my recomendations so far have been for 1:1 /4:1 and 9:1, got nearly a
equal tally of votes on each

leaves me a bit confused however

==================================

Dear m, Confusion is only to be expected.

Its sometimes a good idea to take the average of the recommendations offered
in this newsgroup.

But in your case you should include in the offerings a 0-to-0 balun - ie.,
no balun ar all.

So the most logical thing to begin with is NO balun (because it is the least
expensive) which in all likelihood will probably do fine on 80 meters using
a coax feedline.

But, having an experimental mind, after that you could try an indeteminate
impedance-to-indeterminate impedance choke balun. The sort wound with twin
speaker cable on a ferrite ring. Which in some circumstances MIGHT work
slightly better by doing what a balun is supposed to do but will certainly
not make things worse.

And whatever you use, a tuner will be essential for multi-band operation.
Length of dipole is non-critical, whatever fits into your backyard. Prefer
450-ohm or open-wire transmission line for the best performing HF dipole
antenna you will ever have. Unless you can make it even higher.

Happy experimenting in 2005 !
----
Reg, G4FGQ

In article ,
"Reg Edwards" wrote:

my recomendations so far have been for 1:1 /4:1 and 9:1, got nearly a
equal tally of votes on each

leaves me a bit confused however

==================================

Dear m, Confusion is only to be expected.

Its sometimes a good idea to take the average of the recommendations offered
in this newsgroup.

But in your case you should include in the offerings a 0-to-0 balun - ie.,
no balun ar all.
i did post this option,



So the most logical thing to begin with is NO balun (because it is the least
expensive) which in all likelihood will probably do fine on 80 meters using
a coax feedline.
well the entire point is that it's for multiband use, so id be very
clear if it was just one resonant band but it's multiband hand my
desire for a balun to even things out some




But, having an experimental mind, after that you could try an indeteminate
impedance-to-indeterminate impedance choke balun. The sort wound with twin
speaker cable on a ferrite ring. Which in some circumstances MIGHT work
slightly better by doing what a balun is supposed to do but will certainly
not make things worse.

And whatever you use, a tuner will be essential for multi-band operation.
Length of dipole is non-critical, whatever fits into your backyard. Prefer
450-ohm or open-wire transmission line for the best performing HF dipole
antenna you will ever have. Unless you can make it even higher.

Happy experimenting in 2005 !
----
Reg, G4FGQ

On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 17:51:15 +0000 (UTC), "Reg Edwards"
wrote:

Just to add to the fray, here is my recent experience. My antenna is
a 200 foot dipole (flatop) at 45 feet center fed with about 50 feet of
450 ohm ladder line down to a balun then 20 feet of 72 ohm coax into a
homebrew L match tuner. It tunes 160 thru 10 meters and works very
well on all bands. I tried different balun configurations with varied
results. Settled on a 4:1 powdered iron (red) core 2 inch toroid of 8
bifilar turns number 12 wire, the center tap connected to the coax
shield and also to a separate ground rod 2 inches below the balun.
Good results on the air and no RFI in the shack. A 1:1 balun on the
same core tuned up OK, worked on the air OK but produced RFI. A
coiled up coax choke balun gave bad RFI into phone, sterio and TV.
Tried 6 mix43 ferrite sleves on the coax up near the ladder line with
no balun, this was worst of all grounded or ungrounded, producing
severe RFI, in fact the 600 watt linear was unusable on 80 meters due
to RF into the rig. So they all worked, but the 4:1 grounded balun is
best by far in my situation. Now if I was to put a half twist in the
ladder line and take up religion, that could all change.
73s VE3ELQ

my recomendations so far have been for 1:1 /4:1 and 9:1, got nearly a
equal tally of votes on each

leaves me a bit confused however

==================================

Dear m, Confusion is only to be expected.

Its sometimes a good idea to take the average of the recommendations offered
in this newsgroup.

But in your case you should include in the offerings a 0-to-0 balun - ie.,
no balun ar all.

So the most logical thing to begin with is NO balun (because it is the least
expensive) which in all likelihood will probably do fine on 80 meters using
a coax feedline.

But, having an experimental mind, after that you could try an indeteminate
impedance-to-indeterminate impedance choke balun. The sort wound with twin
speaker cable on a ferrite ring. Which in some circumstances MIGHT work
slightly better by doing what a balun is supposed to do but will certainly
not make things worse.

And whatever you use, a tuner will be essential for multi-band operation.
Length of dipole is non-critical, whatever fits into your backyard. Prefer
450-ohm or open-wire transmission line for the best performing HF dipole
antenna you will ever have. Unless you can make it even higher.

Happy experimenting in 2005 !
----
Reg, G4FGQ