[Elecraft] Less Than Perfect Antennas [was Flumoxed]

[Bob McGraw K4TAX]

I'm the one that made the recommendations.    Other than the two Balun
Designs units and the #8232 units from The Wireman being used with my
station..............I don't know a darn thing about them other
than...........they work.   I'm not using a 1115T balun.   Measuring the
baluns and putting results on paper is one thing.  Putting them into a
station configuration and using them, as I have,  is another.    I
prefer the latter.

73

Bob, K4TAX



On 12/9/2018 12:47 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> I wonder if anyone using or recommending products like this have ever 
> measured them.  They are not easy to measure.  You can't measure them 
> accurately with a single-port antenna analyzer.
>
> N6KT, a member of our contest club is building a station in the 
> Caribbean and asked me to measure a Balun Designs 1115T common mode 
> choke (often called a 1:1 current balun). It looks NOTHING like it's 
> data sheet, which shows an approximately flat high choking impedance 
> over the HF bands. It would be USELESS on 40, 80, and 160M! From what 
> I've seen them write about chokes, I don't believe that they 
> understand how common mode chokes work, and I certainly wouldn't 
> suggest that someone ask them for advice.
>
> The Wireman 8232 is based on W2DU's excellent work from many years 
> ago. He built chokes with 50, 100, and 200 of the largest #73 
> Fair-Rite beads that fit over RG142. This size bead of this material 
> has the unique property of relatively constant choking impedance in 
> the HF spectrum, but you have to a LOT of them.  Only the 200-bead 
> choke has sufficient choking impedance to handle high power and kill 
> receive noise, and that's what he recommended, yet most products sold 
> as a "W2DU balun" have many fewer. The larger #31 cores are not useful 
> at HF until you wind multiple turns through them, but are often sold 
> for use as a string of beads on coax.
>
> How many beads are in the 8232? Are they Fair-Rite #73?
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
> On 12/9/2018 5:33 AM, Bob McGraw K4TAX wrote:
>> Balun Designs, both 1:1 and 4:1 for use with tuners.    I have both 
>> because I also have a folded dipole that I feed direct.
>>
>> I suggest you give the folks at Balun Designs a call and discuss your 
>> exact needs.  Take their advice.
>> Also see the DJ0IP site for details on baluns.  Just Google DJ0IP.
>>
>> And I use the 8232 common mode choke from The Wireman.