"Dave" wrote in message
...
James barrett wrote:
I've read some Q&A about ladder line and I didn't see exactly my
question. I want to run 450 ohm ladder line into the house. my tuner
has a built-in balun for a ladder line so I think I can just run the
ladder line all the way to the tuner.

How do I physically attach the ladder line to the house? All I can
think of is to nail it right through the spacers onto the side of the
house. But I don't know if the nails will interfere with transmission
at all.

A second that comes to mind when considering this setup: if I run the
ladder line all the way to the tuner, how do I ground it?


Thanks,
kb1odg

Use coaxial cable to get through the wall, then a BalUn outside to
transition to the balanced transmission line.

--------

I'm running a Van Gordon All Bander dipole. It utilizes 450 twinlead from
the dipole, thru the barrier into the house and connects to the 4:1 balun in
my MFJ-989C manual roller inductor tuner.

Instead of drilling a hole through the cinder blocks of my basement wall
(finished), I made up a barrier insert from a piece of 2x4" lumber to fit
under the lip of my window. I drilled two holes through the 2x4" lumber
spaced at the same distance as the conductors in the twinlead. I then used a
router bit to connect the dots. A very thin router bit. In fact, I think it
was the bit from my cut in any direction saw that I bought several years ago
and can't think of the name of it at the moment. They were all the rage on
TV. It rotates like a drill bit or router bit. I hope you can follow me.

I made the cut in the barrier board for the twinlead tight enough that I
haven't even bothered to silicone up the gap, it is that tight.

I haven't had any problems with it at all. No fires, no arcing, no scorching
the wood. I think it would take a lot more power to do that than my 1kw
Ameritron AL-80A can produce.

Is it a PITA (Pain In The Ass)? Yes. But it gets me any band that I want,
including six meters (in fine fashion too). If you go the coax route, you'll
end up with a G5RV that won't take more than 200 watts without frying the
twinlead, or you'll end up with a trapped doublet that only gives you a few
kilohertz operating bandwidth on most bands. Chances are that some bands
will be unusable unless you have a good tuner (no, not an autotuner - they
don't have enough "swing").

Running a piece of coax into twinlead with an antenna with high SWR can
generate high enough voltages to punch a hole through the coax' dielectric.
After that hole has been made, the voltage needed to jump that arc from then
on will be much lower, meaning that your signal will sound crappy and you
may have problems with your rig.

I put up with the 450 ohm twinlead all of the way into the house because it
provides me with the most bands in the smallest space. It will also handle a
kilowatt without protest.

Oh, I haven't seen a 4:1 balun that is worth what it costs to ship to your
door that sells for less than $139. I've gone through three brands lately.
Brands that were supposed to be (and used to be) top shelf. Makes me wish I
had held on to the good one that I bought years ago. That'll learn me.

Good luck.


Ed, N2ECW