The Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) is an indication of the amount of mismatch between an antenna and the feed line connecting to it. This is also known as the Standing Wave Ratio (SWR). The range of values for VSWR is from 1 to ∞ . A VSWR value under 2 is considered suitable for most antenna applications. The antenna can be described as having a “Good Match”. So when someone says that the antenna is poorly matched, very often it means that the VSWR value exceeds 2 for a frequency of interest. Return loss is another specification of interest and is covered in more detail in the Antenna Theory section. A commonly required conversion is between return loss and VSWR, and some values are tabulated in chart, along with a graph of these values for quick reference.
Want more valuable information?
|
Return loss (dB) |
Return loss (Absolute Value) |
VSWR |
|
∞ |
0 |
1 |
|
26.848 |
0.0454 |
1.1 |
|
20.827 |
0.0909 |
1.2 |
|
15.563 |
0.1667 |
1.4 |
|
12.736 |
0.2307 |
1.6 |
|
10.881 |
0.2857 |
1.8 |
|
9.542 |
0.3333 |
2 |
|
6.020 |
0.5000 |
3 |
|
4.436 |
0.6000 |
4 |
|
3.521 |
0.6667 |
5 |
|
1.743 |
0.8181 |
10 |
|
0.8693 |
0.9047 |
20 |
|
0.3474 |
0.9607 |
50 |
|
0.1737 |
0.9801 |
100 |