DIY 4:1 Balun Build for Ham Radio Antennas - TheSmokinApe

Lid Tips - DIY 4:1 Balun Build - TheSmokinApe
In this Lid Tips video we build a DIY 4:1 Balun that can be used in various Ham Raio Antenna projects, we will also test it with a NanoVNA. We use two ft140-43 toroids to build the balun. Please leave any questions, comments, suggestions or recommendations below and I will do my best to respond.
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Video Links:
www.m0pzt.com/blog/4to1-curren...
k4lrg.org/building-an-off-cen...
w5sdc.net/delta_loop_for_hf.htm
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• NanoVNA Playlist
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Thanks,
TheSmokinApe

[@richardpena7275]

I appreciate this guy’s explanation of things.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks man 👍

[@stridermt2k]

Great video and nice work!

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thank you very much! Glad you liked it Mike...

[@lapinebob]

Our little group here in Central Oregon is planning on antenna parties building the antenna in your video this Spring when conditions improve on our properties. Right now I still have 1' of snow on the ground. I subscribed and look forward to watching more of your productions.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks for watching and for the sun Robert 👍

[@1983eville]

Dude i love your videos! Many thanks! the opening frame of this video makes it look like they legalized every drug known to man in your home state.

[@TheSmokinApe]

LOL @ Opening frame! Glad you like the videos, thanks for watching!

[@IndependentNewsMedia]

Looking forward to you connecting it to an antenna and running the test again for real world results. 👍 Chud M1PUP QTH London

[@TheSmokinApe]

You and me both! Thanks for watching.

[@Godhumbledme]

whoooo am I happy now thanks! :):)

[@TheSmokinApe]

Awesome 🍻

[@hermantowers]

thanks. i have an idea will like to share

[@davidcatalano5474]

Just built one using the 140-43 and it was better than 2 swr on all bands

[@TheSmokinApe]

Nice, I need to redo this one at some point 👍

[@TheMrDrMs]

For higher bands you should have used a type 61 mix. I use 43 as I focus more on 80 / 40m

[@bringemyoungpbuh4123]

Your name reminds me of a story my dad told me from his time in the Navy in WWII in the South Pacific. Someone on his ship bought a monkey (I know a monkey is not an ape, but bear with me) and brought it onboard. The men taught the critter to smoke cigars and he loved them. However, the money also got seasick. As soon as they got near another island, the monkey jumped ship and swam to shore. The men thought the monkey was smarter than them for doing so.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Haha, thanks for sharing 👍

[@bringemyoungpbuh4123]

@@TheSmokinApe Poor monkey had to go through nicotine withdrawal all alone.

[@peterthinks]

I built a Grey Hoverman antenna for OTA TV signals but I am not happy with my crappy 75 to 300 Ohm Balun. I want to make my own. Would this 4 to 1 Balun be suitable for OTA TV signals? And what would be the most appropriate toroid material to use? Type 43 Ferrite?

[@b0r4t]

You need to show how you calibrated the nanovna with those alligator clips. The alligator clips should be the reference plane for these measurements.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks for the comment Heath. I didn't calibrate with the clips, and don't disagree that it could have made a difference. I look at it like this; I'm not running a NIST Calibrated lab by any stretch of the imagination. Also, if I have the antenna complete I can't test it connected directly to the VNA, it would have to be mounted and connected via some form of feed line. When I test it for real, with the antenna I'm not going to climb the mast to calibrate the VNA; I'm going to calibrate it at the desk / bench.

[@truckinghamk1dok677]

it would be interesting to see the results with the toroids arranged axially (as if on a common stick) with little or no space between them.

[@TheSmokinApe]

I like that idea, I’ll do some more 4:1 stuff 👍

[@forgediron]

An old rule of thumb, if the lengths are less 1/10 of a wavelength you can safely ignore them for a rough estimation. Your leads are much shorter than that. I can't tell if your bench is metal or not. If it is, then that might be the problem. The fact that the error goes up with frequency in a linear fashion is a clue. Not sure what it means though. Nice video, thanks!

