w.r. of 2:1. And this
is a handy ratio to know since many
manufacturers caution about running
their equipment with a s.w.r. of more
G
C
< 5m2 EREF
50r2
16.67v.
0
100v
H
Transmitter A
E>W'9
50n
100r2
50v.
NOTE:
Z
E B
SWR = 2:1
voltage across GH is now 33.33 volts.
The voltage across CD is still 50 volts.
The voltage from Dto H is 50 - 33.33.
= 16.67 volts, which is exactly the
same as it was when the load was 25
ohms. And as the voltaqs, Efwd and
Eref are still the same, the s.w.r. is still
2:1. The signifigance of this perhaps
surprising result is that changing the
length of the feedline does not change
the S.w.r. And isn't that about the
easiest proof you've ever seen? And
we never even mentioned reflected
waves or anything complicated like
that.
Our discussion has naturally been
limited to a lossless transmission line,
no proximity effects, or unbalanced
lines which can slightly affect the
-
I..
power, we could easily find the for-
ward and reflected power ratio, which
varies as the square of the voltage
ratio.
Now, if we have changed the line
length from a half wave to a quarter
wave and the input resistance has
changed from 25 to 100 ohms, and we
applied the antenna system to our
s.w.r. bridge, would the s.w.r. change?
The answer may be a surprise. The
s.w.r. will still be 2:1 as it was when the
load was 25 ohms. The bridge circuit
with the 100 ohm load is shown in fig.
4. I won't go through all of the calcula-
tions again except to show that the
Fig. 3 - A quarter wave (electrical) length 50 ohm transmission line terminated in
a 25 ohm load.
_ ::">--
I..
L'cians who started it, let's leave the
meters be called forward and reverse
voltage, or forward and reverse power
if we calibrate them that way.
One other immediate objection will
be that a r.f. meter that you buy does
not have three 50 ohm resistances
that will absorb and lose a lot of
power. That is absolutely correct. The
commercial s.w.r. meters or watt-
meters we use and are acquainted
with generally are made up of reac-
tance networks and a transformer that
takes the place of our three 50 ohm
resistors. But their bridge action is ex-
actly the same as the simple meter we
have described, as they too wind up
with measurements of Efwd and Eref.
The commercial units absorb only a
minute amount of power. However,
since the bridge shown is very easy to
visualize and to make calculations
with, let's stick to it for the sake of ex-
plaining some very basic concepts.
If we assume a transmitter output of
100volts and if we assume the voltage
indicators do not absorb any ap-
preciable power, we can easily
calculate Efwd and Eref. The total
resistance of the two resistors CD +
DEis 100 ohms, so the current through
them is one ampere. And by Ohm's
Law the voltage across CD will be E =
IR = (1) (50) = 50 volts. And the for-
ward voltage is nothing more than the
transmitter voltage minus the voltage
across CD or 100 - 50 = 50 volts.
Now the total resistance of the two
resistors GH + AB is 50 + 25 = 75
ohms. And the current through them is
I = ElR = 100175 = 1.333 amperes.
Now the voltage across GH can be
calculated as E
GH
= IR = (50) (1.333)
= 66.67 volts. And looking at fig. 1 you
see that the voltage from Dto H, which
is the reflected voltage, is actually the
difference of the voltages across the
two resistors GH and CD, or 66.67 -
50 = 16.67 volts. So the reflected
voltage is 16.67 volts and the forward
voltage is 50 volts.
Now it is easy to calculate s.w.r. as
it is defined as s:w.r. = Efwd +
Eref/Efwd - Eref. (reference:
Transmission Lines, Antennas, and
Wave GUides; King, Mimno, Wing;
McGraw Hill Book Co.) s.w.r. = 50 +
16.67/50 - 16.67 = 2:1. So we have
calculated S.W.r. without even having
an antennaltransmission line con-
nected! And if by chance you had an
antennaltransmission line system
whose impedance was exactly 25
ohms, you could connect to your S.W.r.
meter and you would get exactly the
same results. So you see how easy it
is to understand s.w.r. without worry-
ing about the complicated concept of
reverse and forward travelling waves.
And if now the meters were calibrated
in terms of forward and reflected
March, 1979 CQ 39

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than 2:1. The higher the S.W.r. the
lower will be the ratio of forward to
reflected power.
Feedline Considerations
Without going into a lot of transmis-
sion line theory we are all aware that
changing the length of the transmis-
sion line can change the impedance of
the system at the transmitter if our
antenna is not a perfect 50 ohms
match for the 50 ohm coaxial cable be-
ing used. If the antenna for example
were exactly 25 ohms and the
transmission line is an exact electrical
half wavelength, the impedance at the
transmitter end would be 25 ohms.
This is shown in fig. 2. If we were to
measure with a r.f. bridge between
points X and Y we would find it to be
25 ohms. And we already know that
the s.w.r. for a 25 ohm load is 2:1. Now
if we were to shorten the line to an
electrical quarter wavelength and
again measure the impedance bet-
ween points X and Y we would be in
for a surprise. Even though the anten-
na was still 25 ohms, the measured im-
pedance looking in at points X and Y
would be 100 ohms. This is shown in
fig. 3.
Now this rather interesting state of
affairs is caused by the fact that a
transmission line acts essentially like
a transformer whose transformation
ratio, among other things, is depen-
dent upon the length of the line. What
happens is that changing the line
length changes the impedance we see
at points X and Y for a given load. For
a quarter wave length section the im-
pedance transformation is Zc
(Zload) (Zinput), where Zc is the im-
pedance of the line, which is 50 ohms.
And Zioad, which is the antenna, is 25
If we solve for Zinput we would
find It to be Zinput = ZVZload =
(50)2/25 = 100 ohms. The example just
shown was made simple to illustrate a
principle. If a line length other than a
quarter or half wave length were used
the answers would not be as easy to
calculate. Or if the antenna load were
not a pure resistance, the calculations
would be a bit more difficult. 001
40 CO March, 1979