The Decibel The decibel (dB) is one of the most useful parameters in radio communications.
It allows one to simply add all of the losses and gains together in order to calculate how much power is actually leaving the antenna and to calculate the effective radiated power. The decibel itself is a ratio, it has no unit and is meaningless unless you state the value or unit that it is related to. Transmitter output power can be quoted in decibel watts (dBW). This value is calculated from the equation 10 log10 P, where P is the power in watts. Coaxial cable loss is normally quoted as dB loss per 10m or 100m. If a particular cable has a loss of 3dB per 100m and you require a 20m run of cable, the loss on your cable will be 3 x (20/100) = 0.6dB. Note however that all coax cable losses vary with frequency and tend to increase as the frequency increases. Antenna gains are usually quoted as either dBd - decibel gain relative to a dipole antenna or dBi - decibel gain relative to a theoretical omidirectional antenna. The effective radiated power can therefore be calculated by taking power output of the transmitter in dBW, subtracting all of the losses due to coax, VSWR, filters etc. and then adding the antenna gain. To convert back into watts, use 10(d/10) (or ten to the power d over ten), where d is the power in dBW. Power in watts Power in dBW
0.001 0.01 0.1 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 25 50 100 200 -30 -20 -10 -3 0 3 7 10 13 14 17 20 23 26 30 400 1000 1500 31.75
VSWR
VSWR or Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (SWR for short), is a subject often discussed in amateur radio circles. It is therefore surprising how many radio hams misunderstand the meaning of the value shown on an SWR meter. An SWR of 1:1 is the ideal that can never be achieved. This value would indicate 100% efficiency in a transmitter, transmission line and antenna system, with no reflected signal whatsoever. An SWR of 1:infinity is the very worst case, with 100% of the transmitted signal being reflected back towards the transmitter. The VSWR ratio is given by Z1/Z2 or Z2/Z1, whichever is greater. Z1 and Z2 being the two impedances at the interface. i.e. the impedance of the coax cable and that of the filter or antenna etc. What is an acceptable VSWR? Most modern transceivers detect a poor VSWR and reduce the output power in order to keep the reverse power down to a safe level. A medium SWR of 1:1.5 - 1:3.0 will therefore do no harm to the transceiver, however the output power will be reduced. Antenna tuning units (ATU's) do not remove or reduce a poor VSWR, they merely 'dump' the reverse power so the transmitter 'sees' a perfect transmission line and therefore increases the power to 100%. However, 100% of the signal will not leave the antenna as there is still a VSWR present on the coaxial cable and some of the signal is lost in the ATU. As you can see from the table below, a VSWR of 1:1.4 causes a loss of less than 0.15dB or 3%, this is likely to be less than the coax cable loss. Trying to reduce such an SWR still further will be expensive and pointless as the increase in effective radiated power will be totally undetectable by other stations. It should also be noted that a transmitter is seen as a bad load in reverse, the majority of reverse power will therefore be reflected at the coax / transmitter interface. Reverse power is given by the equation Pr = P x (S-1)2 / (S+1)2 , where Pr is the reverse power, P is the transmitter power and S is the VSWR presented to the transmitter.
Below is a table showing the reverse power for a transmitter presented with different SWR's VSWR presented to a Percentage power Percentage power loss transmitter transfer 1:1.0 1:1.1 1:1.2 1:1.3 0 0.23 0.83 1.70 2.78 100 99.8 99.2 98.3 1:1.4 1:1.5 1:1.6 1:1.7 4.00 5.33 6.72 8.16 97.2 96.0 94.5 93.7 1:1.8 1:1.9 1:2.0 1:2.2 9.63 11.1 14.1 17.0 91.8 90.4 88.9 85.9 1:2.4 1:2.6 1:2.8 1:3.0 19.8 22.4 25.0 30.9 83.0 80.2 77.6 75.0 1:3.5 1:4.0 1:5.0 1:7.0 36.0 44.4 56.3 67.0 69.1 64.0 55.6 43.7 1:10.0 1:20.0 1:50.0 81.9 92.3 100 33.0 18.1 7.7 0 1:infinity Decibel loss (dB) 0 -0.01 -0.04 -0.08 -0.12 -0.18 -0.25 -0.28 -0.37 -0.44 -0.51 -0.66 -0.81 -0.96 -1.10 -1.25 -1.61 -1.94 -2.55 -3.60 -4.81 -7.42 -11.1 -infinity
Reducing VSWR
