Your videos are still having a positive effect in the ham radio community. You explain and demonstrate balun designs in the most understandable way that ive found online so far. Thanks for your help.
This is pure gold! This the only example of why a balun is necessary, how to build one, and then actually test the finished product. Keep up the great work!
Hi Peter. I'm winding my first 4:1/1:1 balun, to transform impedance and reject common mode currents. Your video presentations are absolutely brilliant for educational and instructional purposes. As an Australian, the race "Down Under", who speak one of the most criticised versions of English (according to some people in England and also the USA), I have no trouble at all understanding your terminologies and descriptions. It is perfectly clear to me, what you mean when you use certain terminologies and words. Thank you for learning English to the standard you speak, as a way to communicate your teaching to others. To the arrogant and somewhat rude posters who make negative comments about your language, I say "get over yourselves and concentrate on the wonderful information Peter is presenting for your benefit." I cannot believe the self-centred behaviours a small minority display towards your work and teaching. Thanks for the myriad of videos you've posted, they're can inspiration, mate. Cheers, VK3PDG.
Excellent video. Please ignore the the people that don't appreciate your effort to communicate, they are trolls; they never have a QSO with anyone outside their own country. I am English, (300+years family history), I understood perfectly everything you said. RF is RF, regardless of the language or the accent. I am always happy to listen, happy to learn!
This presentation (part 100 & 101) is the best I've seen on the principals, theory, testing and practical elements of Balun's. A complete Mythos Zerschlagung tutorial.. Many thanks Peter and Wolfgang for your expertise and effort in bringing this excellent knowledge to the world of Amateur radio.. 73, G4RYO
You work hard to teach Americans and they complain about your English! You repeat yourself to ensure you are understood and you get more complaints. I apologize for my country and thank you for putting up with us!
Thanks for your support, Timothy!! Very much appreciated! The only thing I can say is that I always try to improve my language skills but indeed it is a challenge...All the best and have a nice Sunday
@@TRXLab at least, you speak more than one languages, you make the effort to learn and speak another language... many americans absolutely do not care about another language and ONLY speak english... I make the effort to speak english, just as you do, and my first spoken language is french.
Get over it! This man is wayyyyyy too verbose (pause and look up that word) and apparently doesn't know some basic terminology like inductance which he calls "inductivity" and inductive reactance which he calls resistance. This makes it hard to have any faith in any conclusions he arrives at. And then there is balloon lol
@@johninjersey just shut up... if you have an ounce of intelligeance, you will perfectly understand what he is trying to describe in a second language... this is the best video describing baluns bar none... go make a better video then with more view count then if you are that smart mr troll...
Built one with exactly the same materials (core and wires) and in the same way as Peter did. I achieved the same results regarding the SWR (1:1.2 or better) and the rejection (21 dB on 1.8 MHz and nearly 40 dB starting from 10 MHz upwards). So definitely it does work (like a charm), therefore if you need a 1:1 current balun, build this one the way Peter did in his video!
Excellent all the way around. I have obtained the parts recommended and built my own 1:1 balun following your advice and directions. My results were excellent which was extremely satisfying - thank you, thank you! Keep up the good work. Unfortunately I do not have access to a network analyzer to check the common mode attenuation - but, since I have achieve the same results with the SWR, I will "assume" common mode currents will be attenuated. Not only do I now have a functioning Balun, I have learned more about balun's and common mode currents they ever before! 240-43 toroid core, 18AWG PTFE wire 31.5 inches long. 12 windings... a recipe for success!
I'm watching this series of videos for the second time because there is so much good stuff to learn, I need to watch it at least twice to take it all in. You have put a lot of work into this and I'm very grateful. I wonder how many people you have saved from radio interference and how many rigs you have saved from too higher SWR! Thank-you.
Your videos are excellent. Regarding Part #1 video and the 1:1 BALUN, I am struggling with the choke common mode loss measurements and I hope you can help me. In your setup you split the signal source using the (2) 25 ohm resistors (input network) each feeding a leg of the choke which provides a 50 ohm differential load. And on the measurement end you again load the choke differential mode with 50 ohms using (2) 25 ohm resistors (output network) and detect the signal at the center point of the resistors.. I agree so far. However, when we initially calibrate the analyzer, I argue we should leave the input and output resistor networks in place and simply short the two choke legs. This means we now simply have two 12 ohm resistors in series between our source gen and detector. We then normalize the receive display. Then we remove the jumper shorts from the choke and make the common mode signal loss measurement. In the Part #2 video I don't see the input network being used for the common mode measurement. 73
Thanks for feed back. ou may read the article in the link for more insights. Test set-up See test results by Tom PA9T a08.veron.nl/zelfbouw/antennes/800-watt-fd4-multiband-antenna-with-super-balun/
Peter, thank you for additional information. I read the the link. Please let me restate my argument in another way. You are including the parallel 25 ohm resistors on the input and output sides of the 1:1 choke balun into the results of the COMMON MODE loss measurement. WITHOUT the choke involved, you have essentially inserted a 25 Ohms resistance into the transmission circuit. This then introduces a reflection coefficient (Gamma) of 0.2, or, a return loss of 7 dB. Now, inserting the choke balun and making the COMMON MODE loss measurement, we are now measuring both the choke loss PLUS the 7 dB. I ask then, are we not including the 7 dB loss in the measurement result by doing it that way; which is not what we want. I have watched other TH-cam videos where the presenter made the common mode measurement and did not use any network to balance the input/output currents. That kind of setup does not place the choke behavior in a real world setup. Thanks for your patience with me. Walter
Wow, what an excellent job showing the secrets of baluns. Thank you so much and congratulations for doing it in English, I do work more in a foreign language than my mother language, and i know it is not that easy. People who complain can start to do the same in an other language than their own. Thank you so much for your precious time for the Amateur Radio Community ! You have all my respect OM. 73 de chris ha7wx
Just wound one on an FT-240-31 core using 14 AWG silver stranded with PTFE insulation, got ~-28 dBm flat from 0.5 to ~80 mHz on both the common mode scan and the balun scan. Also checked SWR plot using my AIMuhf from 0.5 to 60.5 mHz with SWR equal to or less than 1.1:1 (mostly 1.05:1) and Zmag practically 50 ohms or so close it's a gimmie, both traces near flat. Thanks for your videos, very informative.
Hello Peter, an excellent video so thanks so much for posting it. Can you please tell me the values of the resistors you used on the inputs and outputs of the choke as shown on the text jig. Thanks, Jamie VK2YCJ
hello! and thank you for nice video to let us learn more! my question is about in your video time 11:47 you say about the best core material you recoment show it in green line mark #3 but mark #4 look better , so my question is what is the material for that ferrite core? and if is better vs the material 43. Thank you!
I purchased the same wire you're using for your baluns. It appears to be silver tinned wire. What do you do to solder this wire. I have the heat on my iron cranked up and It doesn't seem that conventional solder sticks....
