Antonio Vernucci wrote:
I knew that the resonant point does not precisely coincide with the
minimum SWR point, but I would not have suspected such a big difference
(2 MHz shift at 29 MHz!).
There's a thread over on eHam.net dealing with this same subject.
Many complex antennas exhibit this effect to a certain extent. The
reason is obvious. Our SWR meters are calibrated for 50 ohms and
an antenna may be resonant with a e.g. 9+j0 ohm feedpoint impedance.
That's a 50 ohm SWR of 5.6:1 where almost 1/2 of the RF is rejected
at the antenna when 50 ohm coax is being used. If the 50 ohm SWR
drops below 5.6:1 somewhere else it necessarily must exhibit a
higher resistance and reactance than exists at the 9 ohm antenna
feedpoint.
Moral: There is nothing magic about 50 ohms. If you were using
a transmission line with a Z0 of 9 ohms with a 9 ohm SWR meter,
you wouldn't notice anything worth reporting.
--
73, Cecil, IEEE, OOTC,
http://www.w5dxp.com