I recently put up a Cushcraft MA5V vertical for HF satellite work. The
antenna is working ok- but since I can not find a human to speak to at
Cushcraft, or anyone there to return emails, I have a question about the
antenna design that maybe someone here can answer. If you look at a photo of
the antenna, you'll notice a very large coaxial balun at the bottom of the
antenna PVC support. The PVC isolates the antenna which sits about about 4
feet above the balun feedpoint, and the balun is at the bottom of the PVC
support- - The balun form is about 2 3/8 inches in diameter, 10 1/2 inches
long, and it takes about 30 feet of RG59 coax twisted around the form to
create the balun.......what's with this monster balun?? What is it doing??
I've never seen anything like it before- MY guess is that it is overkill to
keep RF off the feed line- ??? Any thoughts on this?
BTW, the QC at Cushcraft is awful...I had to redrill, rebuild, and modify a
lot of missing and/or misized parts- Blah! And the enclosed RG59 to form the
balun is rat shack junk- But the antenna is working FB! Seriously, it's
working well above expectations-
73 Paul N0AH
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