Ham Radio Line Isolator - Build and Placement

[@WECB640]

Thank you Peter for keeping the content real and inspiring for the ham community. Lately I'm seeing far too many other channels reviewing items they've been given for free for promotional consideration. I appreciate your mentoring and wanted to let you know. Keep up the great work OM. 73

[@watersstanton]

Thanks for those nice words.

[@basshorseman998]

Well done Peter, I've been using toroid coiled isolaters at both ends of my coax...the results have been astounding..it even nearly eliminated house-electronic noises (not all, most) in my receive. Thanks

[@watersstanton]

Great news.

[@respectbossmon]

RG-58 is great for making a line isolator for HF operations. I prefer to place it just outside the penetration entering the radio shack. That way the radiated RF stays outside the building, mostly.

[@watersstanton]

Yes makes sense.

[@Matt-qq8dh]

I built this line isolator like you have it in a previous video and this one. It works great! I used 3 ft of RG-58 with connectors on it, and wrapped 13 turns around the 240-43 mix torroid and tie wrapped it together. I pulled this choke in and out of the feedline going to the radio input. It does bring the SWR down to 1:1 and filters out the RF. Otherwise, the SWR goes all over the place on my display on the radio. Very simple to build. Your videos are very informative and I learn a lot from them. Thank you very much.

[@watersstanton]

Great to hear your results.

[@winstonchurchill6506]

Have a good Christmas. you and your staff

[@rv6amark]

As always, you explain things simply, and clearly. I am about to install a HWEF antenna here in my new home, and had decided to install 2 of them exactly as you discuss here. I am glad you did this video so now I have more confidence in this arrangement.

[@watersstanton]

Glad to help

[@ThumpMaster6]

13:22 Crucial to getting your EFHW to behave and use the most-efficient isolator/counterpoise for those antennas..your coax shield! Well done as usual Peter 73 de KN4HGI Alan

[@watersstanton]

Many thanks.

[@glynbrandon7981]

Hey, another awesome video! Really appreciate your videos-they're a huge help to radio operators, new and old.

[@watersstanton]

You are very welcome.

[@JH-jp9sv]

I personally believe that the simplest effective way for a line isolator (1:1 balun) is, if you have a 240 sized toroid of the proper composition, you can just wrap the feed line and connector through it as many times as possible at the shack end and call it a day. Edit to add, because I use resonant antennas. Good content! Edit again... 43 is fine for 80 but for 160 mix 75 toroid is better suited.

[@watersstanton]

Thanks for sharing.

[@brianfields4479]

Great video, and a good reminder for us all.

[@watersstanton]

Thanks for watching

[@Thambiah-uk]

"Good video, Peter, Before making an isolator, remove the plastic shield of the coaxial cable to ensure contact with the core." G7UNF

[@mariemccann5895]

Excellent video and explanation, very helpful and useful, thanks.

[@watersstanton]

Glad it was helpful!

[@videotrexx]

I had a toroid core and a 1m RG58 cable, so I made one while watching thise video, since I only had 1, I put it at the feedpoint of my attic installed G5RV Jr.. Prior to installing it, I had the antenna tuned for 20m with about a 1.2 or 1.1 to 1, also the transmitter I'm using would typically show 10-12w out max. I had to make one slight adjustment to the transmitter capacitor and now the reflected meter barely moves above 1 and my transmitter output is now averaging 12-14w out. I need to get another core so I can add one at the transmitter end. Thank you Peter... N2LCX

[@watersstanton]

Great to hear.

[@dippey]

Hi Peter, would a line isolator be beneficial for use with a magnetic loop antenna ?

[@watersstanton]

A good question. I suggest just one at transceiver end. This will keep VSWR readings accurate and also protect against any noise pickup on the feeder.

[@OffSurfaceAdventures]

A good point to keep in mind if you have a lot of noise in the signal. Maybe this is the problem with my 230 ft coax feed. I just finished my first EFHW build last weekend and was happy without choke, depends on the results. It would be nice to avoid needing one just for weight savings. Another thing I need to check is RFI. I really don't want to interfere with critical infrastructure on a mountain top with an EFHW😅.

[@watersstanton]

I would strongly suggest one at transceiver end.

[@douglaszeeff8052]

What about the snap on ferrite beads? Do you feel they are effective at HF frequencies?

[@watersstanton]

They work but I believe you would need several in series to achieve the same benefit.

[@Siskiyous6]

I honestly prefer to buy isolators. Coac is not cheap, and this style adds windage. But many people love them.

[@watersstanton]

Many isolators are identical, but in a box!

[@andye2005]

Useful info - thanks Just a bit of feedback for you, in the segment at the start of the video where you show the slide (with the 1:1 typo it was 1:! ) You audio quality dropped badly rather muffled and no where near as good as the rest of the video. So something changed/happened during that segment. Andy

[@watersstanton]

Sorry about the typo and the audio glitch.

[@Juggie]

I've noticed that most of these line isolator examples wound around toroid do not take account the minimum bend radius of the coax. Bending it too tight can change the impedance of cable, since it deforms it. Effect can be neglible, as use of rg-58 itself also, but still there can be additional loss caused by it. For rg-58 minimum bend radius is around 25mm, so if done according to cable specifications, loops would be 50mm of diameter.

[@watersstanton]

Yes, no problem with RG-58

[@karengill8234]

Great advise Peter. Many thanks. G4OWW. …..

[@watersstanton]

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT.