Study › Technician › T7C › T7C07

T7C07

PRACTICAL CIRCUITS · Antenna and transmission line measurements and troubleshooting: measuring SWR, effects of high SWR, causes of feed line failures; Basic coaxial cable characteristics; Use of dummy loads when testing

T7C07T7C →

What happens to power lost in a feed line?

  1. AIt increases the SWR
  2. BIt is radiated as harmonics
  3. CIt is converted into heat
  4. DIt distorts the signal
Why Feed line loss comes from the resistance of the conductors, dielectric losses in the insulation, and small leakage. Energy that does not reach the antenna has to go somewhere, and by conservation of energy it ends up as heat in the cable. That is why long runs, higher frequencies, and thin coax all reduce the power actually radiated, and why a lossy line can run noticeably warm at high power.
Watch out High SWR causes extra loss, not the other way around, so the choice about increasing SWR reverses cause and effect. Harmonics are generated in the transmitter's nonlinear stages, not by a passive length of coax.
Lost RF does not vanish, it warms the coax: loss equals heat.
HamSandwich explanation, first draft. The question and answers are the NCVEC text.
← T7C06 All of T7C T7C08 →

The rest of T7C

  1. T7C01 What is the primary purpose of a dummy load?
  2. T7C02 Which of the following is used to determine if an antenna is resonant at the desired operating frequency?
  3. T7C03 What does a typical RF dummy load consist of?
  4. T7C04 What reading on an SWR meter indicates a perfect impedance match between the antenna and the feed line?
  5. T7C05 Why do most solid-state transmitters reduce output power as SWR increases beyond a certain level?
  6. T7C06 What does an SWR reading of 4:1 indicate?
  7. T7C07 What happens to power lost in a feed line?
  8. T7C08 Which instrument can be used to determine SWR?
  9. T7C09 Which of the following causes failure of coaxial cables?
  10. T7C10 Why should the outer jacket of coaxial cable be resistant to ultraviolet light?
  11. T7C11 What is an advantage of foam-dielectric versus solid-dielectric coaxial cable?
Diamond X50A Dual Band Base AntennaSponsored · View on Amazon →Baofeng UV-5R Dual Band Two Way RadioSponsored · View on Amazon →