Ham Radio . Magnum Experimentum
Antennas, experiments, engineering and other articles of interest to radio folks.
Articles mentioning the use of Standing Wave Ratio.
I measured the SWR and Return Loss of a loaner Diamond X50 antenna.
A 1/4 wavelength of 75 ohm coax inline with a full wavelength of 50 ohm coax is all one needs to make a simple 80m dipole become a wideband dipole antenna.
Return Loss and SWR measurements of a permanent 2m whip installation mid-roof of a Ford Taurus. The effect of doors is shown.
Furthering the discussion of the 43 foot vertical antenna I wanted to report a concern I have with this antenna and the use of any relay based coax switch.
If you install a 43 foot vertical in your back yard, route the coax through a switch and handle the tuning inside your ham shack, you need to ensure you do not exceed the voltage or current limits of the relays in the switch.
If you are fortunate enough to have equipment to measure return loss of your antenna system here is a chart that will convert the return loss in dB to SWR…