THE SWR TRAP

or
Why SWR meters can be bad for your station…

------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris Turner, ZS6GM

When I listen across the bands and follow technical social media groups I notice that there is still an
obsession with achieving ‘low swr’ on the feedline in the belief that low SWR is an indication of
optimum radiation from the antenna. As Walter Maxwell W2DU says in his series of articles in QST
magazine in the early 1970s, “we are in this state of mind because so much misleading information
has been, and is still being published concerning the behaviour of antennas, performance in the
presence of reflections when mismatched to the antenna and the meaning and interpretation of the
SWR data”.

We have become conditioned to avoid any mismatch and reflection at all costs. One – to – one SWR
seems to be the ultimate goal. This is a myth that has been propagated ‘as fact’ in so many articles
and papers despite the fact that correct teachings are contained in reference books such as the ARRL
Antenna Book and Antennas by John D Krause.

I hope that this article answers these questions.

 What happens to the power that is reflected back towards the transmitter?
 What is a ‘conjugate match’ ?
 Is SWR important in order to radiate maximum power from an antenna?

What is SWR?

SWR is the ratio of forward power to reflected power on a transmission line. Most so called SWR
meters (reflectometers) actually measure voltage standing wave ratio, VSWR, which is the ratio of
(forward voltage + reflected voltage) to (forward voltage – reflected voltage) as measured on a
transmission line.

Transmission Lines

A transmission line may be open wire or coaxial cable and is to RF what a pipe is to fluid. All
transmission lines have a characteristic impedance related to the mechanical dimensions, whether a
coaxial cable or open wire line. In amateur radio, open wire lines will generally have an impedance
of 300, 450 or 600 ohms. Common coaxial cables will have an impedance of 50 ohms or 75 (or 72)
ohms.

When a transmission line is terminated in its characteristic impedance by an antenna or other load at
one end, and power applied at the other end, all the power will be absorbed in the load and there
will be no power reflected back from the load and the VSWR will be 1:1 at any point on the
transmission line.

When a transmission line is terminated in an impedance other than its characteristic impedance,
then Standing Waves will be present on the line. But is this important in the radiating of signals?
The Conjugate Match

The transfer of power from a source (transmitter) to load (antenna) follows Ohms law. When the
source and load are pure resistances, maximum power transfer takes place when the load resistance
is equal to the source resistance. But what happens when the load is a complex impedance and has
resistance and reactance? We use a technique called Conjugate Matching.
Conjugate Match is achieved when the reactive portion of the load is matched by applying an equal
but opposite reactance at the source. This matching cancels the reactive component in the load so
that only the resistive portion is left and Ohm’s Law applies. Conjugate matching is also used to
match the active output circuits in a transmitter to the transmission line. Matching is in one
direction only, from source to load.

Figure 2.

Matching need not be applied at the load but may be applied at any position on the transmission line
between the source and the load. You may ask “why does the mismatch at the load not cause high
SWR and therefore losses when there is no conjugate match at the load end of the transmission
line?”

Optimum power is delivered by a transmitter using conjugate coupling into the transmission line in
order to deliver optimum power. But, this match is in one direction only, that is forward. If one
looks back into the transmitter, the line is completely mismatched during the time that the
transmitter is delivering power.

Conjugate Match means that if in one direction from a junction the impedance has the dimensions
R+jX then in the opposite direction the impedance will have the dimensions R-jX. This means that
when a conjugate match is accomplished in a system, any reactance appearing at any junction is
cancelled by an equal and opposite reactance. This includes any reactance appearing at a load, such
as a non-resonant antenna. This reactance cancellation results in a net system reactance of zero
establishing resonance in the entire system. In this condition, the generator (transmitter) delivers it
maximum available powet to the load (antenna).

We Need To Examine The Mechanism.

The source, i.e. the transmitter output stage has tuned circuits which provide a conjugate match
between the output impedance of the tubes / transistors to the transmission line.

In the case where the load is purely resistive, and it’s resistance (impedance) is the same as the
transmission line, maximum power will be absorbed by the load/antenna and radiated.