Followed these instructions carefully and made one using 16awg ptfe and 240/43 cores. Hope to test in a few weeks after I complete a few other antenna mods. Question about Heating: what heats what? Does wire heat the ferrite or does entire balun warm uniformly? n2eye
Hi Peter, Thanks for the videos they're great. I'm looking at making a 4:1 balun and 1:1 choke as you've described but mine for a 50mhz folded dipole. Wondering what the second best option for the wire might be, i'd only be running 100w max . the ptfe wire is expensive and it appears only sold in 25m rolls here in Australia, thats enough for a lifetime....the more i write this the more i dont know, i guess ill need a different toroid for 50mhz. do i look for one that has a coverage freq range over 50 mhz with the same type of ferrite as the t204-34?
Thank you! ALSO: Don't worry about pronouncing things in American, or coverneting to our units. We can convert the numbers ourselves, and your meanings are very clear and you are easy to understand. Your english is quite good. Thanks again for the education.
A bit off topic what would happen to a capacitor if u spray painted the comb and stator would it increase the capacity or remain the same I’m trying to settle a disagreement with a friend and thankyou for the videos
Very good! I saw in one video you use transformer wire. I was just wondering if this can handle more heat? Is this because the wire has not got thick insulation you can wind it closer to the toroid and this use thicker wire? I just bought 4x ft240-43 toroids for a total of €40. I hope they are genuine.
A very interesting video. I haven't wound a balun as of yet; my OCF dipole long wire antenna was given to me and my Ham buddy already had the balun wound. All I know is that it works from 160 to 6 meters. I didn't know that they made wire specifically for winding baluns. I think my buddy said he used 2 toroidals to give more wattage @ 800 watts. Of course I'll never go above 100 watts as I don't have an amplifier yet. Cheers & 73 from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
I greatly appreciate your videos, have learned quite a bit. Disregard those who are critical, you do great and there are trolls everywhere. Keep up the good work!
Your Balun series are great... Now I can build my homebrew Carolina Windom with confidence. I am going to use a "vertical radiator" of 22' (feet) with the 1:1 at the bottom and the 4:1 at the top (feed point).
I was having trouble with the 1:1 SWR. Then I twisted my pigtails together and it dropped like a rock. Ended up virtually flat and less than 1.25 from 3 to 30MHz. I'll shorten the in & out wires when I install it. I did not use the teflon coated wire but otherwise followed the instructions. The attenuation was better than -32 dB from 3 to 30 MHz and very flat as well. I tried a 1:1 with a FT140-43 core too and it was good but not this good. Thanks.
Im proud to say that i have built 5 balun according to Worfgang Project. I had as well purchased the core and the wires from him. Perfect in all and for all. Have as well introduced your interesting videos to many Ham radio friends. Thanks and bst 73 de i4oqa.
With 12 turns it takes a very small wire. I tried 18 gauge and 20 gauge wire and can not get 24 total turns. Not enough room. What gauge wire are you using.
Is there an analytical way to know how many turns I need to make a balun primary look like 50 Ohms? The issue I have is that the primary looks like an inductor and its reactance will be XL = 2*pi*f*L. Say I want 50 ohms, L = 50ohms/(2*pi*f). The frequency ranges from 1 to 50MHz, the impedance will not be 50 ohms so what am I missing? I was thinking once I know the inductance, I can compute a wire length and from there start. I am stuck at 50ohms at one frequency
Good job on these balun videos. It's an interesting topic that needed some clarification (at least for me). I applaud your method of showing which works and why, and proving it with the spectrum analyzer. It makes you think twice about using cheap chinese components as well.
This is probably a stupid question, but with the high heat generated how does that affect the solder joints? Very interesting video. Thank you. 73 VK2CHC (Richard.)
Love your videos very informative and I think your English is amazing thank you so much for learning it. I can’t believe people complain about your accent and the time of your videos. I appreciate the tine that’s been taken to do these many thanks 73
Thank You for this video, helped me a lot to understand the topic. Despite that when I tried to replicate your results I failed. I mean I tried to make common-mode choke on a FT140-43 core using: enameled wire, some insulated wire even wires from UTP cable (knowing for sure UTP cable has 100 ohms impedance), but still can't get low SWR. In all those cases SWR is rising through the HF spectrum up to around 1:1,8. Do I really have to buy exactly the same wire as you used to succeed?
What values of insertion loss can be expected or can be considered OK for the 1:1 balun? I think it's also an important parameter, together with the SWR and common mode current attenuation. Anyway, thanks for the video and other ones as well. Impressed with your experience!
Super, vielen Dank. Muss man bei der Leitung etwas beachten? Dass sie 100 ohm hat? Ich habe da nirgends etwas gefunden bei diesem ptfe Draht .. 73 - DD6FM - Marco
@@TRXLab Danke ! Aber ich verstehe nicht wie die 100 Ohm gemeint sind ? Ist das die Impedanz bei einer bestimmten Frequenz auf dem Kern mit dieser Wicklungszahl ? 73
I believe you are using Habia branded wire here. Can you please tell me exactly which item number of theirs that you are using. I looked on their website and there are four different categories of the silver plated PTFE wire in AWG18. I want to make sure I get wire with the correct OD so that the windings fit inside the toroid properly. It is not cheap. Thanks.
In my opinion, just watch out for the increased capacitance of the paired up wires because the enameled wires would potentially end up being much closer to each other, and take the breakdown voltage into count too as well if high power tx is attempted to be used. Other than that, use an analyser to fine tune it and should work. I'm interested seeing your results. Good luck!
Another great video in the series ! Thanks ! How can I distinguish between different ferrite core materials unless they are labeled ? I’m looking at a pile of old cores that I’ve accumulated and, other than their geometry , they seem all the same .
Thank you John. Well the easiest way is to do it as shown here in the video. The test can give you an idea on which frequencies the core will work...73
Can you comment on the use of silver plated wire. Is it necessary, or what might I expect if I use nickel coated wire (which seems to be the only alternative on Digikey). Thanks.
I have a few , maybe 20 different types of cores. I really appreciate your analysis of core material. . At 12:57 you measured 61mm I think. That famous choke "number" was originated in the united states, and 240 corresponds to 2.4 inches ! As I said before, I will be researching the use of the TinySA and NanoVNA for use in these measurements. Was the red material type 2 ?
100% agree pure gold video but & might debate slightly about the strict necessity for high temp wire. The curie temp of type 43 ferrite is only 130 degrees C & you preferably don't want to be going into that region (non-linearities & harmonics) hence you really don't want the windings much above that. 18AWG seems to get to 60C at 14A or 90c at 22A... P=Isq.R....so 800W/50ohm in requires 4A so 18AWG should be great "cold". There was a video floating around where they first tested a balun at power & all seemed fine on the (short duration) test but the core couldn't take the power properly & slowly warmed (not seen on the short duration test) but in full "on-air" use climbed above the curie temp where it became more non-linear (swr started dropping off), absorbed even more power so got even hotter PLUS being non-linear started radiating harmonics too. If the core is getting hot it may need a bigger core not just "hot" wire. If your PVC wire is melting you may have a bigger problem than just the PVC.
Great videos on building and testing common mode chokes. I have a question about the wire used. Is the choice of wire based only on the ability to tolerate the high heat without melting the insulation? If I'm using low power and melting is not a problem, would any awg 18 wire work? And also, how do we decide that 12 turns gives 100 ohms. How is that calculated?
The impedance is not defined by the number of turns, the 100ohm characteristic impedance (of each section) is due to conductor spacing, diameter and the dielectric. Even for QRP PTFE insulated wire is a good choice, it is not terribly expensive.
