On Dec 19, 4:08 am, RHF wrote:
On Dec 18, 8:31 pm, wrote:

On Dec 18, 1:02 pm, RHF wrote:

The Verdict {One Man's Opinion} : Magnetic Longwire Balun Is Too
Expensive

http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx.../magbalun.html

-by- Alan Johnson

-source- Hard-Cord-DX website :http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
The Most Common Antenna Type
Randon Wire Antenna Problems
Enter the Balun
The Magnetic Longwire Balun (MLB)
In the Laboratory
After Four Rainy WeekEnds
I also did A-B Comparisons
* The Results
The "Resistance" Curve for the MLB
The N8KDV Transformer
A-B Testing was very Revealing.
* Recommenation
How Essential is a Perfect Match?
Based on Price and Performance
The MLB Definitely Wins

Originally Published in the NASWA Journal - July 1992
-by- Alan Johnson [N4LUS]

Magnetic Longwire Balun (MLB)http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...http://www.dol...
-by- RF Systems - MSRP Price ~ $60

Alternative "MLB" - MLB-1 Magnetic Longwire Balunhttp://www.palomar-engineers.com/MLB-1/mlb-1.html
-by- Palomar Engineers - MSRP Price ~ $50

NOTE - While the 'N8KDV Transformer' is presently Not Available.
WinRadio does offer the LWA-0130 Long Wire Antenna Adapterhttp://www.grove-ent.com/WR0130.htmlhttp://www.winradio.com/home/lwa....
-by- WiNRADiO - - MSRP Price ~ $40
READ - Good Deal on 9:1 Matching Transformerhttp://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/27e40978fdc32ac0
-by- William Fieldstone
More WinRadio LWA-0130 Long Wire Antenna Adapter Postingshttp://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/a77d380609eec5...

iane ~ RHF
.

-
- I've got a Palomar magnetic balun sitting on my desk.
-
- Once I got the Wellbrook,

What specific Wellbrook Product ?http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/products.html
- - - i want to know ~ RHF

- the magnetic balun became a paperweight.

I'm using the old ALA 100 and various home made loops. You need about
8ft of loop to make the ALA100 useful, though as a NDB direction
finder 4ft seems to work better. For shortwave DXpeditions, I've used
as much as 40ft in portable applications.

The thing about the ALA100 is you get a good piece of electronics that
allows hacking. That is, you make the loop. The other thing you notice
once you use a wellbrook is that the S-meter really isn't that
significant. Once in a while you will get a higher reading on the s-
meter with a long wire than the wellbrook, especially if your loop is
short, but the quality of the signal on the wellbrook is superior.

One of the oddest DX catches I got with the 20ft loop is
http://www.lazygranch.com/sound/lax_530_etgravel.wav
I was parked on "the gravel"
N37.43225 W115.44496
near Area 51. I did a search for unknown NDBs, which I did find though
they are now turned off. The next search was to see if they had any
TIS. Now TIS is not all that odd at military installations, though I
doubted Groom Lake would have one. Searching the typical TIS
frequencies I picked up the TIS for LAX. That is about 280 miles away.
However, you need to realize how "quiet" Central Nevada is regarding
RF. Even in the middle of MOAs and next to the largest continental
military reservation, there is much less hash than even a mid-size
town puts out.

Wellbrook is pretty mysterious about what they put in their boxes. The
units themselves are potted, though that wouldn't stop anyone serious
about copying their gear.What you need to realize is how little
product they ship. Comparing serial numbers with my ala100 and a
friends, we figured they were shipping about one a month to North
America. In other words, If they had a Wellbrook users convention, I
don't think they would need to book it in Vegas. [There is a wellbrook
loop on the top of the Las Vegas convention center. ]

Anyway, most people think the ALA100 has a transformer on the front
end and a signle ended amp. The ALAM may be all active. I don't know
if that makes a difference in performance, but floating the antenna
seems like a good idea.

Unlike the KIWA, the Wellbrook is wideband. This is good in the sense
that you don't need to tune the antenna and the radio at the same
time, but it does require a decent radio since the antenna is not
doing any filtering.