On 7/27/2015 7:08 PM, rickman wrote:
On 7/27/2015 6:44 PM, John S wrote:
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'.

I don't want to be nitpicky, but the a in 'father' is pronounced a bit
differently, like the a in 'all', while the first syllable in 'balance'
is pronounced as the a in bath. The a in 'father' uses the letter a as
the pronunciation symbol (or internationally the ä). The a in 'balance'
is represented by the symbol æ (looks like an a squished with an e).

nitpicky is not a problem here. I will never object to some education.

I expect the people who are pronouncing it like 'bailiff' are thinking
the proximity of the vowel 'u' is making the 'a' long. But the rule is
really just a guideline and only applies when the word ends with an e,
if I remember.

So while this is certainly a subject for debate, everything I have found
(other than a single web page - By Gary Altunian "Stereos Expert") all
say it is balun or bælən.


I won't debate. I would rather go with the flow. In print, there is no
problem anyway. If I go to a club meeting and hear others pronounce it,
I will follow their lead.