Please, May I know how many Watts is the maximum power for this balun with wire AWG18 (and if possible can you explain how to calculate it) ? In any case, Many Thanks !
Hello Peter, Thanks again ! Very great videos. Do you recommand to use also this Balun for a simple dipole half-wave ? Could you tell me the reference also from your used wires ? And my last question, could you explain please the difference between a voltage and a current Balun and when they should be use ? Thanks you. 73's. Stephane.
Hello Peter. Thank you for the meticulous work you have done to help technicians understand baluns. My question is would it be better to cover the core with fabric tape before winding the wire? This would be similar to the your "part 4" video for the 9:1 unun.
Could you please point me where is the theory or calculation to determine the -2 and -4 db attenuation for 1:1 and 4:1 baluns when doing the common mode rejection tests that introduced in your video #100 and #200?
This is correct, the number of turns is how many times the wire goes through the center of the toroid. His balun has 12 turns. I am sure Peter knows better, but he counted the outside and got 11 turns. A simple mistake made by a man who knows more than most of us put together!!!!
Hello Peter, I have relaized 3 chokes with succsess with your useful instructions of yours videos. All three are working like in your video! Thanks !!! The maximum power used till now is 350W. I'm planning to use 600W for the future. @ min. 15:27 you said that with two cores we can reach about 2KW (To be tested!). Please, may I know with only one core how may power it can handle (aproximatly, of course and to be tested of course)? Don't worry, for me you are NOT responsable of any damage for this data that I'm asking you. Just your opinion to help me to have an idea about it. Another question about the test that shoul be done without destroing anything: I'm thinking to increase power a little bit time by time, starting from 100W with step of 20/30W with acycle of 15s power and 15s of pause. What should I expect when I reach the max power? SWR should start to increase a little bit or it will suddenly increase to high value? Please help. Anyway, THANKS!!! Regards! Andrea
I have referred many people to watch this series, it is the best one ever for explaining why the balun is needed and the best design and materials to use. I have fantastic results following your examples making this with my homemade fan dipole running 100 Watts. If I add a linear amplifier, how much RF power can this design with FT240-43 core material and 18 AWG PTFE wire handle? I have just purchased an additional FT240-43 and 16 AWG PTFE to combine to core materials together with the larger size wire. How much RF power should this 1:1 balun handle?
Great video but a couple questions. You say 11 turns but I count 12. A turn is every time it passes through the center. Can you confirm? Also I am confused how this works you reverse the magnetic fields between left and right. Current flow is reversed. Why doesn’t that just cancel each other out?
Yep, another reply further back noticed too. It's 12 turns as counted through the middle, but you'll only count 11 if you count the outside. Peter made a minor slip on that one, but it's completely forgivable. Have a look at the stop frame 24:26 to see the actual count. We love Peter's TH-cams down here in Australia, they're top notch from start to finish.
Thank you for these videos. Is there any chance you tested baluns with enameled wire? I would love to see how they turned out since so many baluns are made with them.
Two questions and you might answer them later (I'm at 36:22) or in a future video. First, does the size of the toroid matter? You're using 240-43 and I have 120-43's. Second, my scenario is a dipole (comprised of metal coils) connected to the 450-ohm ladder line, which will connect to coax. Would a 4:1, 9:1, or the 1:1 balun that you're showing here be best? Thanks. :)
Tks fr ur video. Have known in person Wolfgang, DG0sa (SK). He was an excellent engineer as well as you. Every new 🆕 ham radio should see your videos more than once a month. Bst 73 de i4oqa
Is it a good idea to build this without any kind of test / analyzing equipment? It looks simple and straightforward to build. But if I do get something wrong, I wouldn't know. I plan to use this with a dipole. So far this has been the best video I have found on building a current balun.
what are the coax cables connected to? input and output of a spectrum analyzer? how did you arrive at 100 ohms for the wire? are you saying dc resistance or Impedance?
The coax appears to be connected to a regular spectrum analyzer (the crt-like footage) in one measurement and a VNA (the blue box) in the other. Given you have access to a good VNA, you will be able to perform all measurements on that instrument. Regarding the 100 ohms, it refers to the impedance of the two wires in each winding. When they are connected in parallell, the total impedance will be 50 ohm. So, we are talking impedance, not resistance of the wire.
Thankyou for your help!! 🙂 Everyone else; buy Buy BUY one of these from somewhere. 4 attempts later, my home-brew still needs re-winding. The time and costs I have spent on ordering the wire and toroid + 2x P&H and trying to wind it, I could have bought one far cheaper. It's a right royal PITA to wind so SO much and get it sitting properly. Great concept though!! 🙂 Again, Thankyou for your explanation and help. Very much appreciate it and learnt. Cheers.
I wound my balun just like yours with 14 gauge thhn and I could only get 10 turns on each side (yours has 11) that were side by side. turn 11 and 11 go through the balun as another layer of turns. is it better to be 10 turns, flat and neatly spaced or better to have 1 additional turns overlapping?
Hi interesting explanation. And professional..I have 140/43 also there to do 12 rounds? I have no problem with the power I use 70 W I use a thinner wire of a transformer .. the number of rounds is important to me. Thanks
Thank you Peter for awesome Balun 's wiring plan and your great work. This will help all of us in our hobby of amateur radio. This all takes time a good project on a rainy day. This will make a better impedance matching for your VSWR.
The most important thing when we want to teach is the intention to carry a simple message. This video is one of the best and simplest that we have found demonstrating construction and theory in real time. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. JR. Aviles / KP4ARN
Thanks a lot for your videos on rf chokes, I learnt a lot. One question though. The main difficulty of this design is getting the impedance right, which depends on the dimensions of the cable, correct? Why not make the choke directly with coax cable? That way you could make sure you have 50 ohms from the beginning. Am I missing something important here?
I saw the wire you were using Peter was stranded tinned, would there be any difference in using solid ? What about using magnet wire with enamel coating, but this would not resist heat that much. What was your parameter in using the wire that you have chosen. Cheers from Canuck land.
Hi Tom, well a lot more variants would probably work but all of that is simply not tested enough. The DG0SA version is tested and we know that this design together with the used material is simply working perfect. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching 73
Thanks for the awsome video Peter. I wish I had such measuring equipment. Especially the VNA. What do you think is the right toroid for a 100W equipment? I want to build a 1to1 balun for portable use so it should be compact. 73 Bernd
I'm trying this on a 140 core I had lying around. 11 turns of some 22awg ptfe wire I have doesn't fit neatly against the toroid on one side. Would leaving it looser cause a problem, or should I just use two toroids with 11 turns each?
could we please have an update on the this with the use of the 49:1 balum ,efhw antennas ,with common mode using the vna for testing as a lot of us are now using this setup 73 gerry
Hi Peter - Thank you for these wonderful videos. I am putting up a new 40 meter dipole and wound a 1:1 balun exactly to your directions (all the materials were purchased per your specifications). The resulting SWR (using a 50 ohm dummy load or a small 50 ohm resistor) is 1.6:1 Is there something I did wrong? Will that mean that the final dipole will have minimal SWR 1.6:1 or more? Any advice????? Thanks, Mark W9MS
Hi Peter, many thanks for the excellent videos. Regarding the wire used, I have access to 16 AWG, silver coated, PTFE sleeved wire. Would using this wire be likely to work OK? Is the wire gauge absolutely important?
