Microwaves in the laboratory

The place for increasing interest and enhancing learning in the area of microwave/EM wave propagation is in the laboratory. If possible computer simulations should be used to demonstrate important concepts. An example is the area of standing waves. Undergraduates can usually understand standing waves using opposite rotating phasors, but to not realise that each point on the line will vary from a positive to a negative value. A computer simulation of the resultant wave propagation in time will demonstrate that the magnitude of the envelope of the resultant pattern gives the standing wave pattern. The simulation should be shown for a short-circuit, an open-circuit, a match load, and a 25 Ω load