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks for the comment, being a left I think the one toroid is wrapped the wrong direction by mistake. Planning a re-do!

[@user-cu9gd8nz3c]

Great video. How to modify this build for a 1:1 balun ? I’m planning to build my first 1/4 wave vertical wire antenna for 10meters and 11 meters.

[@TheSmokinApe]

I have a playlist that has a ton of stuff on just about any core you want to build: kzbin.info/aero/PLm8ROkpFeqoqkGQtBYfcT9Y-2GCKxBuuk

[@user-cu9gd8nz3c]

@@TheSmokinApe thanks 73s

[@pieterdutoit9642]

hi you used 140-43 in it you sould hahe used 12 turns on 2x FT240-31 ferrite cores the freq is lower,Thank you Pieter

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks for the info Pieter

[@davidcatalano5474]

Did you ever build an OCF Dipole to use with this Balun? Have some differences between length for this one and a 9 turn balun..

[@TheSmokinApe]

I did not, but it's still on the list. In an nutshell the 4:1 is for matching 200 ohm antennas while the 9:1 is for 450 ohm antennas. Thanks for watching David

[@jarrettmaryframe2278]

Could you increase the power handling by using larger gauge wire? Would a larger toroid be required?

[@TheSmokinApe]

Yes, to both questions.

[@mrkopecky]

Would this be a great balun for a loop antenna fed with coax? It hurts to pay $100 for a balun. I could make it a 1/3 of price. Thanks for sharing.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Yeah, it would work for that

[@Dragon16815]

Hello! nice video...did you try with FT-240-61?

[@TheSmokinApe]

I haven’t messed with any cores with a 61 mix yet, plan to in the future 👍

[@headpainter1]

Totally new to baluns. Seems I have seen balun wraps that use both conductors and some that allowed bypass of the ground sheath wire and only wrap the center conductor. Am I wrong in this? Why both wires, why not? I'm trying to make one just for 11 meters but can't find specifics about how many turns etc....Thanks.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Hey HP1. They do come in a variety of configurations and yes, some will short to the shield. For 11m it would depend on the antenna and what you want the balun to do; for example suppress CMC or impedance match? Check out my playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PLm8ROkpFeqoqkGQtBYfcT9Y-2GCKxBuuk

[@nickrupp2336]

Have you seen N8Nk QRP's videos on making a multi tap unun ? You get a 4-1 through a 81-1 tap using alligator clips.

[@TheSmokinApe]

No, but I’ll check it out. Thanks 👍

[@nickrupp2336]

@@TheSmokinApe He's a bit unorthodox, but his way sure seems to work well.

[@Bairam_1AT865]

Hey dude, i just bought 2 toroide fr240-43, do you think that i will able to make a 4:1 balun woth them???? I need a balun 4:1 for 1kw

[@TheSmokinApe]

You might want to double stack them for a total of 4 cores for 1kw

[@Newlife-ol6pk]

Is this for recieving or for transmiting? I want to build an antena for 21 megahertz to recieve Jupiter noise( storms) and in a project they are using a dipole 7 Meters and a balun 300/70 ohm and i don't know what balun i need for the project 😂.

[@TheSmokinApe]

This could be used for either RX or TX but this type of Balun isn't needed for a standard dipole, you would want a balun choke 👍

[@SheepDogActual]

Great info but a little to complicated for a newbie. Thanks.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Thanks for the feedback and for watching PFHS 👍

[@SheepDogActual]

@@TheSmokinApe my pleasure. It was a great video.

[@ahuggins6]

So, to be clear, the resistors represent the load of the antenna wires, correct?

[@TheSmokinApe]

Correct 👍

[@user-tl5tt5yw3c]

Does the tuner have a 4 to one balun inside also ?

