Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

I have an efficiency question concerning feed lines. My present
system is RG-8X to my 75 meter inverted vee which is about 85 feet
away from the shack. I propose to replace some 88 feet of coax with
300 ohm window ladder line that is inserted into the coax run with 4:1
baluns to match the coax on each end. Also at the feed point of the
antenna switch from a voltage balun to a current balun (ferrite chock
type). By my calculations with a 98 watt generator I will increase
the power to the load by about 11-20 watts and with a 985 watt
generator, 117-210 more watts will reach the load. Figuring
theoretical total system (A) against total System (B) or by just the
difference in the 88 feet of ladder line versus coax. What do you
think the increase will be?

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

... in practical terms... not worth the trouble. :)
- 'Doc

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

Sonny Hood wrote:
I have an efficiency question concerning feed lines. My present
system is RG-8X to my 75 meter inverted vee which is about 85 feet
away from the shack. I propose to replace some 88 feet of coax with
300 ohm window ladder line that is inserted into the coax run with 4:1
baluns to match the coax on each end. Also at the feed point of the
antenna switch from a voltage balun to a current balun (ferrite chock
type). By my calculations with a 98 watt generator I will increase
the power to the load by about 11-20 watts and with a 985 watt
generator, 117-210 more watts will reach the load. Figuring
theoretical total system (A) against total System (B) or by just the
difference in the 88 feet of ladder line versus coax. What do you
think the increase will be?
================================================== ==
Why not replace the complete coax feeder with twin lead feeder (if you
can keep it away from soil and/or metal) , and use a matching box
directly accepting the twin lead feeder ( without ferrite type balun),
be it 300 or 450 Ohms or approx 600 Ohms ladder line ?
It will improve efficiency and above all make the antenna multi-band.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

On May 28, 10:16*am, Sonny Hood wrote:
* *I have an efficiency question concerning feed lines. *My present
system is RG-8X to my 75 meter inverted vee which is about 85 feet
away from the shack. *I propose to replace some 88 feet of coax with
300 ohm window ladder line that is inserted into the coax run with 4:1
baluns to match the coax on each end. *Also at the feed point of the
antenna switch from a voltage balun to a current balun (ferrite chock
type). *By my calculations with a 98 watt generator I will increase
the power to the load by about 11-20 watts and with a 985 watt
generator, 117-210 more watts will reach the load. *Figuring
theoretical total system (A) against total System (B) or by just the
difference in the 88 feet of ladder line versus coax. *What do you
think the increase will be?

I think you left out the losses in the balun. With a kilowatt even a
large (by ham standards) balun will get very warm if you leave the key
down... my guess is it's not quite as much as you're saving but
comparable. It all amounts to 10%, and that's such a tiny fraction of
a S-unit.

Now, if your antenna were an incredible mismatch to coax to begin
with, then ladder line makes good sense. Say you want to use your same
inv-V on 40M, then you'd run ladder line all the way to your tuner and
be in fat city.

Tim N3QE

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

Sonny Hood wrote in
:

I have an efficiency question concerning feed lines. My present
system is RG-8X to my 75 meter inverted vee which is about 85 feet
away from the shack. I propose to replace some 88 feet of coax with
300 ohm window ladder line that is inserted into the coax run with 4:1
baluns to match the coax on each end. Also at the feed point of the
antenna switch from a voltage balun to a current balun (ferrite chock
type). By my calculations with a 98 watt generator I will increase
the power to the load by about 11-20 watts and with a 985 watt
generator, 117-210 more watts will reach the load. Figuring
theoretical total system (A) against total System (B) or by just the
difference in the 88 feet of ladder line versus coax. What do you
think the increase will be?

One of the numbers that is hard to come up with is the loss through a
balun. The only number I could find for a voltage balun is a matched loss
of 0.075db, this would be times 2 in your setup. So there is loss, and it's
well known that the loss goes up with miss match. I think you are
neglecting the loss through the baluns and the miss match loss. Remember
your antenna will not be 50 ohms over a very wide frequency range.
Going open wire line all the way or changing to RG8 size coax will likely
work just as well and be simpler to do.

John W3JXP

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

Tim Shoppa wrote:

Hi,

I think you left out the losses in the balun. With a kilowatt even a
large (by ham standards) balun will get very warm if you leave the key
down... my guess is it's not quite as much as you're saving but
comparable. It all amounts to 10%, and that's such a tiny fraction of
a S-unit.

The other side probably wouldn`notice the difference.

