Methodology

The first part of the experiment was to observe and analyze the standing waves on a short-ended line
for different electrical lengths. It was done by using the transmission lines circuit board. First, the signal
generator 50Ω output was connected to the sending end of the transmission line A, the receiving end of
transmission line A to the sending end of transmission line B, and the receiving end of transmission line
B to the input if the load section with the use of a coaxial cable. The channel 1 of the oscilloscope was
connected to the 0-meter probe turret of the transmission line A and the signal generator 100 Ω output
was connected to the triggering input of the oscilloscope using a coaxial cable. In the load section, the
toggle switches were set in such a way as to connect the input of the section directly to the common in
order to place the impedance of the load at the receiving end of the line made by transmission lines A
and B connected end-to-end in the short circuit condition, as shown in figure 1, using the oscilloscope
settings below.

Figure 1

In order to set the frequency of the sinusoidal voltage produced by the generator in the signal generator
section, the frequency knob was set to the fully clockwise position. The frequency of the signal generator
voltage was decreased by slowly turning the frequency knob fully counter clockwise in order to observe
that as the frequency is decreased, the amplitude of the displayed voltage continually varies, alternating
between some maximum and some minimum values. The oscilloscope probe was connected to each
probe turrets listed below in order to measure the peak amplitude of the sinusoidal voltage along the
entire length of the line.
∙ 0-m turret of line A

∙ 6-m turret of line A

∙ 12-m turret of line A

∙ 18-m turret of line A

∙ 224-m turret of line A

∙ 6-m turret of line B

∙ 12-m turret of line B

∙ 18-m turret of line B

∙ 24-m turret of line B

 The peak amplitude of the sinusoidal voltage were plotted in order to obtain the curve corresponds to
the standing wave on the short-ended line when the electrical length is λ/4. Channel 1 was then
connected to the 0-meter probe turret of transmission line A. The frequency knob was slowly turned
clockwise to increase the frequency of the generator voltage until the amplitude of the displayed
voltage reaches a minimum. The frequency of the voltage was approximately around 2 MHz, the
wavelength of the voltage was around 98 m so that the line is nearly λ/2 long. Channel 1 was then
connected to the 0-meter probe turret of transmission line A. The generator frequency was increase
until the amplitude of the displayed voltage reaches a new maximum. The frequency of the voltage was
around 3 MHz so that the wavelength of the voltage was approximately 65 m. Consequently the line was
nearly 3λ/4 long to measure the peak amplitude of the voltage. The steps were repeated with a
frequency voltage and the wavelength of the voltage was approximately 4 MHz and 49 m, respectively.
The second part of the experiment was to observe and analyze the standing waves on a line for ZL < Zo
and ZL > Zo. First, the channel 1 of the oscilloscope was connected to the 0-meter probe turret of
transmission line A. The frequency of the displayed voltage was approximately 4 MHz so that the line is λ
long. The peak amplitude of the sinusoidal voltage along the line was measured and plotted in order to
connect the dots to obtain the standing wave for ZL = 0 Ω. The setting of the toggle switches in the load
section were modified in order for the load section input to be connected to the common through
resistor R2 and R4. The peak amplitude of the sinusoidal voltage were measured and plotted. The dots
were connected to obtain the standing wave for ZL = 25 Ω and 100 Ω, respectively. The toggle switches
were set to the O position to place the impedance of the load in the open-circuit condition. The peak
amplitude of the sinusoidal voltage along the line was measured and plotted. The dots were connected
to obtain the standing wave for ZI = ∞ Ω. The nodes and loops in each standing waves were located. The
VSWR for ZL= 0Ω, 100Ω, and ∞ Ω were calculated using VSWR = VLOOP/VNODE. The third part of the
experiment was to measure the insertion loss. A short coaxial cable was used to connect the signal
generator 50Ω output to the sending end of transmission line A and the receiving end of the line to the
input of the load section. The frequency knob of the signal generator was adjusted until the frequency of
the voltage at the sending end of the line is 4.0 MHz, as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2

The insertion loss in dB was calculated using 20log(VR/VS). The distributed attenuation constant per unit
length, a’, in dB/m, was calculated using Insertion loss(48 m/157.4 ft)/l, in which l is the length of the line (m).