[@TheSmokinApe]

Most tuners with a twin-line or ladder-line connection do have a 4:1

[@brindabandas1955]

Can i use this balun for uhf band antennas too?? Kindly reply sir. 🙏

[@TheSmokinApe]

I would not, I don't think it would be needed.

[@williambickham2042]

As far as swr, wouldn't things be quite different with actual element radiators rather than resistors? For instance, my antenna, an inverted vee up 35ft with a pair of 43 ft legs and 450 ohm antenna from top to shack did not tune well on 20 meters when the legs were only 33ft each. 33ft legs were good for 40 meters since each leg was 1/4 wave and thus signal are on peaks but was 1/2 waves for 20 meters which put signals on nulls. The extra 10 ft on each leg made them 5/8 on 20 meters which got the signals to a non null area. Doesn't using resistors eliminate an important part of the equation? KC6IJH Bill

[@TheSmokinApe]

Hey William. Yes it would be because the impedance of the actually antenna would vary greatly with frequency, I have a video on impedance if you are interested. I used the resistor to mimic a load with minimal variance across frequency to test the unun’s transformation ability 👍

[@samuelwhittemore7675]

If you use a tuner, why do you need a balun?

[@TheSmokinApe]

The tuners tunes the antenna system, which includes the coax. It does nothing for the mismatch between the coax and the antenna, the balun / unun helped with this problem.

[@Hillbillyshakespeare]

How much power is this good for?

[@TheSmokinApe]

I never test it, sorry Logan.

[@glenng.8254]

Nowhere in this video did you actually explain how to physically wrap the wire around the toroid.

[@parochial2356]

Running one of these with a 30 foot radiator and a 19.8 foot counterpoise, radiator at 45 degrees to the ground. Have 90 countries confirmed on LOTW [91 on QRZ]. Running 100 watts - or less - out on an Icom IC-7200 thru an LDG IT-100 auto tuner, FT & FT4 modes primarily.

[@TheSmokinApe]

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@samuelwhittemore7675]

You use 200 ohm resistors as your test but how do you know if your antenna is 200 ohms?

[@TheSmokinApe]

When you feed a dipole at the 33/66 point it's typically around 200 ohms of impedance.

[@AndrewMurphy8383]

that ofcd will cover 20 sir if u got atu

[@TheSmokinApe]

I’m hoping it does, I have to blow the dust off that project and get back to work.

[@AndrewMurphy8383]

@@TheSmokinApe it should with a tuner from what i been told jsut need a tuner with it

[@kevinkc3onohelijeepworld953]

Impedance transformer 😂

[@TheSmokinApe]

Glad you enjoyed it 👍

[@DeeegerD]

Nobody ever explains electrically how these things work.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Sure they do

[@DeeegerD]

@@TheSmokinApe Need a schematic 👽

[@kevinaponte7078]

Toe roid lol😂

[@TheSmokinApe]

Right, lol...

[@geoffbrown.rfcomms1107]

Total rubbish build, dual core theory is correct but result is terrible de G4ICD, VSWR should be flat over 0 > 30MHz not 3/1

[@TheSmokinApe]

Glad you enjoyed the video Geoff

[@geoffbrown.rfcomms1107]

Yes it was crap, worst YT video ever@@TheSmokinApe

[@DeeegerD]

Please learn to pronounce toroid. It's tor-oid not toe-roid. Toes don't get roids.

[@TheSmokinApe]

Nah son, I think you are saying it wrong...

[@DeeegerD]

@@TheSmokinApe Eh? 🇨🇦

[@TheSmokinApe]

@@DeeegerD right

[@PopeyeKF4LBG]

Well i did it... I clicked the buttons. I am so happy now my wife thinks im cheating! 😊 Love your content! Thank you! 73 de KF4LBG Larry

[@TheSmokinApe]

Haha, thanks for watching Popeye. Glad you like the videos 👍