Fantastic videos!!!! I am working on a slightly smaller version of your 1:1 and 4:1 baluns. My torroid is the same material as your but slightly smaller and I am using the same wire mfg except I'm using 22awg wire. I notice I am running out of space for 12 windings per side. Can I go down to 10 windings per side and still get good results. I'll still get 4:1 following your design but am curious as to your thoughts on if this will still work or if I need to stick with 12 turns and get a slightly larger torroid. Thanks again for taking the time to build a great video series.....probably the best available on the net!!!!
I am now winding my own 1:1 Balun, planning on using a PVC junction box to install the core and windings, any idea of what or how to secure the core to the box? Thanks in advance.
Great videos. I made 2 of the 1:1 baluns. One using 31 mix and one using 43 mix. I am using the exact same wire and a 50 ohm load. On both when tested the swr was almost identical to each other, but I have a problem with the swr on both from 14 through to 30 MHz the swr is between 1.4 to 1.7 using an RigExpert AA-200 analyser. What could be the problem please? I purchased a PL259 male to male connector to connect the AA-200 direct to the 1:1 Balun instead of using coax and the SWR dropped to below 1:1.05 from 160 - 6m. I'm using it on my Hexbeam and my 40 and 80m centre feed dipole. Very pleased. Thank you. 73'S
Many thanks for the presentation,I am confident now. I know that this is outside the scope of the video, but are you satisfied with the miniVNA analyzer? I am thinking to buy one,but some people have mentioned that it's quite temperature sensitive making measurements unrepeatable. Thanks, 73,Kostas
Hi Kostas, thanks for feed-back. Well I have not noticed yet that the miniVNA is in any way temperature sensitive. But may be it is due to the fact that I'm using this tool in the lab only...73
first off im not real smart but could you use bntechgo 18 awg magnet wire? it is the the kind of wire i have....i will only be running 100 watts max. it is rated for 155c temp. also it is copper. thank you in advance.
Hello Peter, what would be the issue in using 0.8mm magnet wire (that I already have), the one used for transformers? I can't get hold of this PTFE wire... EDIT: I built it and it works amazingly well! my poor atu wouldn't tune on certain bands the EF long wire, and I knew there was RF because It would behave nice on low power and would try to retune and go crazy when I increased the power. Now I can tune all the bands 160 to 10 with no problem. I got excellent reports so I am very happy Thank you so much!
I wanted to see if I could improve on your Balun design but, of course, I couldn't. However, I found an old plan for a 1:1 Balun made very simply as follows. Twist fairly tight two 18 AWG magnet wire and wrap it 12 turns on a FT140-43 core (1.4" OD and .9" ID). I wanted to avoid parasitic capacitance of the wires as much as possible but this did not seem to bother your design. I spaced the 12 turns to cover about 3/4 of the toriod allowing for about 1/8" between each of he inside turns. I did this toriod in series. Testing this from 7 Mhz - 30 Mhz I got a 1.03 SWR - 1.07 SWR and a RL of 38 dB at 7 MHz to 30 dB at 30 MHz. Maybe your equipment would help to verify or show the results as I did. I would appreciate your comments because this Balun is much simpler and less expensive than your larger Balun. Thanks!
Hi, May I ask on this 1:1 balun on your finding? How do you install this balun “in series” and is this connected at the feed point? May I have a link/ copy of this balun design? Thanks in advance.
Hi Peter! I ordered # 18 AWG PTFE wire. When received, it "appears" that the insulation is thinner than what you have. The roll is marked properly. Can insulation vary do you know? Thank you
Thank you very much for sharing these videos. I have a few questions. The first is, if I want to make a 9:1 Balun, I would make 9 wraps of the wire? Also, I want to use SO-239 Connectors on each end, so I would need 3 wire strands? And finally, using two cores would allow for higher voltage through the lines?
If you are planning a 9:1 unun then the turns ratio would be 3. Two cores stacked will increase inductance and probably help with low frequency performance.
hi peter excellent once again. i have 2 questions to ask with your permission pls 1 . how the impedance of antenna is matched to air? air impedance is around 350 ohm and antennas are usually 50 ohm so how come signals are easily transmitted? 2. The monopole antenna usually used for vhf mobile vehicles are balanced but they have one singular conductor or pole. they lack the second one where ground is connected. so how does this work?the concept is fairly understandable though with dipoles.
how close can the two cores be without interfering with each other? if i make a 1:1 and attach it to a 9:1, can they be stacked? should i mount them at a 90 degree angle? are they better off flat, side by side, as shown in the video?
Your videos are still having a positive effect in the ham radio community. You explain and demonstrate balun designs in the most understandable way that ive found online so far. Thanks for your help.
This is pure gold! This the only example of why a balun is necessary, how to build one, and then actually test the finished product. Keep up the great work!
Hi Peter. I'm winding my first 4:1/1:1 balun, to transform impedance and reject common mode currents. Your video presentations are absolutely brilliant for educational and instructional purposes. As an Australian, the race "Down Under", who speak one of the most criticised versions of English (according to some people in England and also the USA), I have no trouble at all understanding your terminologies and descriptions. It is perfectly clear to me, what you mean when you use certain terminologies and words. Thank you for learning English to the standard you speak, as a way to communicate your teaching to others. To the arrogant and somewhat rude posters who make negative comments about your language, I say "get over yourselves and concentrate on the wonderful information Peter is presenting for your benefit." I cannot believe the self-centred behaviours a small minority display towards your work and teaching. Thanks for the myriad of videos you've posted, they're can inspiration, mate. Cheers, VK3PDG.
Thanks for the kind words Mark very much appreciated!
Excellent video. Please ignore the the people that don't appreciate your effort to communicate, they are trolls; they never have a QSO with anyone outside their own country. I am English, (300+years family history), I understood perfectly everything you said. RF is RF, regardless of the language or the accent. I am always happy to listen, happy to learn!
💖 same here, and I don't have 300yrs english background 😎
This presentation (part 100 & 101) is the best I've seen on the principals, theory, testing and practical elements of Balun's. A complete Mythos Zerschlagung tutorial.. Many thanks Peter and Wolfgang for your expertise and effort in bringing this excellent knowledge to the world of Amateur radio.. 73, G4RYO
You work hard to teach Americans and they complain about your English! You repeat yourself to ensure you are understood and you get more complaints. I apologize for my country and thank you for putting up with us!
Thanks for your support, Timothy!! Very much appreciated! The only thing I can say is that I always try to improve my language skills but indeed it is a challenge...All the best and have a nice Sunday
@@TRXLab at least, you speak more than one languages, you make the effort to learn and speak another language... many americans absolutely do not care about another language and ONLY speak english... I make the effort to speak english, just as you do, and my first spoken language is french.
Get over it! This man is wayyyyyy too verbose (pause and look up that word) and apparently doesn't know some basic terminology like inductance which he calls "inductivity" and inductive reactance which he calls resistance. This makes it hard to have any faith in any conclusions he arrives at. And then there is balloon lol
@@johninjersey just shut up... if you have an ounce of intelligeance, you will perfectly understand what he is trying to describe in a second language... this is the best video describing baluns bar none... go make a better video then with more view count then if you are that smart mr troll...
