[Elecraft] Balun on KAT2

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Dave's quite right. You do NOT want a balun to use with an end-fed wire.
Some ops "recommend" them to keep r-f off of the rig. "RF" on the rig
CAN be an issue, but a balun is NOT the way to handle it efficiently.
Just make sure that you have a decent r-f ground at your rig. If you are
close to a water pipe ground, etc., that will work fine. By close, I
mean 10 feet or less for 80 meters, a foot or so for 10 meters. It's a
function of wavelength. The shorter the wavelength, the shorter your
ground wire must be. 

Another way to get a good r-f ground on your rig is to hook a 1/4 wave
long wire to the case of your rig for the band (s) you are using. Eight
feet is fine for 10 meters, for example. Insulate the wire, especially
the far end. It will be "hot" with r-f. You can simply put on a wire for
each band you operate on and leave them all hooked to the case. 

Assuming that your long wire antenna is truly long - at least 1/2
wavelength or on the lowest frequency band you will use (120 feet on 80
meters, for example) - the quality of the ground only need be good
enough to keep "rf" off of the rig. You'll know that is fine if the SWR
doesn't change when you touch the rig case. 

If your wire is substantially shorter than 1/2 wavelength, the quality
of the ground will start to have a greater and greater impact on
performance. It'll still work, but you might want to read up on good
ground systems for "vertical" antennas in order to get the best
performance.

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289