"John S" wrote in message ...

On 7/27/2015 4:05 PM, rickman wrote:
On 7/27/2015 4:45 PM, Wayne wrote:
Just today I got a question from a new ham on the pronunciation of balun.

He has been around the scientific community a lot (physicists, etc.) but
not many RF types such as engineers or hams.

He claims that he rarely has ever hear the pronunciation "bal uhn", and
I've rarely heard "bayl uhn".

Anybody want to weigh in on this, heh heh

Where does the "y" come in? The word is a contraction of balanced and
unbalanced. So I figure it should be pronounced "bal uhn" just like the
beginning of the two words it stands for.

Maybe the 'y' is added further south than Virginia.


I think Wayne added the 'y' to indicate that the 'a' is pronounced as in
'ace' rather than as in 'father'.

Yes. I was trying to go for the sound of "bail un".

I have heard it both ways, but usually the "bail un" pronunciation comes
from someone not at all familiar with baluns.

Now, one wag questioned the pronunciation of modem (modulator/demodulator),
because it should be the first syllable of both words similar to balun.
That would make the pronunciation "mah dem"
That would be with the American pronunciation of modulator. I'm not sure
but the English pronunciation might have a long o sound in modulator.