[Elecraft] Performance of baluns.

[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy]

Hello all,

Have noticed over the recent years that current baluns are used in places where the load/source Z is not purely resistive (OK  will allow a little reactance) , example - an incoming transmission line that looks like R +j (quite a lot) goes to a balun then the to an ATU then to the TX. I was brought up to understand that in such a case, outgoing transmitter power would NOT result in equal and 180 degrees out of phase currents on the transmision line wires. i.e. the antenna would see an "unbalanced source" I was always told to put the balun between the Tx and the ATU, and to make sure that the ATU presented the balun with a R +/- j0 load , or simply put was "tuned up". (Loved those swinging links).

I appreciate that there are a lot of "but ifs", but was Teacher right in the fundamentals? If so, it might go some way to explain why some antennas that are looking for a balanced feed are misbehaved.

73

Geoff     GM4ESD