Now take the case of a lossless transmission line. If the transmission line is open circuit at the far
end, or the transmission line is short circuit, all the power conducted along the transmission line will
be reflected back to the source. If the load is reactive, i.e. comprises resistance and reactance, a
portion of the power will be reflected back towards the source and a portion will be absorbed.

Contrary to the myth, the reflected power does not make its way back to the active output amplifier
and it cannot be absorbed into the transmitter. Remember that the matching is in one direction from
source to load. When the reflected power arrives back at the source, it sees a total mismatch so it is
again reflected back towards the load. A bit like ping pong.

In the case of a lossless transmission line, because there is no resistive loss of power at the load, and
there is no absorbtion of power at the source, there is no loss of power. So in a real life system, the
only loss of power in the system will be the result of transmission line losses. All the power will be
radiated by the antenna.
The Proof Is In The Eating

This experiment will prove that no power is lost at the transmitter resulting from a mismatch or high
SWR. A directional wattmeter will show that forward power always = source power + reflected
power.

For this experiment it important that the transmitter output is fixed and does not automatically
compensate for changes in load. Ideally, a tube transmitter should be used.

Connect a directional wattmeter between the transmitter and the transmission line, after any tuner.
Arrange for a mismatch at the antenna end of the line by moving the transmit frequency away from
perfect antenna match. Figure 3.

Connect a dummy load to the output of the wattmeter and measure forward power. This we call
source power. There should be zero reflected power. Now connect the transmission line and again
measure the forward power and reflected power. You will notice that the forward power will now
equal the source power + reflected power. So, if the source power is 20 Watts and the reflected
power is 5 Watts, the forward power will measure 25 Watts.

Note that most modern solid state transmitters use an output power leveling circuit. This means that
if there is reflected power, the transmitter will reduce its output so that the forward power is
reduced. This disguises the additive effect of forward and reflected power.

Where to Match

We said earlier that it is not necessary to match the antenna at its feed point but that matching can
take place anywhere between the source (transmitter) and the load. For example coaxial stubs and
tuned transmission lines are examples. An antenna matching unit at the transmitter output is just as
effective. Remember to place your SWR meter between the transmitter and the ATU so that you
match the system to the transmitter output. Not between the ATU and transmission line.

The only reason to aim for a reasonable antenna SWR (typically less than 3:1) is to mitigate
transmission line losses. This means that you can quite happily use non-resonant antennas like the
G5RV/ZS6BKW with an antenna matching unit at the transmitter output. Or you can use a fairly
narrow band self resonant antenna over a much wider range of frequencies and suffer no
measureable loss in radiated power.

Summary

It is erroneously believed that any reduction in SWR or reflected power as measured on the
transmission line feeding an antenna results in a direct one for one increase in radiated power. The
wrong reasoning is the assumption that if power is being reflected it cannot be absorbed in the load
(antenna), but is absorbed or dissapated in the transmitter.

The truth is that all the power that enters the line is absorbed by the load except that which is
dissipated in the line itself due to transmission line attenuation. This is true even when the load is
not matched to the line impedance. All the power delivered by the transmitter is completely
absorbed, even in a mismatched load because the power reflected by the mismatch is conserved and
returned to the load by re-reflection from the transmitter matching or line coupling circuitry.

It is important to remember that because the forward power in a transmission line is the sum of the
source and reflected powers, the forward power will always be greater than the source power when
the SWR is greater than 1. Therefore, our concern of SWR involves only the loss from the
transmisson line attenuation. This means that we can tolerate a higher SWR when line attenuation is
low.

The main reason to aim for low SWR is to permit the easy matching of a transmitter with a fixed
output impedance into a 50 ohm feedline. The use of an antenna matching device between the
transmitter output and feedline will mitigate any SWR effects on the feedline. However it is
important to note that the SWR meter must be placed between the transmitter and tuner and NOT
between the tuner and the feedline.

fig.1a transmission line with a source and load perfectly matched

fig. 2 transmission line with source and a reactive load (mismatched).

Fig.3a. Conjugate Matching - \

Fig. 3b. Experimental Setup