I live in Scotland, and I find your English is very good, you have no need to change anything, thank you for you vids. DE GM0CQV
Well done sir. Interesting and very informative. So much knowledge taught with two videos. Much easier than reading a book!
Built one with exactly the same materials (core and wires) and in the same way as Peter did. I achieved the same results regarding the SWR (1:1.2 or better) and the rejection (21 dB on 1.8 MHz and nearly 40 dB starting from 10 MHz upwards). So definitely it does work (like a charm), therefore if you need a 1:1 current balun, build this one the way Peter did in his video!
Excellent all the way around. I have obtained the parts recommended and built my own 1:1 balun following your advice and directions. My results were excellent which was extremely satisfying - thank you, thank you! Keep up the good work. Unfortunately I do not have access to a network analyzer to check the common mode attenuation - but, since I have achieve the same results with the SWR, I will "assume" common mode currents will be attenuated. Not only do I now have a functioning Balun, I have learned more about balun's and common mode currents they ever before!
240-43 toroid core, 18AWG PTFE wire 31.5 inches long. 12 windings... a recipe for success!
Thanks for feed back Bryan very much appreciated!
Sir! 18 awg ptfe what is diameter? 1.6 mm
why do you put resistors when testing common mode ? and what the values
I'm watching this series of videos for the second time because there is so much good stuff to learn, I need to watch it at least twice to take it all in. You have put a lot of work into this and I'm very grateful. I wonder how many people you have saved from radio interference and how many rigs you have saved from too higher SWR! Thank-you.
Your videos are excellent. Regarding Part #1 video and the 1:1 BALUN, I am struggling with the choke common mode loss measurements and I hope you can help me. In your setup you split the signal source using the (2) 25 ohm resistors (input network) each feeding a leg of the choke which provides a 50 ohm differential load. And on the measurement end you again load the choke differential mode with 50 ohms using (2) 25 ohm resistors (output network) and detect the signal at the center point of the resistors.. I agree so far. However, when we initially calibrate the analyzer, I argue we should leave the input and output resistor networks in place and simply short the two choke legs. This means we now simply have two 12 ohm resistors in series between our source gen and detector. We then normalize the receive display. Then we remove the jumper shorts from the choke and make the common mode signal loss measurement. In the Part #2 video I don't see the input network being used for the common mode measurement.
73
Thanks for feed back. ou may read the article in the link for more insights. Test set-up See test results by Tom PA9T a08.veron.nl/zelfbouw/antennes/800-watt-fd4-multiband-antenna-with-super-balun/
Peter, thank you for additional information. I read the the link. Please let me restate my argument in another way. You are including the parallel 25 ohm resistors on the input and output sides of the 1:1 choke balun into the results of the COMMON MODE loss measurement. WITHOUT the choke involved, you have essentially inserted a 25 Ohms resistance into the transmission circuit. This then introduces a reflection coefficient (Gamma) of 0.2, or, a return loss of 7 dB. Now, inserting the choke balun and making the COMMON MODE loss measurement, we are now measuring both the choke loss PLUS the 7 dB. I ask then, are we not including the 7 dB loss in the measurement result by doing it that way; which is not what we want.
I have watched other TH-cam videos where the presenter made the common mode measurement and did not use any network to balance the input/output currents. That kind of setup does not place the choke behavior in a real world setup.
Thanks for your patience with me.
Walter
@@walteranderson7889 you are absolutely right, his setup is wrong!
Wow, what an excellent job showing the secrets of baluns.
Thank you so much and congratulations for doing it in English, I do work more in a foreign language than my mother language, and i know it is not that easy. People who complain can start to do the same in an other language than their own.
Thank you so much for your precious time for the Amateur Radio Community !
You have all my respect OM.
73 de chris ha7wx
Hello Chris, - wish I know to speak French, but - "milyen kicsi a világ" 😎
Just wound one on an FT-240-31 core using 14 AWG silver stranded with PTFE insulation, got ~-28 dBm flat from 0.5 to ~80 mHz on both the common mode scan and the balun scan. Also checked SWR plot using my AIMuhf from 0.5 to 60.5 mHz with SWR equal to or less than 1.1:1 (mostly 1.05:1) and Zmag practically 50 ohms or so close it's a gimmie, both traces near flat. Thanks for your videos, very informative.
What was the OD of the insulation. I made a trial with AVG16 and the ID was not enough. Exact type/source of wire would also help a lot. Thanks,
Hello Peter, an excellent video so thanks so much for posting it. Can you please tell me the values of the resistors you used on the inputs and outputs of the choke as shown on the text jig. Thanks, Jamie VK2YCJ
hello! and thank you for nice video to let us learn more! my question is about in your video time 11:47 you say about the best core material you recoment show it in green line mark #3 but mark #4 look better , so my question is what is the material for that ferrite core? and if is better vs the material 43. Thank you!
From The USA, thank you for the videos! You are a wealth of intelligence, and an asset to your country.
I purchased the same wire you're using for your baluns. It appears to be silver tinned wire. What do you do to solder this wire. I have the heat on my iron cranked up and It doesn't seem that conventional solder sticks....
Followed these instructions carefully and made one using 16awg ptfe and 240/43 cores. Hope to test in a few weeks after I complete a few other antenna mods. Question about Heating: what heats what? Does wire heat the ferrite or does entire balun warm uniformly? n2eye
Hi Peter, Thanks for the videos they're great. I'm looking at making a 4:1 balun and 1:1 choke as you've described but mine for a 50mhz folded dipole. Wondering what the second best option for the wire might be, i'd only be running 100w max . the ptfe wire is expensive and it appears only sold in 25m rolls here in Australia, thats enough for a lifetime....the more i write this the more i dont know, i guess ill need a different toroid for 50mhz. do i look for one that has a coverage freq range over 50 mhz with the same type of ferrite as the t204-34?
Thank you! ALSO: Don't worry about pronouncing things in American, or coverneting to our units. We can convert the numbers ourselves, and your meanings are very clear and you are easy to understand. Your english is quite good. Thanks again for the education.
Thank you
A bit off topic what would happen to a capacitor if u spray painted the comb and stator would it increase the capacity or remain the same I’m trying to settle a disagreement with a friend and thankyou for the videos
Peter, awesome video. I'd like to get the resistor values you used in your test rig setup. Thanks Garry / WD0DUD.
You'll find it under community www.youtube.com/@TRXLab/community
Very good! I saw in one video you use transformer wire. I was just wondering if this can handle more heat? Is this because the wire has not got thick insulation you can wind it closer to the toroid and this use thicker wire?
I just bought 4x ft240-43 toroids for a total of €40. I hope they are genuine.
A very interesting video. I haven't wound a balun as of yet; my OCF dipole long wire antenna was given to me and my Ham buddy already had the balun wound. All I know is that it works from 160 to 6 meters. I didn't know that they made wire specifically for winding baluns. I think my buddy said he used 2 toroidals to give more wattage @ 800 watts. Of course I'll never go above 100 watts as I don't have an amplifier yet. Cheers & 73 from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
Is the reason for the ptfe wire only heat resistance? Are there any electrical reasons for using stranded, insulated wire?
I'm going to be under 100W.
