Essential Guide to RF and Wireless, The

MATCH

What is Match?

The Meaning of 50 Ohms

Before an RF signal becomes airborne, it spends its existence cruising around on a conductor or inside some component. Every component has an entrance or exit, or both. It is easiest to think of the conductor and the components as parts of a garden hose system with the RF signal as the water inside. If an RF signal is to traverse a conductor and then enter a component, the conductor (garden hose) needs to be connected to the component (a sprinkler). That seems simple enough.

Because engineers run the RF world, no two garden hoses are exactly the same size. So no matter what conductor is connected to what component, some of the RF signal (water) leaks out. (No surprise there.) To make their lives easier, ...