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Re: [TowerTalk] BALUN revisited again

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] BALUN revisited again
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2016 09:47:27 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On Thu,4/7/2016 8:28 AM, TexasRF--- via TowerTalk wrote:
Why would you not just solder the balun flying leads to a PL259  connector
for connection to the dipole connector and be done with it?

First, the word "balun" is used to describe almost a dozen very different things that I can think of. It's a contraction of "balanced to unbalanced," implying a conversion.

Second, it is ALWAYS good practice to use a ferrite COMMON MODE CHOKE at the feedpoint of ANY antenna that does not intentionally USE the feedline as part of the antenna. The reason is to PREVENT the feedline from being part of the antenna, which in turn prevents the feedline from picking up signals and coupling them to the antenna. Those signals picked up on the antenna may be noise, or from some direction other than that favored by the antenna.

Third, the best common mode choke for the HF bands is one formed by winding multiple turns of the feedline through one or more ferrite cores. Simply clamping a lot of cores onto the coax WILL NOT WORK WELL. Neither will a simple coil of coax. See the references below to understand why.

I first did research common mode chokes in 2004-5, and published the results as a technical paper for the Audio Engineering Society. The emphasis there was preventing RFI to audio systems. After moving to W6 in 2006, I continued my research and published the first version of http://k9yc.com/RFI-Ham.pdf in 2007. There have been well over a million downloads, and some key elements of the material has been added to the ARRL Handbook. Slides from a talk I've done for several hamfests and clubs are at http://k9yc.com/CoaxChokesPPT.pdf

73, Jim K9YC
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