Reflection Coefficient to VSWR Calculator

This tool converts Reflection Coefficient (sometimes referred to as Gamma) ฮ“ to Voltage Standing Wave Ratio or VSWR.

๐Ÿ” VSWR to Reflection Coefficient ฮ“

Formula

VSWR = (1+|ฮ“|)/(1-|ฮ“|)

the absolute value of the reflection coefficient,|ฮ“| < 1

Background

VSWR is sometimes called standing-wave ratio is a measure of the impedance match between a feedlineโ€™s characteristic impedance and the attached load. The load can be an antenna or any RF module such as a filter or amplifier. The greater the degree of mismatch the less efficient the design and implementation.

VSWR is often expressed as a ratio to 1. For example, if the VSWR is 1.9 then it is written as 1.9:1.

Within the context of antennas a good value of VSWR is 1.5 or lower. In an ideal situation the load is perfectly matched to the feedline characteristic impedance and ฮ“=0. In this case, no signal energy is reflected and all of it is transmitted forward.

If the reflection coefficient is ฮ“ = 1, the denominator in the equation above goes to 0 and VSWR is โˆž. This is the worst possible match as all the power is reflected back.