Can you tell me which resistors you soldered on at 41:30? I cant quite see the colour bars
I greatly appreciate your videos, have learned quite a bit. Disregard those who are critical, you do great and there are trolls everywhere. Keep up the good work!
My mother tongue is french and I understood every word without trying. Perfect videos thank you
Your Balun series are great... Now I can build my homebrew Carolina Windom with confidence. I am going to use a "vertical radiator" of 22' (feet) with the 1:1 at the bottom and the 4:1 at the top (feed point).
Good luck with your project! 73
I was having trouble with the 1:1 SWR. Then I twisted my pigtails together and it dropped like a rock. Ended up virtually flat and less than 1.25 from 3 to 30MHz. I'll shorten the in & out wires when I install it. I did not use the teflon coated wire but otherwise followed the instructions. The attenuation was better than -32 dB from 3 to 30 MHz and very flat as well. I tried a 1:1 with a FT140-43 core too and it was good but not this good. Thanks.
Im proud to say that i have built 5 balun according to Worfgang Project. I had as well purchased the core and the wires from him. Perfect in all and for all. Have as well introduced your interesting videos to many Ham radio friends. Thanks and bst 73 de i4oqa.
Hi Yochanan, yes really good stuff! best regards to you and your radio friend! 73
If i run 100W maximum, can i use just normal wire at 18 AWG? thank you....
OUTSTANDING. Good job as usual. Thanks for all you do. Do you have a design for a UNUN for 75 ohm CATV hard line to 50 ohm coax?
With 12 turns it takes a very small wire. I tried 18 gauge and 20 gauge wire and can not get 24 total turns. Not enough room. What gauge wire are you using.
IT IS AWG 18 watch appr. from 13-16 minutes....
Is there an analytical way to know how many turns I need to make a balun primary look like 50 Ohms? The issue I have is that the primary looks like an inductor and its reactance will be XL = 2*pi*f*L. Say I want 50 ohms, L = 50ohms/(2*pi*f). The frequency ranges from 1 to 50MHz, the impedance will not be 50 ohms so what am I missing? I was thinking once I know the inductance, I can compute a wire length and from there start. I am stuck at 50ohms at one frequency
Good job on these balun videos. It's an interesting topic that needed some clarification (at least for me). I applaud your method of showing which works and why, and proving it with the spectrum analyzer. It makes you think twice about using cheap chinese components as well.
Thanks for your kind feed-back and thanks for watching 73
This is probably a stupid question, but with the high heat generated how does that affect the solder joints?
Very interesting video. Thank you.
73 VK2CHC (Richard.)
Love your videos very informative and I think your English is amazing thank you so much for learning it. I can’t believe people complain about your accent and the time of your videos. I appreciate the tine that’s been taken to do these many thanks 73
Thank You for this video, helped me a lot to understand the topic. Despite that when I tried to replicate your results I failed. I mean I tried to make common-mode choke on a FT140-43 core using: enameled wire, some insulated wire even wires from UTP cable (knowing for sure UTP cable has 100 ohms impedance), but still can't get low SWR. In all those cases SWR is rising through the HF spectrum up to around 1:1,8.
Do I really have to buy exactly the same wire as you used to succeed?
I HAVE THE SAME ISSUE... DID YOU GET ANY REPLY TO YOUR COMMENT?
What values of insertion loss can be expected or can be considered OK for the 1:1 balun? I think it's also an important parameter, together with the SWR and common mode current attenuation. Anyway, thanks for the video and other ones as well. Impressed with your experience!
Look here: a08.veron.nl/zelfbouw/antennes/800-watt-fd4-multiband-antenna-with-super-balun/
Super, vielen Dank. Muss man bei der Leitung etwas beachten? Dass sie 100 ohm hat? Ich habe da nirgends etwas gefunden bei diesem ptfe Draht .. 73 - DD6FM - Marco
Wenn man genau dieses Kabel verwendet brauchst du nichts zu beachten. Wir haben das Kabel vorher ausgemessen. 73
@@TRXLab Danke ! Aber ich verstehe nicht wie die 100 Ohm gemeint sind ? Ist das die Impedanz bei einer bestimmten Frequenz auf dem Kern mit dieser Wicklungszahl ? 73
I believe you are using Habia branded wire here. Can you please tell me exactly which item number of theirs that you are using. I looked on their website and there are four different categories of the silver plated PTFE wire in AWG18. I want to make sure I get wire with the correct OD so that the windings fit inside the toroid properly. It is not cheap. Thanks.
cant i avoid the insulation melting problem by using copper enamelled wire with a similar diameter?
In my opinion, just watch out for the increased capacitance of the paired up wires because the enameled wires would potentially end up being much closer to each other, and take the breakdown voltage into count too as well if high power tx is attempted to be used. Other than that, use an analyser to fine tune it and should work. I'm interested seeing your results. Good luck!
Do you know if I could do same or similar test (first part regarding attenuation) with my nanoVNA? Or it requires a proper equipment? Thanks
yes no problem with the nano
Another great video in the series ! Thanks ! How can I distinguish between different ferrite core materials unless they are labeled ? I’m looking at a pile of old cores that I’ve accumulated and, other than their geometry , they seem all the same .
Thank you John. Well the easiest way is to do it as shown here in the video. The test can give you an idea on which frequencies the core will work...73
AWG18 is it the diameter of the inner cable or the total diameter including the PTFE jacket?
Can you comment on the use of silver plated wire. Is it necessary, or what might I expect if I use nickel coated wire (which seems to be the only alternative on Digikey). Thanks.
I have a few , maybe 20 different types of cores. I really appreciate your analysis of core material. . At 12:57 you measured 61mm I think. That famous choke "number" was originated in the united states, and 240 corresponds to 2.4 inches ! As I said before, I will be researching the use of the TinySA and NanoVNA for use in these measurements. Was the red material type 2 ?
100% agree pure gold video but & might debate slightly about the strict necessity for high temp wire. The curie temp of type 43 ferrite is only 130 degrees C & you preferably don't want to be going into that region (non-linearities & harmonics) hence you really don't want the windings much above that.
18AWG seems to get to 60C at 14A or 90c at 22A... P=Isq.R....so 800W/50ohm in requires 4A so 18AWG should be great "cold".
There was a video floating around where they first tested a balun at power & all seemed fine on the (short duration) test but the core couldn't take the power properly & slowly warmed (not seen on the short duration test) but in full "on-air" use climbed above the curie temp where it became more non-linear (swr started dropping off), absorbed even more power so got even hotter PLUS being non-linear started radiating harmonics too. If the core is getting hot it may need a bigger core not just "hot" wire.
If your PVC wire is melting you may have a bigger problem than just the PVC.
Great video with nice and easy english about balun
Great videos on building and testing common mode chokes. I have a question about the wire used. Is the choice of wire based only on the ability to tolerate the high heat without melting the insulation? If I'm using low power and melting is not a problem, would any awg 18 wire work? And also, how do we decide that 12 turns gives 100 ohms. How is that calculated?
The impedance is not defined by the number of turns, the 100ohm characteristic impedance (of each section) is due to conductor spacing, diameter and the dielectric. Even for QRP PTFE insulated wire is a good choice, it is not terribly expensive.
thank you so much for the reply
Please, May I know how many Watts is the maximum power for this balun with wire AWG18 (and if possible can you explain how to calculate it) ?
