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Re: [TenTec] balun noise?

To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] balun noise?
From: "Bob McGraw - K4TAX" <RMcGraw@Blomand.net>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:57:59 -0600
List-post: <mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
Here's the "balun" solution.  These work great, cost little and can handle more 
power than you can generate.  Do note, RG-213 is the coax to use.  Don't use 
the foam stuff.  Thanks to Rich Measures, AG6K for the write-up.

73
Bob, K4TAX

Building a no-grief 1.8MHz to 30MHz 50ohm-balun is easy. No costly 
ferrite-cores are needed, just a short length of 3 to 5 inch size plastic pipe, 
about 25 feet of 50ohm coax plus some nylon cable ties. Solid-dielectric coax 
is best for this application because foam-dielectric has a tendency to allow a 
change in the conductor to conductor spacing over a period of time if it is 
bent into a tight circle. This can eventually result in voltage breakdown of 
the internal insulation. The required length of the plastic pipe depends on the 
diameter and length of the coax used and the diameter of the pipe. For RG-213/U 
coax, about one foot of 5 inch size pipe is needed for a 1.8MHz to 30MHz balun. 
For 3.5MHz to 30MHz coverage, about 18 to 20 feet of coax is needed. This 
length of coax is also adequate for most applications on 1.8MHz. The number of 
turns is not critical because the inductance depends more on the length of the 
wire (coax) than on the number of turns, which will vary depe
 nding on the diameter of the plastic pipe that is used. The coax is 
single-layer close-wound on the plastic pipe. The first and last turns of the 
coax are secured to the plastic pipe with nylon cable ties passed through small 
holes drilled in the plastic pipe. The coil winding must not be placed against 
a conductor. The name of this simple but effective device is a choke-balun.

Some people build choke-baluns, without a plastic coil-form, by 
scramble-winding the coax into a coil and taping it together. The problem with 
scramble-winding is that the first and last turns of the coax may touch each 
other. This creates two complications. The distributed-capacitance of the balun 
is increased and the RF-lossy vinyl jacket of the coax is subjected to a high 
RF-voltage. The single-layer winding on the plastic coil-form construction 
method solves these problems since it divides the RF-voltage and capacitance 
evenly across each turn of the balun.

A more compact, less ugly, 1 to 1 impedance-ratio, 50ohm trifilar-wound (with 
wire) ferrite-core balun could also be used but there would be some tradeoffs. 
Ferrite cores are not cheap. Also, the air-core of the coax-balun can't 
saturate like the ferrite-core and, unlike ferrite-core wire-wound baluns, 
single-layer wound coax-baluns almost never have an insulation breakdown 
problem. Also, a trifilar-wound balun does not like to work into anything but a 
perfectly balanced load. With an imperfectly balanced load, the coax-balun will 
not, as does the trifilar balun, generate a differential, third RF-current on 
the outside of the coax that brings the RF to the input of the tuner. The 
choke-balun is not fussy. It will work as well into a less than perfectly 
balanced load as it will into a perfectly balanced load, and do so without the 
possibility of creating a differential RF-current on the station ground and 
fricasseeing the operator's fingers.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Brown K9YC" <k9yc@audiosystemsgroup.com>
To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] balun noise?


> On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:46:03 -1000, Ken Brown wrote:
> 
>>Usually a balun is used to connect an unbalanced feed line, such as 
>>coax, to a balanced antenna such as a dipole. The balun should improve 
>>the current distribution on the dipole and reduce the current on the 
>>outside of the coax. 
> 
> Most so-called "baluns" of the type Ken describes are really common mode 
> chokes, and they do exactly what he says. 
> 
> See http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf  for a tutorial on many things, 
> including these chokes ("baluns". 
> 
> 73,
> 
> Jim K9YC
> 
> 
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