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Amother look at a choke balun.
To choke balun Gurus.
There is, in fact, a transformer in a choke balun which you have ALL forgotten about, or never knew it exists. It has nothing to do with 1-to-1 or any other turns ratio. It is a transmission line transformer comprised of the short length of line (coax or just a pair of wires) which passes through the balun. It is the length of line which is wound on the balun to form the choke. (All lengths of line behave as transformers.) This line has an impedance Zo. If it is coax line then its impedance is usually 50 ohms. If it is a pair of wires laid alongside each other then its impedance depends on wire diameter, wire spacing and permittivity of the insulation. If it is similar to twin speaker cable then it has an impedance of about 130 ohms. The presence of ferrite has hardly any effect. When the balun is located between the main transmission line and the tuner then on the antenna side of it there can be seen, say, 300, 450 or 600 ohms. This is transformed to another impedance on the tuner side of the balun. The transformation depends on line Zo and its length in wavelengths which depends on frequency. On the 160m band very little happens. The frequency is too low and the line is too short. It is only a few turns of wire around the ferrite core. On the 10 meter band, at the higher frequencies, the winding length on the balun can approach 1/4-wavelength and the 450 ohm main-line impedance can be transformed to something considerably different. But the tuner couldn't care what it is. Its purpose is to transform whatever it is presented with to 50 ohms. The presence of the balun merely causes a change in tuner L and C settings. Insofar as the tuner and operator are concerned the transformer in the balun does not exist. When designing a choke balun the number of turns on the choke and the length of wire involved are best restricted to something less than 1/4-wavelength at the highest frequency of use. 1/8-wavelength is suitable. Restricting turns has the effect of reducing choke inductance and the choking effect at the lowest frequency of use. But a 2-inch diameter ferrite ring with a modest permeability of 200 or more, wound with 18 awg stranded twin speaker cable, will allow operation from 1.8 to 30 MHz. With a balun constructed of a number of ferrite slugs over a coaxial cable there is no transformer action at any frequency because the short length of 50-ohm 'transforming' line is terminated at both ends with a 50-ohm line. ---- Reg, G4FGQ. |
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