In any case, Many Thanks !
Hello Peter, Thanks again ! Very great videos. Do you recommand to use also this Balun for a simple dipole half-wave ? Could you tell me the reference also from your used wires ? And my last question, could you explain please the difference between a voltage and a current Balun and when they should be use ?
Thanks you. 73's. Stephane.
Hello Peter. Thank you for the meticulous work you have done to help technicians understand baluns. My question is would it be better to cover the core with fabric tape before winding the wire? This would be similar to the your "part 4" video for the 9:1 unun.
Excellent presentation! Do you happen to know if 20AWG or even 22AWG on a T140-43 would be correct for 100 watts 40m - 10m? Take care, Terry
Could you please point me where is the theory or calculation to determine the -2 and -4 db attenuation for 1:1 and 4:1 baluns when doing the common mode rejection tests that introduced in your video #100 and #200?
24:33 if you count wires from the inside, you will count 12 turn exactly like needed. I've always count from the inside of the core when doing baluns.
This is correct, the number of turns is how many times the wire goes through the center of the toroid. His balun has 12 turns. I am sure Peter knows better, but he counted the outside and got 11 turns. A simple mistake made by a man who knows more than most of us put together!!!!
@@ronjones4069 Oh absolutely, I will never doubt anything Peter sais as like you said, he know way much more stuff than most of us in here !
Hello Peter,
I have relaized 3 chokes with succsess with your useful instructions of yours videos. All three are working like in your video! Thanks !!!
The maximum power used till now is 350W. I'm planning to use 600W for the future.
@ min. 15:27 you said that with two cores we can reach about 2KW (To be tested!).
Please, may I know with only one core how may power it can handle (aproximatly, of course and to be tested of course)?
Don't worry, for me you are NOT responsable of any damage for this data that I'm asking you. Just your opinion to help me to have an idea about it.
Another question about the test that shoul be done without destroing anything: I'm thinking to increase power a little bit time by time, starting from 100W with step of 20/30W with acycle of 15s power and 15s of pause. What should I expect when I reach the max power? SWR should start to increase a little bit or it will suddenly increase to high value?
Please help.
Anyway, THANKS!!!
Regards!
Andrea
I have referred many people to watch this series, it is the best one ever for explaining why the balun is needed and the best design and materials to use. I have fantastic results following your examples making this with my homemade fan dipole running 100 Watts. If I add a linear amplifier, how much RF power can this design with FT240-43 core material and 18 AWG PTFE wire handle? I have just purchased an additional FT240-43 and 16 AWG PTFE to combine to core materials together with the larger size wire. How much RF power should this 1:1 balun handle?
Does the antenna have to hook up at a particular part of balun or either side is ok?
Great video but a couple questions. You say 11 turns but I count 12. A turn is every time it passes through the center. Can you confirm? Also I am confused how this works you reverse the magnetic fields between left and right. Current flow is reversed. Why doesn’t that just cancel each other out?
Yep, another reply further back noticed too. It's 12 turns as counted through the middle, but you'll only count 11 if you count the outside. Peter made a minor slip on that one, but it's completely forgivable. Have a look at the stop frame 24:26 to see the actual count. We love Peter's TH-cams down here in Australia, they're top notch from start to finish.
Could you please recommend a core and wire for a vhf/uhf balun. Max power 100 watts
Thank you for these videos. Is there any chance you tested baluns with enameled wire? I would love to see how they turned out since so many baluns are made with them.
Two questions and you might answer them later (I'm at 36:22) or in a future video. First, does the size of the toroid matter? You're using 240-43 and I have 120-43's. Second, my scenario is a dipole (comprised of metal coils) connected to the 450-ohm ladder line, which will connect to coax. Would a 4:1, 9:1, or the 1:1 balun that you're showing here be best?
Thanks. :)
Tks fr ur video. Have known in person Wolfgang, DG0sa (SK). He was an excellent engineer as well as you. Every new 🆕 ham radio should see your videos more than once a month. Bst 73 de i4oqa
Is it a good idea to build this without any kind of test / analyzing equipment?
It looks simple and straightforward to build. But if I do get something wrong, I wouldn't know. I plan to use this with a dipole.
So far this has been the best video I have found on building a current balun.
what are the coax cables connected to? input and output of a spectrum analyzer? how did you arrive at 100 ohms for the wire? are you saying dc resistance or Impedance?
Did you get an answer?
The coax appears to be connected to a regular spectrum analyzer (the crt-like footage) in one measurement and a VNA (the blue box) in the other. Given you have access to a good VNA, you will be able to perform all measurements on that instrument. Regarding the 100 ohms, it refers to the impedance of the two wires in each winding. When they are connected in parallell, the total impedance will be 50 ohm. So, we are talking impedance, not resistance of the wire.
Thankyou for your help!! 🙂 Everyone else; buy Buy BUY one of these from somewhere. 4 attempts later, my home-brew still needs re-winding. The time and costs I have spent on ordering the wire and toroid + 2x P&H and trying to wind it, I could have bought one far cheaper. It's a right royal PITA to wind so SO much and get it sitting properly. Great concept though!! 🙂 Again, Thankyou for your explanation and help. Very much appreciate it and learnt. Cheers.
I wound my balun just like yours with 14 gauge thhn and I could only get 10 turns on each side (yours has 11) that were side by side. turn 11 and 11 go through the balun as another layer of turns.
is it better to be 10 turns, flat and neatly spaced or better to have 1 additional turns overlapping?
Hi interesting explanation. And professional..I have 140/43 also there to do 12 rounds? I have no problem with the power I use 70 W I use a thinner wire of a transformer .. the number of rounds is important to me. Thanks
Thank you Peter for awesome Balun 's wiring plan and your great work. This will help all of us in our hobby of amateur radio. This all takes time a good project on a rainy day. This will make a better impedance matching for your VSWR.
Hi Dennis, thanks for feed back. Yea it is really a good project for a week end. Again thanks for watching. 73
Excellent series Peter, Thanks for this information, and also the perfect presentation
73
Derek
VO1KC
Peter, could you make a video on how to make a 1:2 balun, type wire and include testing for SWR and common mode reject, please? Thanks, Ted
The most important thing when we want to teach is the intention to carry a simple message. This video is one of the best and simplest that we have found demonstrating construction and theory in real time. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
JR. Aviles / KP4ARN
Thanks a lot for your videos on rf chokes, I learnt a lot. One question though. The main difficulty of this design is getting the impedance right, which depends on the dimensions of the cable, correct? Why not make the choke directly with coax cable? That way you could make sure you have 50 ohms from the beginning. Am I missing something important here?
I saw the wire you were using Peter was stranded tinned, would there be any difference in using solid ? What about using magnet wire with enamel coating, but this would not resist heat that much. What was your parameter in using the wire that you have chosen. Cheers from Canuck land.
Hi Tom, well a lot more variants would probably work but all of that is simply not tested enough. The DG0SA version is tested and we know that this design together with the used material is simply working perfect. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching 73
If you have tubed the balun by manipulating the wire can you then fix it in place with hot glue or some kind of silicone without screwing things up?
Hi David, yes you can use hot glue with no problems. 73
Thanks for the awsome video Peter.
I wish I had such measuring equipment. Especially the VNA.