What can be done about a poor VSWR? Firstly, check your coax cable, it's impedance will change with age. Avoid sharp bends at all cost as this will also change the impedance. Check your connectors. Use the recommended connectors and never tape coax together. The SWR of PL259 connectors increases quite dramatically over 100MHz. Therefore N-type connectors should be used wherever possible. Finally, one should consider the distance between components on the coax cable! This is something that is rarely discussed in amateur radio literature. Consider what happens if you have a transmitter, a filter and an antenna connected by lengths of coax. The signal leaves the transmitter, travels along the coax cable and meets the filter. Filters normally have a VSWR of around 1:1.5, this means that 96% of the signal will proceed through and 4% will be reflected back. The antenna will probably have a VSWR of around 1:1.2. Therefore a further 1% will be reflected and 99% of the 96% will proceed. The coax will therefore contain 5% reverse power from the two components. These components, along with the transmitter will in turn reflect some of the reverse power forward again. Depending on the length of the coax between each of the components, this double reflected power may or may not be in phase with the main signal. If the double reflected power is totally out of phase with the main signal, destructive interference will occur and the main signal will be reduced. If however, the double reflected power can be made to be in phase, the two signals will constructively interfere and will add to each other. Radio signals propagate through coax cable at a speed 66% of that in a vacuum. Whilst the frequency remains unchanged, the wavelength reduces by 66% in order to compensate. Constructive interference will therefore occur at 0, n/3, 2n/3, n, 4n/3 etc. where n is the wavelength. Destructive interference will occur at n/6, 3n/6, 5n/6, 7n/6 etc. One should therefore aim to use lengths of coax that are multiples of n/3 or butt components together. If you use more than one band, a common multiple must be found. e.g. For the 6m, 2m and 70cm bands, coax lengths of 4.2m, 6.2m or 13.75m are good compromises and should help to reduce the VSWR. The worst case when using the wrong length of coax is given by SWR1xSWR2 for two components or SWR1xSWR2xSWR3 for three components. The best case when using the right length of coax is given by SWR1+SWR2 -1 for two components and SWR1+SWR2+SWR3 -2 for three components. Therefore if you have a filter with an SWR of 1:1.5 and an antenna of 1:1.2 the worst case will be 1:1.8 and the best case will be 1:1.7. If your VSWR is already below 1:1.4 you will not see any great difference. HF operators need not worry, the wavelengths are too long to use this, just keep coax lengths as short as possible. It is not a good idea to add an extra 20m of coax as the increased loss will cancel out any benefits due to reduced VSWR.
RL = 20log((VSWR+1) / (VSWR-1)) VSWR = (1+(10^RL/20)) / ((10^RL/20)-1) * RL = Return Loss Return Loss : This is the dB value of absolute reflection coefficient. It is rather curious concept of transmission engineering. This loss value becomes 0 for 100% reflection and becomes infinite for an ideal connection. Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) : This is the ratio of maxmum voltage to minimum voltage in standing wave pattern. It varies from +1 to infinite.
nput value and select impedance (ohm), unit of parameter then click the "convert" button.
Note: 50ohm 0 dBm = 1 mW = 47 dBmV = 107.0 dBuV = 223.61 mV(rms)
Note: 75ohm 0 dBm = 1 mW = 48.8 dBmV = 108.8 dBuV = 273.86 mV(rms)
mW = 10^(value dBm/10) dBm = 10log(value mW/1mW) dBmV = 47+(value dBm)__50ohmordBmV =48.8+(value dBm)__75ohm dBuV = dBmV+60 mV(rms) = (SQRT(value mW * R/1000))*1000
The reflection coefficient, VSWR, reflection/return loss conversion
0.1 REFL_COEF (VOL) .. reflection coefficient (in voltage)) REFL_COEF (PWR) .. reflection coefficient (in power)) VSWR (VOL) .. voltage standing wave ratio VSWR (dB) .. voltage standing wave ratiomin (in dB) REFL_LOSS (dB) .. reflection loss RETN_LOSS (dB) .. return loss NORM_IMP .. normalized load impedance
Select the type of parameter and input it's value, then click the "compute" button. Unmatched load connected with transmission line causes reflected waves and following phenomenon.
1) transmission loss by reflection 2) frequency dependency of transmission characteristics 3) standing wave caused by interference between incident and reflected waves
Generally following parameters are used to evaluate the amount of reflection. We must pay attention that all the parameters other than "reflection coeeficient" have no information about direction of reflection.
reflection coefficient
This is the ratio of reflected wave to incident wave at point of reflection. This value varies from -1 (for short load) to +1 (for open load), and becomes 0 for matched impedance load.
reflection coefficient in power
This is a squere of the eflection coefficient which means the ratio of the reflected power to the incident power.
Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR)
This is the ratio of maxmum voltage to minimum voltage in standing wave pattern. It varies from 1 to (plus) infinit.
reflection loss
This is a ratio of reflected power to incident power in dB.
return loss
This is the dB value of absolute reflection coefficient. It is rather curious concept for transmission engneering. This loss value becomes 0 for 100% reflection and becomes infinite for ideal connection. The reflection coefficient can be calculated from the "normalized value" of the load impedance.
r = (Zn - 1)/(Zn + 1) Zn = Z/Z0 where r = reflection coefficient Zn = normalized load impedance Z0 = characteristic impedance of line (Ohm) Z = load impedance (Ohm)
Following relations stand for these parameters.
reflection coefficient in power = r^2 VSWR = (1 + abs(r))/(1 - abs(r)) reflection loss = -10*log10(1 - r^2) return loss = 10*log10(r^2) [dB] r = reflection coefficient [dB]
The "abs(x)" replesents absolute value of x. The "log10(x)" replesents the common (base of 10) logarithm of x.
Reflection Coef. Return Loss (dB) Mismatch Loss (dB)
Calculating VSWR, Return Loss, Reflection Coefficient, and Mismatch Loss
There are a number of calculations that are useful when simulating the transmission of a wave through a line. These calculations can be quite important in calculating the energy that arrives at the load versus how much energy the transmitter is producing. Ideally, the load impedance should match the characteristic impedance of the transmission line so that all of the transmitted energy is available at the load. When the load impedance does not match the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, part of the voltage will be reflected back down the line reducing the available energy at the load. One measurement is the reflection coefficient (). The reflection coefficient measures the amplitude of the reflected wave versus the amplitude of the incident wave. The expression for calculating the reflection coefficient is as follows: = (ZL - ZS)/(ZL + ZS) where ZL is the load impedance and ZS is the source impedance. Since the impedances may not be explicitly known, the reflection coefficient can be measured in a similar manner to an S11 measurement by using the wave amplitudes at the source and at the node following the source impedance. The following define statement user function can be used to measure the reflection coefficient. .define RefCo(In,Src) Mag(2*V(In)-V(Src)) where In is the node name of the node following the source impedance and Src is the part name of the source component. The VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) measurement describes the voltage standing wave
pattern that is present in the transmission line due to the phase addition and subtraction of the incident and reflected waves. The ratio is defined by the maximum standing wave amplitude versus the minimum standing wave amplitude. The VSWR can be calculated from the reflection coefficient with the equation: VSWR = (1 + )/(1 - ) The following define statement user function can be used to measure the VSWR. .define VSWR(In,Src) (1+RefCo(In,Src))/(1-RefCo(In,Src)) The return loss measurement describes the ratio of the power in the reflected wave to the power in the incident wave in units of decibels. The standard output for the return loss is a positive value, so a large return loss value actually means that the power in the reflected wave is small compared to the power in the incident wave and indicates a better impedance match. The return loss can be calculated from the reflection coefficient with the equation: Return Loss = -20*Log() The following define statement user function can be used to measure the return loss. .define RetLoss(In,Src) -20*Log(RefCo(In,Src)) The mismatch loss measurement describes the amount of power that will not be available at the load due to the reflected wave in units of decibels. It indicates the amount of power lost in the system due to the mismatched impedances. The mismatch loss can also be calculated from the reflection coefficient with the following equation: Mismatch Loss = -10*Log(1 - ) The following define statement user function can be used to measure the mismatch loss. .define MismatchLoss(In,Src) -10*Log(1 - RefCo(In,Src)**2) For the VSWR, return loss, and mismatch calculations, the In and Src parameters are defined in the same manner as they are for the reflection coefficient define statement. If only the VSWR, return loss, or mismatch loss measurement is to be performed in the analysis, the reflection coefficient define statement must also be present to perform the calculation since it is referenced in all three of these calculations. A simple circuit is displayed in the figure below to demonstrate the use of these define statement user functions. The circuit consists of a voltage source, two resistors, and an ideal, lossless transmission line. The load resistance has been set to 75 ohms to create a mismatch with the 50 ohm characteristic impedance of the transmission line. The four define statement user functions have been entered in the schematic as grid text. Each statement must be entered as a separate grid text. They may also be entered in the Text page of the schematic to reduce the clutter in the schematic.
An AC analysis simulation is then run on the circuit. The four Y expressions plotted for the simulation are: VSWR(In,V1) RetLoss(In,V1) RefCo(In,V1) MismatchLoss(In,V1) The AC simulation results are displayed below. Since this example circuit is entirely resistive, the AC analysis response will be constant across the entire frequency range. Note that the node name used as the parameter within these functions does not have to be named In. It can be any name that the user chooses or even the node number of the node. V1 is the part name for the voltage source in the schematic.
The AC simulation returns the following results for this circuit: VSWR = 1.5 Reflection Coefficient = .2 Return Loss = 13.979dB Mismatch Loss = .177dB The define statements can also be placed in the MCAP.INC file which can be accessed through the User Definitions under the Options menu. Placing them in this file makes the functions
globally available for all circuits. Reference: 1) VOLTAGE STANDING WAVE RATIO (VSWR) / REFLECTION COEFFICIENT RETURN LOSS / MISMATCH LOSS, Granite Island Group, http://www.tscm.com/vswr.pdf