Now, if your antenna were an incredible mismatch to coax to begin
with, then ladder line makes good sense. Say you want to use your same
inv-V on 40M, then you'd run ladder line all the way to your tuner and
be in fat city.

I would not take TV ladderline if you have a high standing wave ratio,
and this will happen if you use the dipol for multiband purpose.
I`ve tested a dipol with about 20 m length (67 ft) for 80m.
At first I got almost the same s-meter report compared with a W3DZZ trap
dipol. But after a couple of month I noticed that the received signal
was up to 20 db down compared with the trap dipol. I only used 100 watts
but it broke the TV ladder line. Here I`ve learned what has happened:

http://www.w8ji.com/vswr_reactive_power.htm

I`m planning to build a new antenna with self built ladderline for
multiband purposes for one of the traps of my W3DZZ is broken. I´ve only
bought the spacers for the new ladder line.
--
73
DJ4PB

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

Highland Ham wrote:
Why not replace the complete coax feeder with twin lead feeder (if you
can keep it away from soil and/or metal) , and use a matching box
directly accepting the twin lead feeder ( without ferrite type balun),
be it 300 or 450 Ohms or approx 600 Ohms ladder line ?
It will improve efficiency and above all make the antenna multi-band.

Let's see how much improvement. Assuming a 50 ohm antenna,
3.8 MHz, and using Owen's xmission line calculator at:

http://www.vk1od.net/tl/tllc.php

85 feet of RG8x has a loss of 0.478 dB.

85 feet of 300 ohm twinlead has a loss of 0.424 dB.

How much will that 0.054 dB improve efficiency? 1%?

The coax has a 1:1 SWR. The 300 ohm twinlead has a
6:1 SWR. That makes the losses almost equal. If we
were talking about RG-213, the losses would be
0.308 dB, 0.116 dB better than the 300 ohm twinlead.

The following is becoming a myth: "One can ignore
the losses in twinlead and ladder-line."

Also - maybe he doesn't want to use a "matching box".
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

On May 28, 1:22*pm, (Dieter Kiel) wrote:
wrote:

Hi,

I think you left out the losses in the balun. With a kilowatt even a
large (by ham standards) balun will get very warm if you leave the key
down... my guess is it's not quite as much as you're saving but
comparable. It all amounts to 10%, and that's such a tiny fraction of
a S-unit.

The other side probably wouldn`notice the difference.

Now, if your antenna were an incredible mismatch to coax to begin
with, then ladder line makes good sense. Say you want to use your same
inv-V on 40M, then you'd run ladder line all the way to your tuner and
be in fat city.

I would not take TV ladderline if you have a high standing wave ratio,
and this will happen if you use the dipol for multiband purpose.
I`ve tested a dipol with about 20 m length (67 ft) for 80m.
At first I got almost the same s-meter report compared with a W3DZZ trap
dipol. But after a couple of month I noticed that the received signal
was up to 20 db down compared with the trap dipol. I only used 100 watts
but it broke the TV ladder line. Here I`ve learned what has happened:

http://www.w8ji.com/vswr_reactive_power.htm

I`m planning to build a new antenna with self built ladderline for
multiband purposes for one of the traps of my W3DZZ is broken. I´ve only
bought the spacers for the new ladder line.

I have a 135-foot dipole fed with approx 100 feet of home-made ladder
line and am incredibly happy with its performance from 80M all the way
to 15M.

Much of the joy of the ladderline was not in buying the parts to make
it, but making it from stuff on hand. I had a sheet of 1/8"
polycarbonate that I cut into 4"x3/8" strips, then drilled and
notched, to put a spacer every foot using tie-wires. Others boil
wooden dowels in paraffin for the spacers (the method recommended by
the 1930's ARRL Handbook). Seeing the ladderline go up 85 feet to the
middle of the dipole is a pure joy!

Tim N3QE

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

11 - 20 watts represents only 0.5 - 1 dB, which would virtually never be
discernible by the other station. As others have noted, even this
insignificant potential gain would be reduced by balun loss. But what no
one else has mentioned is that the ladder line loss can increase
significantly, possibly even dramatically, when it gets wet. Any
improvement you'll see from the proposed change will be due entirely to
placebo effect.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ladder line Vs. Coax
 

Tim Shoppa wrote:
I have a 135-foot dipole fed with approx 100 feet of home-made ladder
line and am incredibly happy with its performance from 80M all the way
to 15M.

Why those are good choices for lengths can be seen on
the following diagram:

http://www.w5dxp.com/pnts130.gif

You are relatively close to a low-impedance/current-
maximum point on all HF bands.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com