What do you think is the right toroid for a 100W equipment?
I want to build a 1to1 balun for portable use so it should be compact.
73 Bernd
Thank you Bernd. Well for 100W a FT140-43 is perfect. Hope that helps. 73
It helps! .....and what luck, I have even 2 in my stash :-)
I'm going to wrap my balun tomorrow.
Nice week and thanks again!
73 Bernd
I'm trying this on a 140 core I had lying around. 11 turns of some 22awg ptfe wire I have doesn't fit neatly against the toroid on one side. Would leaving it looser cause a problem, or should I just use two toroids with 11 turns each?
could we please have an update on the this with the use of the 49:1 balum ,efhw antennas ,with common mode using the vna for testing as a lot of us are now using this setup
73 gerry
Hi Peter - Thank you for these wonderful videos. I am putting up a new 40 meter dipole and wound a 1:1 balun exactly to your directions (all the materials were purchased per your specifications). The resulting SWR (using a 50 ohm dummy load or a small 50 ohm resistor) is 1.6:1 Is there something I did wrong? Will that mean that the final dipole will have minimal SWR 1.6:1 or more? Any advice????? Thanks, Mark W9MS
Hi Peter, many thanks for the excellent videos.
Regarding the wire used, I have access to 16 AWG, silver coated, PTFE sleeved wire. Would using this wire be likely to work OK? Is the wire gauge absolutely important?
Hi, the gauge is important for power and meeting the needed impedance. AWG16 should work if you get enough turns on the core. Thanks for watching. 73.
At 44:21 what are the total resistor values you are using on each wire?
th-cam.com/users/postUgzZ99kW0mmV0FVvAQN4AaABCQ
Fantastic videos!!!! I am working on a slightly smaller version of your 1:1 and 4:1 baluns. My torroid is the same material as your but slightly smaller and I am using the same wire mfg except I'm using 22awg wire. I notice I am running out of space for 12 windings per side. Can I go down to 10 windings per side and still get good results. I'll still get 4:1 following your design but am curious as to your thoughts on if this will still work or if I need to stick with 12 turns and get a slightly larger torroid. Thanks again for taking the time to build a great video series.....probably the best available on the net!!!!
I am now winding my own 1:1 Balun, planning on using a PVC junction box to install the core and windings, any idea of what or how to secure the core to the box? Thanks in advance.
Great videos.
I made 2 of the 1:1 baluns. One using 31 mix and one using 43 mix. I am using the exact same wire and a 50 ohm load. On both when tested the swr was almost identical to each other, but I have a problem with the swr on both from 14 through to 30 MHz the swr is between 1.4 to 1.7 using an RigExpert AA-200 analyser. What could be the problem please?
I purchased a PL259 male to male connector to connect the AA-200 direct to the 1:1 Balun instead of using coax and the SWR dropped to below 1:1.05 from 160 - 6m. I'm using it on my Hexbeam and my 40 and 80m centre feed dipole. Very pleased. Thank you. 73'S
Check the impedance with parallel wire impedance calculator: www.mantaro.com/resources/impedance-calculator.htm
Many thanks for the presentation,I am confident now. I know that this is outside the scope of the video, but are you satisfied with the miniVNA analyzer? I am thinking to buy one,but some people have mentioned that it's quite temperature sensitive making measurements unrepeatable. Thanks, 73,Kostas
Hi Kostas, thanks for feed-back. Well I have not noticed yet that the miniVNA is in any way temperature sensitive. But may be it is due to the fact that I'm using this tool in the lab only...73
Hi OM, what impact could potentially happen when metal enclosures are used for encasing the balun. What to look out for. Thanks 73's
Hi, you should use a plastic housing as metal always have an inpact on the magnetic field around the core... 73
Thanks for the video trx. Is the awg18 wire stranded? Or solid. Happy holidays. 73.
stranded
@@TRXLab Can you recommend a european shop for the PFTE wire used? Cedric ON4CKM
first off im not real smart but could you use bntechgo 18 awg magnet wire? it is the the kind of wire i have....i will only be running 100 watts max. it is rated for 155c temp. also it is copper. thank you in advance.
Hello Peter, what would be the issue in using 0.8mm magnet wire (that I already have), the one used for transformers? I can't get hold of this PTFE wire...
EDIT: I built it and it works amazingly well! my poor atu wouldn't tune on certain bands the EF long wire, and I knew there was RF because It would behave nice on low power and would try to retune and go crazy when I increased the power. Now I can tune all the bands 160 to 10 with no problem. I got excellent reports so I am very happy
Thank you so much!
Where can i get a hold of such wire?
At 14:00 is the information on the wire. What's the AWG / SWG size of the wire? Pronounced: (Bal-lun)
I wanted to see if I could improve on your Balun design but, of course, I couldn't. However, I found an old plan for a 1:1 Balun made very simply as follows. Twist fairly tight two 18 AWG magnet wire and wrap it 12 turns on a FT140-43 core (1.4" OD and .9" ID). I wanted to avoid parasitic capacitance of the wires as much as possible but this did not seem to bother your design. I spaced the 12 turns to cover about 3/4 of the toriod allowing for about 1/8" between each of he inside turns. I did this toriod in series. Testing this from 7 Mhz - 30 Mhz I got a 1.03 SWR - 1.07 SWR and a RL of 38 dB at 7 MHz to 30 dB at 30 MHz. Maybe your equipment would help to verify or show the results as I did. I would appreciate your comments because this Balun is much simpler and less expensive than your larger Balun. Thanks!
very good Hank and thanks for your report! 73
Hi,
May I ask on this 1:1 balun on your finding? How do you install this balun “in series” and is this connected at the feed point? May I have a link/ copy of this balun design?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Peter! I ordered # 18 AWG PTFE wire. When received, it "appears" that the insulation is thinner than what you have. The roll is marked properly. Can insulation vary do you know? Thank you
Hi David,
well many variations are on the market as long the test results does not change all is fine.. Thanks for watching 73
Thank you very much for sharing these videos. I have a few questions. The first is, if I want to make a 9:1 Balun, I would make 9 wraps of the wire? Also, I want to use SO-239 Connectors on each end, so I would need 3 wire strands? And finally, using two cores would allow for higher voltage through the lines?
If you are planning a 9:1 unun then the turns ratio would be 3. Two cores stacked will increase inductance and probably help with low frequency performance.
hi peter
excellent once again. i have 2 questions to ask with your permission pls
1 . how the impedance of antenna is matched to air? air impedance is around 350 ohm and antennas are usually 50 ohm so how come signals are easily transmitted?
2. The monopole antenna usually used for vhf mobile vehicles are balanced but they have one singular conductor or pole. they lack the second one where ground is connected. so how does this work?the concept is fairly understandable though with dipoles.
Would it affect the performance if I dipped this balun in an epoxy potting compound (to lock the windings in place)?
Hi Jason, no that would be no problem. 73
What equipment were you using, at about 5 min and 10 minutes in, to compare the 4 cores?
how close can the two cores be without interfering with each other? if i make a 1:1 and attach it to a 9:1, can they be stacked? should i mount them at a 90 degree angle? are they better off flat, side by side, as shown in the video?
The best is to place the cores close together side by side. Stacking is possible too but you always should Test for Performance. 73