[Elecraft] resitance vs impedence

[W3FPR - Don Wilhelm]

Ken,

I would rather deal with the antenna having the higher 'R'.  The reactance 
can be easily tuned out with a capacitor or an inductor, but the return path 
losses (usually ground loss) on the antenna with the low resistance become a 
higher percentage of the total, and the antenna having the higher R will be 
more efficient - the SWR alone does not tell the whole story.

To illustrate - assume a 12 ohm return path loss resistance and the 
reactance component properly compensated - with the 6 ohm antenna, the total 
resistance is 18 ohms and 1/3 of the signal is radiated, but with the 48 ohm 
antenna and the same 12 ohm return loss, the total resistance is 60 ohms and 
4/5 of the total signal is radiated.  The actual return resistance may vary, 
I just used 12 ohms because it made the resulting numbers come out easily - 
the principle is still the same with any other value.

73,
Don W3FPR

----- Original Message ----- 

While setting up a dipole antenna tonight a question come up while 
discussing the tuning with myself:  Which is the "most effective" antenna - 
understanding it will be matched with a antenna tuner, either the internal 
autotuner or an external manual tuner - a dipole type antenna with a 
resistance of R=6 ohms and impedance of X=16, or the same dipole type 
antenna with R=48 and X=146?  Both of these settings have the same SWR=6.5

I guess that same question would apply to a short vertical, or end fed zepp 
type antenna.