Everyone makes fun of newbies buying ready-built dipoles on eBay, but
nobody can direct you to where to buy baluns? Searched hi and lo
online, and what I found, was more expensive than buying a ready-made
dipole! I'd like to buy a balun, and attach my own cut-to-length
wire, but can't find cheap baluns ANYWHERE.

Where are you Elmers buying your baluns?


Every major amateur radio dealer I have bought from had baluns in their
inventory, Ham Radio Outlet and Amateur Electronic Supply, to name two.

However, you might find a wider selection from
http://www.radioworks.com



Ed K7AAT

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:17:39 -0700 (PDT), dbc254
wrote:

Where are you Elmers buying your baluns?

I build my own. Some reading material:
http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antennas/Baluns/

However, if you wanna stimulate the economy, there are 7 commercial
balun reviews on eHam:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/1

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

"dbc254" wrote in message
...
Everyone makes fun of newbies buying ready-built dipoles on eBay, but
nobody can direct you to where to buy baluns? Searched hi and lo
online, and what I found, was more expensive than buying a ready-made
dipole! I'd like to buy a balun, and attach my own cut-to-length
wire, but can't find cheap baluns ANYWHERE.

Where are you Elmers buying your baluns?

I don't bother with them. The ionosphere goofs up my pattern anyway.

dbc254 wrote in news:110c0833-aa68-4266-b599-
:

Everyone makes fun of newbies buying ready-built dipoles on eBay, but
nobody can direct you to where to buy baluns? Searched hi and lo
online, and what I found, was more expensive than buying a ready-made
dipole! I'd like to buy a balun, and attach my own cut-to-length
wire, but can't find cheap baluns ANYWHERE.

Where are you Elmers buying your baluns?


I think you haven't tried very hard.

No endorsement:

http://www.thewireman.com/baluns.html

The above will have components you can use to make your own... a real
learning exercise.

dxengineering.com

Owen

"dbc254" wrote in message
...
Everyone makes fun of newbies buying ready-built dipoles on eBay, but
nobody can direct you to where to buy baluns? Searched hi and lo
online, and what I found, was more expensive than buying a ready-made
dipole! I'd like to buy a balun, and attach my own cut-to-length
wire, but can't find cheap baluns ANYWHERE.

Where are you Elmers buying your baluns?

My last purchase was from HRO, about $25 for a 1:1 to use with a wire
dipole. Go to www.hamradio.com, enter balun in the search box and step
through the offerings with Adobe Reader.

Many hams will recommend you try a home-made balun, multiple turns of coax
cable wound neatly around a cylindrical form. Exact requirements and
effectiveness may vary with frequency and the antenna as installed. You
might want to look at http://www.qsl.net/ta1dx/amator/broadband_baluns.htm.
(It bothered me to see the letter W used for "ohms" in two places. I didn't
spot any other errors/typos but ...)

Also: http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html (many pictures)

Ralph Mowery wrote:

I don't see wasting time or money on a balun for just a simple dipole
. Sure it may make the patern vary from the normal textbook, but who
cares most of the time. Most people have to put the antenna up
wherever they can and lots of time it is not in the desired direction
anyway.

Very often, those are the same people who complain of "poor conditions"
and "noisy bands", and operate in constant fear of causing RFI. Many of
these problems are simply due to common-mode feedline currents bringing
RF back into the shack and coupling into the mains wiring.

In other words, people with limited antenna opportunities are often the
ones who need a balun - or more accurately, a common-mode choke - the
MOST.

The problems of desperate antenna locations cannot be entirely cured,
but they *can* be improved. Almost always, feedline chokes and/or baluns
will have a valuable part to play.

NOw a beam or some other antenna design is differant.

The largest difference is in the attitudes of the users. No matter what
your antenna is, or where you're forced to install it, it all comes down
to one simple question: do you want to give this antenna the best
possible chance to work correctly... or not?



--

73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Many hams will recommend you try a home-made balun, multiple turns of coax
cable wound neatly around a cylindrical form. Exact requirements and
effectiveness may vary with frequency and the antenna as installed. You
might want to look at http://www.qsl.net/ta1dx/amator/broadband_baluns.htm.
(It bothered me to see the letter W used for "ohms" in two places. I didn't
spot any other errors/typos but ...)



Also: http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html (many pictures)
================
Nice URL with excellent info
tnx

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Highland Ham wrote:
Also: http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html (many pictures)
================
Nice URL with excellent info

The problem with ugly baluns is their limited frequency
ranges. In the following measurements, the choking
impedance was over 1k ohms for only small ranges of
frequencies, 19-29 MHz, 10-22 MHz, 16-25 MHz, 8-16 MHz,
5-8 MHz - frequency ranges of 2/1 or less. HF covers
a 10/1 frequency range.

http://www.k1ttt.net/technote/airbalun.html
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com

"John Smith" wrote in message
...
JB wrote:
Regards,
JS


Half-a-Brain-McCain'n Insane; So Lawdy Mama, It Looks Like Obama!


I thought as much-- Your problem is obvious.



What?

You think yours is hidden? :-|

The Devil deceives many and jeers at the truth. But those who call on the
Lord in prayer keep him at bay. The sun shines on the wicked and the
righteous.

Many hams will recommend you try a home-made balun, multiple turns of coax
cable wound neatly around a cylindrical form. Exact requirements and
effectiveness may vary with frequency and the antenna as installed.

I saw an interesting talk at a local ham-club, at which the presenter
gave an explanation for one reason that the "effectiveness may vary"
with these sorts of choke baluns.

The common-mode impedance created by many such chokes is primarily
inductive (below the choke's self-resonant frequency, at least).

The impedance of the unwanted current path (e.g. from the antenna
feedpoint, back along the outside of the feedline, to the transceiver
chassis or to the point at which the coax is grounded) will depend on
the frequency and the length of the coax. It'll have a resistive
component (from loss resistance and from radiation resistance) and
will usually have a reactive component as well... either inductive or
capacitive.

If the feedline-path reactance is inductive or near zero, all is
well... the choke balun's inductive reactance will (if sufficiently
high) block most current flow along this path.

On the other hand, if the feedline-path reactance is capacitive, and
happens to be close in absolute value to the inductive reactance of
the choke... then you've got a series-resonant circuit. The two
reactances will largely cancel, the choke will "vanish", and you can
actually have more current flow back along the feedline than you would
without the choke.

If you change the length of the feedline, the choke's performance can
get better, or worse.

His prescription: if you want choking that's going to be effective at
a wide range of frequencies and won't be sensitive to the feedline
length, you need to use a choke which will introduce a significant
amount of resistive loss into the choked path (but not, of course,
into the differential path that feeds the antenna). The usual
solution is a ferrite.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!