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K4PDM

Joined: Sat, Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Roles: N/A Moderates: N/A

Latest Topics

Topic Created Posts Views Last Activity
9:1 or 1:1 Balun? Mar 23rd 2018, 04:33 3 5,947 on 23/3/18
400 foot inv.vee fed with window line Mar 20th 2015, 15:04 3 5,457 on 20/3/15

Latest Posts

Topic Author Posted On
9:1 or 1:1 Balun? K4PDM on 23/3/18
I'm using a 250 foot inverted vee fed with window line, and I'd like to know which balun I should be using...the 1:1 balun built into my MFJ 989D tuner, or a commercial surplus 9:1 balun.

Most experts nowadays say to use a 1:1 balun with a long doublet fed with 450 ohm line, but my analyzer shows lower untuned SWRs with the 9:1 external balun. It seems the tuner doesn't have to work as hard to match, with the 9:1 balun.

Even though current thought favors the 1:1 balun, in my case since the match is easier to achieve with the 9:1 balun, should I be using it instead?

73 Paul K4PDM


400 foot inv.vee fed with window line K4PDM on 20/3/15
Thank you, Zack. Good info.

The terrain around me is very hilly. I don't know if any directionality is caused by hills or nulls in the antenna pattern. Some signals are stronger on the vertical, some on the wire, but it does not really correlate with distance. Guess I will stay with what I have.

73 Paul K4PDM
400 foot inv.vee fed with window line K4PDM on 20/3/15
I've been using a 400 foot inverted vee fed with window line and a 9:1 balun on all bands for many years. The center is at about 50 feet and the ends are at about 5 feet. The antenna works so well and is so simple, I've never really considered any other wire antenna to go with my trap vertical.

However, lately I have read articles that seem to indicate that the antenna might actually do better if it were shorter due to the multiple lobes such an antenna will have, especially as the frequency is increased. I've also seen articles to the effect that I would do better with a 1:1 current balun such as the one in my tuner, as opposed to an external 9:1 balun.

Thoughts?

73 Paul K4PDM

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